Owsley County lies in the rugged hill country of eastern Kentucky, with Booneville serving as the main settlement and road reference. Kentucky routes 30, 28, 11, 399, 846, 577, 587, and 708 wind through narrow valleys between long ridges. The terrain-and-water map adds the South Fork Kentucky River, Buffalo Creek, Sturgeon Creek, Little Sturgeon Creek, Island Creek, Laurel Fork, and Right Fork Buffalo Creek. High-resolution JPG versions of the supplied maps can also be downloaded together in one ZIP archive for printing, classroom work, presentations, or offline reference. High-resolution map files are available for download in the section below.
Kentucky’s Secretary of State lists Booneville as the county seat of Owsley County, and the Kentucky.gov county profile places the county’s official local-government address in Booneville. The supplied elevation map shows why the road network is so winding: actual elevations range from about 195 to 519 meters with a mean near 318 meters. River and creek bottoms are low, while eastern and southern ridges rise sharply above them.
Table of Contents
Booneville anchors routes 30, 399, and the interior road network
The general county map makes Booneville the easiest place to begin. Route 30 passes the city on the east, while route 399 approaches from the west. Route 708 reaches toward the northeastern boundary, and route 28 curves through the eastern and southeastern hills. The roads rarely follow long straight alignments because the terrain is broken by closely spaced ridges and stream valleys.
Routes 11, 846, and 577 serve the southern half, where the county narrows into a long projection. Route 587 provides a northwestern reference through another narrow section of the boundary. Away from Booneville, the map quickly shifts from a concentrated road pattern to rural valleys, tributaries, and ridge country.
Moors Neighborhood appears as a historical-place label west of Booneville, while Cowcreek provides a smaller eastern reference. McKee, Annville, Oneida, and Buckhorn appear outside the county, helping orient the map toward Jackson, Clay, Perry, and nearby eastern Kentucky counties.
This map is intended for geographic orientation rather than live navigation. It does not show current construction, closures, bridge restrictions, or travel times. Roads often follow valley floors around ridge systems, so actual driving distance can be considerably longer than the direct map distance between two points.
Booneville is the only ranked major city on the supplied city map
The city-distribution map ranks Booneville as the county’s only major city and prints a population figure of 187. That number is the value shown on the supplied map and should be read as part of the map itself rather than assumed to be a current official population estimate. With only one ranked marker, the view emphasizes how strongly the county’s settlement pattern is centered on Booneville.
Neighboring county labels place Lee County to the north, Breathitt County to the east, Perry County to the southeast, Clay County to the southwest, and Jackson County to the west. Those references make Booneville’s north-central position easy to see and show how the county extends much farther south into rugged terrain.
A one-city ranking does not mean the county lacks smaller named places. Cowcreek and historical-place labels appear on the general map, but they are not emphasized in the simplified city view. The city map is therefore best for understanding the principal settlement, while the road map provides the finer local geography.
Once Booneville is fixed as the central reference, the physical maps become easier to interpret. The South Fork Kentucky River occupies the main interior valley, Buffalo Creek approaches through the northern hills, and Island Creek and Laurel Fork drain the southern interior. Those waterways also correspond to the lowest elevations on the relief map.
South Fork Kentucky River forms the main interior valley
The South Fork Kentucky River is the dominant water feature on the terrain-and-water map, crossing the central county through a broad winding valley. Several tributaries descend from both sides of the surrounding hills. Compared with the narrow feeder streams, the South Fork provides the clearest continuous reference for locating Booneville and the county’s main low corridor.
Buffalo Creek runs through the north-central interior, with White Oak Creek occupying another nearby valley. Pottstown Fork and Right Fork divide the northeastern hills. These streams are closely spaced, leaving long narrow ridges between them rather than broad areas of flat land.
The western side contains Wild Dog Creek, Sturgeon Creek, Little Sturgeon Creek, Wilson Fork, and Lower Island Creek. Farther south, Island Creek and Left Fork Island Creek occupy long valleys before the terrain narrows toward the county’s southern projection. Laurel Fork and Right Fork Buffalo Creek provide the strongest named drainage references in that southeastern extension.
A practical reading order is to start with the South Fork Kentucky River, then move north to Buffalo Creek and White Oak Creek, west to the Sturgeon Creek system, and south to Island Creek and Laurel Fork. This is a general geographic reference rather than a flood, navigation, water-depth, fishing-regulation, or property-access product. Current conditions should be checked with the responsible agencies.
Elevation from 195 to 519 meters shows deep valleys between high ridges
The elevation map reports an actual county range of about 195 to 519 meters and a mean near 318 meters. The lowest dark-green terrain follows the South Fork Kentucky River, Buffalo Creek, Island Creek, and other major drainage corridors. Higher orange and brown ridges dominate the east, southeast, and long southern extension.
