Nicholas county is in the Bluegrass region of Kentucky. The elevation in the county ranges from 565 to 1060 feet above sea level.
It was formed in 1800 from Bourbon and Mason counties. Nicholas county was a source of Robertson (1867) county. The county seat is Carlisle.
In 2020 the county population was 7,537 in a land area of 195.17 square miles, an average of 38.6 people per square mile.
The equine population was 1,200 in the 2012 Kentucky Equine Survey.
Nicholas county is in the Bluegrass Area Development District. It is in the Appalachian region according to the Appalachian Regional Commission.
Nicholas was named for George Nicholas, who served in the American Revolution, as Kentucky's attorney general, and the first law professor at Transylvania College. The original county seat was at Blue Licks. It moved to Ellisville in 1805 and finally to Carlisle in 1816.
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