The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. Kentucky is normally included in the group of Southern states, but it is sometimes included, geographically and culturally, in the Midwest. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states to be officially known as a commonwealth. Originally a part of Virginia, in 1792 it became the 15th state to join the Union.
Kentucky is known as the "Bluegrass State", a nickname based on the fact that bluegrass is present in many of the lawns and pastures throughout the state. It is a land with diverse environments and abundant resources, including the world's longest cave system, the greatest length of navigable waterways and streams in the Lower 48 states, and the two largest man-made lakes east of the Mississippi River. It is also home to the highest per capita number of deer and turkey in the United States, and the nation's most productive coalfield.
Kentucky is also known for thoroughbred horses, horse racing, bourbon distilleries, bluegrass music, automobile manufacturing, tobacco, and college basketball.
West Virginia lies to the east, Virginia to the south east, Tennessee to the south, Missouri to the west, Illinois and Indiana to the north west and Ohio to the north and north east. The northern border is formed by the Ohio River and its western border by the Mississippi River.
Kentucky can be divided into five primary regions: the Cumberland Plateau in the east, the north-central Bluegrass region, the south-central and western Pennyroyal Plateau, the Western Coal Fields and the far-west Jackson Purchase. The Bluegrass region is commonly divided into two regions, the Inner Bluegrass — the encircling 90 miles (145 km) around Lexington — and the Outer Bluegrass, the region that contains most of the Northern portion of the state, above the Knobs. Much of the outer Bluegrass is in the Eden Shale Hills area, made up of short, steep, and very narrow hills.
Kentucky has 120 counties, third in the U.S. behind Texas' 254 and Georgia's 159.[12] The original motivation for having so many counties was to ensure that residents in the days of poor roads and horseback travel could make a round trip from their home to the county seat and back in a single day. Later, however, politics began to play a part, with citizens who disagreed with the present county government simply petitioning the state to create a new county.
Kentucky has a climate that can best be described as a humid subtropical climate. Monthly average temperatures in Kentucky range from a summer daytime high of 87 °F (30.9 °C) to a winter low of 23 °F (-4.9 °C). The average precipitation is 46 inches (116.84 cm) a year. Kentucky experiences all four seasons, usually with striking variations in the severity of summer and winter from year to year.
Narrow country roads bounded by stone and wood plank fences are a fixture in the Kentucky Bluegrass.
Text from Wikitravel Kentucky where additional general information can be found. Please share your knowledge by editing the pages of Wikitravel.
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