Kentucky

Kentucky is one of four states to declare itself a commonwealth.  It is one of five states to hold its state elections in odd-numbered years.

Kentucky ranks third among the states in number of counties (120).

Kentucky's waters

Kentucky has more miles of navigable water than any state besides Alaska.  Four rivers form more than half of Kentucky's borders: Big Sandy and Tug Fork Rivers form the northeast border, Ohio River forms the north and northwest borders, and the Mississippi River forms the southwest border.  Oddly, Kentucky has only three natural lakes.

In 1792, Kentucky was the first state formed west of the mountains, and its first constitution allowed slavery.  Louisville became a major slave market and transport center to the South.  However, in 1833, the Kentucky legislature passed a law forbidding the importation of any more slaves.  In the lead-up to the Civil War, Kentucky declared itself officially neutral because citizens were evenly divided on the question of slavery.  But because Kentucky eventually joined the Confederacy, harsh Reconstruction measures were imposed after the War, making public sentiment more pro-South than it had been.

By the 1980 census, the only US counties where over half the population cited "English" as their only ancestry were virtually every county in the hills of Eastern Kentucky.

As of 2010, 48% of Kentuckians said they were unaffiliated with any religion.

Kentucky bourbon

Kentucky is #1 in US in whiskey production and, in fact, produces almost half of US whiskey, and makes more bourbon than any other state.  Note, however, that more than half of Kentucky's counties are "dry," including Bourbon County.

Although Kentucky is not as ethnically diverse as many other states - most are white English-speakers, many different countries sent settlers there and the cultural characteristics blended.   But because roads weren't built into Appalachia until the 1920's, the culture there still retains a purety not commonly found.

Mark Twain called Henderson, KY, "the most beautiful town on the Mississippi."

Owensboro claims title of BBQ Capital of the World.

The Wakefield Scearce Galleries in Shelbyville have one of the world's best collections of English antiques.

Lexington is home of Pleasant Green Missionary Baptist Church, the oldest AME church west of the Appalachian Mountains.

In 1875, a banker built a racecourse near Louisville that he named after two of his uncles: Churchill Downs.  The first Kentucky Derby was won by golden-red Aristides and his African-American jockey Oliver Lewis, witnessed by 12,000 spectators.

Churchill Downs

Aristides

At a full moon, Cumberland Falls produces a moonbow (the nighttime version of a rainbow), found nowhere else in the western half of the world.

Cumberland Falls moonbow