🐎Kentucky

The Bluegrass State

Kentucky was the first state admitted west of the Appalachian Mountains, and it is one of only four states officially called a commonwealth. It is bourbon country — about 95% of the world's bourbon is distilled here — as well as the home of the Kentucky Derby, Mammoth Cave, the horse farms of the Bluegrass Region, and the largest cave system on Earth.

Frontier Crossing

Daniel Boone blazed the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap in 1775, opening the Kentucky country to American settlement. Kentucky was originally the westernmost county of Virginia; it separated in 1792 to become the 15th state and the first beyond the Appalachians. Lexington and Louisville grew quickly as gateways to the Ohio River and the developing West.

Civil War Border State

Kentucky's strategic position on the Ohio River made it vital to both sides in the Civil War. The state did not secede but had strong Confederate sympathies; it declared neutrality in 1861. President Lincoln — born in Kentucky himself — reportedly said, "I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky." Both sides eventually violated the neutrality. Kentucky ultimately remained in the Union, though it provided troops to both armies and contains military cemeteries for both.

Bourbon and the Derby

Kentucky's limestone-filtered water and its limestone-shelf geography make it ideal for distilling bourbon whiskey. Federal law requires that bourbon be made in the United States, but 95% of it is produced in Kentucky, most within the "Bourbon Trail" loop around Bardstown and Lexington. The Kentucky Derby, run at Louisville's Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May since 1875, is the oldest continuously held major sporting event in the United States.

Mammoth Cave

Mammoth Cave National Park contains the longest known cave system in the world — over 420 mapped miles and still growing as surveyors connect new passages. Formed in the soluble limestone of south-central Kentucky, the caves have been visited since before European contact and protected as a national park since 1941.

Kentucky Facts

• Two future presidents — Abraham Lincoln (Union) and Jefferson Davis (Confederate) — were both born in Kentucky, less than a year and 100 miles apart.
• Louisville Slugger baseball bats have been made in Louisville since 1884.
• The University of Kentucky Wildcats are one of the most successful college basketball programs in history.
• Kentucky is home to Fort Knox, where the U.S. Bullion Depository holds a large portion of the country's gold reserves.
• The song "Happy Birthday to You" was written by two Louisville sisters, Patty and Mildred Hill, in 1893.

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