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 U.S. Route 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. In July 1978, Richard Nixon came to Hyden to make his first public speech since resigning from the presidency during the Watergate crisis. Hyden was picked because Nixon wanted a town that he had been heavily supported in in his Presidential runs; he wasn't let down as he received a hero's welcome in Hyden.