Harlan county is located in far southeastern Kentucky on the Virginia border. Settlement began by 1782 and the county was formed in 1819. It was named for Major Silas Harlan, a pioneer and hero of the Battle of Blue Licks. The county seat is the city of Harlan. Several mountains run through the county, including Pine and Black Mountian ranges. The highest point in Kentucky is on Black Mountain just outside Lynch. Coal mining and logging have long been the principle industries in the county and several of its towns, including Lynch and Benham, began as mining camps.  Blanton Forest State Nature Preserve, perhaps the largest tract of old-growth forest in the state, is also located in the county. 

The city of Harlan is located at the forks of the Cumberland River. It was settled beginning around 1796 and was known as Mount Pleasant, named for a local Indian mound, when it became the seat of the new county in 1819. The post office opened in 1828 as Harlan Court House and was known locally as Spurlock, so called because of the name of the local postmaster, in the early 1860s. It was renamed Harlan in 1865. The population of the city in 2000 was 2,081.