"Kentucky" a Kentucky Travel Page by traveldave

I first visited Kentucky in October 2002. It was the first new state I had visited in over 20 years. I was visiting my brother in Bloomington, Indiana (where I have since moved), and since Bloomington is only about a two-hour's drive from northern Kentucky, I decided to make the trip to visit my 46th state.

Kentucky was originally inhabited by Indians of the Shawnee, Wyandot, Delaware, and Cherokee tribes. It was first explored by Thomas Walker and Christopher Gist between 1750 and 1751, and was the first area west of the Allegheny Mountains settled by pioneers. The first permanent settlement was Harrodsburg in 1774, and in 1775 Daniel Boone blazed the Wilderness Trail through the Cumberland Gap and founded Fort Boonesborough. In 1792, Virginia relinquished its claim to the area, and Kentucky became the fifteenth American state.

Nowadays, Kentucky is noted for its Bourbon whiskey (95 percent of the Bourbon whiskey produced in the United States comes from Kentucky), rolling hills of bluegrass, and the breeding and racing of Thoroughbred horses (the Kentucky Derby takes place in Louisville).

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