Around Booneville, the South Fork Kentucky River and nearby tributaries create a wider low corridor than most of the county. Elevation rises quickly away from that valley, especially toward the north and east. The winding alignments of routes 30 and 28 fit the same pattern, following lower passages through the hills whenever possible.
The western half is somewhat less elevated than the most rugged eastern side, but it is still heavily dissected. Sturgeon Creek, Little Sturgeon Creek, and Lower Island Creek form lower green ribbons between closely spaced ridges. In the southeast, Laurel Fork and Right Fork Buffalo Creek cut through some of the highest and most tightly packed ridge terrain.
The elevation colors are intended for county-scale comparison rather than parcel-level measurement. They are useful for distinguishing stream bottoms from ridge tops, but they should not be treated as survey-grade elevation for a road, structure, property, or engineering project. Exact site work should rely on current source elevation data or professional surveying.
Following Owsley County from Booneville into the western creeks and southern hills
Booneville is the simplest starting point for comparing all of the map views. On the road map, locate routes 30 and 399, then follow route 708 north and route 28 east. On the physical map, the South Fork Kentucky River provides the main central reference before Buffalo Creek and White Oak Creek are added.
For the west, use routes 587 and 399 while tracing Sturgeon Creek, Little Sturgeon Creek, and Wilson Fork. The elevation surface shows those streams as low corridors between rising ridges, adding useful context to the irregular western boundary and winding road network.
For the south and east, routes 11, 846, 577, and 28 provide the road framework. Island Creek, Laurel Fork, and Right Fork Buffalo Creek then identify the main drainage corridors. The elevation map shows some of the county’s highest and most rugged terrain in the same southeastern area.
Choosing the best Owsley County map for print, class, or reference
Use the general county map when Booneville, numbered roads, smaller place labels, and the full boundary need to appear together. The city-distribution map is cleaner when the main point is that Booneville is the only ranked major city and that the county sits among several eastern Kentucky neighbors.
Choose the terrain-and-water map for the South Fork Kentucky River, Buffalo Creek, Sturgeon Creek, Island Creek, Laurel Fork, and the many named forks. The elevation map is the strongest view for explaining the contrast between low stream valleys and the high eastern and southern ridges. Comparing water and elevation together makes the mountainous road pattern much easier to understand.
The WebP images in the article are optimized for browser viewing. The downloadable ZIP contains the original JPG maps at 3,638×2,572 pixels each, which is better suited to printing, classroom worksheets, presentations, and offline reference. These maps are general geographic resources rather than legal boundary records, flood studies, parcel surveys, navigation products, or engineering plans.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Booneville within Owsley County?
Booneville lies in the north-central county near routes 30 and 399. Kentucky’s Secretary of State identifies Booneville as the Owsley County seat. It is the most convenient starting point for locating the South Fork Kentucky River and the county’s major ridge-and-valley road corridors.
Which map best shows the South Fork Kentucky River and Buffalo Creek together?
The terrain-and-water map is the best choice. It shows the South Fork Kentucky River, Buffalo Creek, White Oak Creek, Sturgeon Creek, Little Sturgeon Creek, Island Creek, Laurel Fork, Right Fork Buffalo Creek, and several additional forks in one view.
Can the 195–519 meter elevation range be used as an exact property elevation?
No. The range summarizes the actual countywide elevations shown on the supplied map, with a mean near 318 meters. It is useful for comparing stream valleys with high ridges, but exact site elevations should come from current source data or professional surveying.
Map File Information
The ZIP archive contains the original high-resolution JPG versions of the Owsley County road-and-boundary map, city-distribution map, terrain-and-water map, and elevation map. Each image is 3,638×2,572 pixels for printing, classroom work, presentations, and offline reference.
- File Type: 4 JPG files inside one ZIP archive
Related Maps
Sources and references
County and Booneville information is available from the Kentucky.gov Owsley County profile and the Kentucky Secretary of State Booneville city record. For underlying geographic data, see the U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line Shapefiles for boundaries and roads, USGS National Hydrography for rivers and streams, and the USGS 3D Elevation Program for elevation data.
These maps are intended for geographic explanation, printing, and general reference. Legal boundary decisions, live traffic, flood and water-safety questions, property surveying, and engineering work should rely on the latest authoritative information from the responsible public agency.
Green Map creates custom-edited map images using open geographic data sources such as geoBoundaries, Natural Earth, OpenStreetMap, and government open data. These maps are edited visual materials, not raw data files, and are provided for education, documents, presentations, and graphic reference.
