History:
Did you know that George Washington´s brother William and his wife Sarah once owned property in Pulaski County? Or that nationally renowned author Harriet Simpson Arnow and famous playwrights such as Edith Pearl Fitzgerald and Todd Duncan once called Pulaski County home? These are a few fascinating facts about Pulaski County that you may discover as you study the history of our county and it´s region.
Settlers moving from original colonies established in Virginia and North Carolina were drawn to the area of what would become Pulaski County by the Cumberland River. On December 10, 1798, 3,000 or so of these pioneers petitioned for the creation of a county to be created from territory taken from Lincoln and Green Counties. The General Assembly granted their request, so in June of 1799, the first Fiscal Court met in the home of Thomas Hansford.
As most of the founding fathers were veterans it was the general consensus among the group to name the new county after a prominent military figure. A suggestion was made by Nicholas Jasper to name it after Casimir Pulaski, a very noble soldier who fought valiantly along side our forefathers in the fight for independence from England. Pulaski earned the title "Father of the American Calvary". So today Casimir Pulaski lends his name to us.
The county lies along the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains, once the largest county area in the State of Kentucky. Pulaski County has helped give substance to five surrounding counties; these include Wayne County in 1800, Rockcastle County in 1810, and Whitley County in 1825. Also, Russell County received part of the Pulaski territory in 1839. The last boundary change occurred in 1912, when McCreary County was formed. This left Pulaski County being the third largest county in Kentucky.