 The earliest evidence of human habitation in Boyd County exists in the forms of numerous earthen mounds containing human skeletons and burial goods giving evidence that prehistoric Native Americans inhabited the area.A 1973 archeological find revealed a serpent-shaped mound built of rocks dating to 2000 BC and stretching for along a ridge parallel to the Big Sandy River south of Catlettsburg.One of the early settlers in what is now Boyd County was Charles ("One-handed Charley") Smith, from Virginia.