Hyden is a city in Leslie County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 204 at
the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Leslie County. It is located at the junction
of US 421 and Kentucky Route 80, along the Middle Fork of the Kentucky River.
The area was first settled around 1817 by the John Sizemore family of North Carolina.
The town was established in 1878 and incorporated in 1882, and was named after John
Hyden, a state senator of the time who helped form Leslie County. The mountainous
terrain made the region difficult to access except by river, which was no longer the
dominant form of transportation by the late 19th century, hindering growth.
Hyden briefly came to national attention when the Hurricane Creek mine disaster
occurred in late 1970, five miles from Hyden.