Hindman, the seat of Knott county, is a town at the forks of Troublesome Creek. A post office opened on the site in 1874 as McPherson. Hindman was founded in 1884 when the county was formed and named for then Lieutenant Governor James P. Hindman. The population in 1990 was 798.

Hindman is the home of the Hindman Settlement School and was the birthplace of Carl D. Perkins, congressman from Kentucky from 1949 to 1984.