Facts for Kids

People lived in the land now called Kentucky a very long time ago. Archaeologists find traces of hunters from about 9,500 years before now and signs of farming starting around 3,800 years ago. By about 900 CE, groups such as the Mississippian and Fort Ancient peoples grew maize, built villages, and cared for the land in smart ways like rotating crops and moving villages when needed.

In the 1600s some European explorers wrote about these Native peoples. In the 1700s explorers and settlers like Thomas Walker and Daniel Boone traveled through the Cumberland Gap and towns grew. Harrod’s Town began in 1774. Kentucky was part of Virginia until it became the 15th state on June 1, 1792, and Isaac Shelby was its first governor.

Kentucky has many colleges and schools so you can learn different things. There are eight public four-year universities. The two biggest research schools are University of Kentucky and University of Louisville, and they help with medicine and science across the state.

Other regional universities teach special skills—forestry at Eastern Kentucky University and cave management at Western Kentucky University, for example. Since 1997, the Kentucky Community and Technical College System runs 16 two-year colleges. Long ago, Transylvania University opened in 1780 and Berea College began admitting both Black and white students in 1855 (integration was later interrupted but resumed in 1950). Kentucky changed its schools after a 1989 court ruling, leading to major reforms. Which subject would you want to study?

Kentucky is a state in the southeastern United States that does not touch the ocean. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, and West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, and Missouri on other sides. The capital is Frankfort and the largest city is Louisville. The Ohio River helps form Kentucky’s northern edge, and about 4.6 million people live there as of 2024.

Kentucky’s nickname is the "Bluegrass State" because fields of Kentucky bluegrass help raise horses, which are important for racing and farms. The state is known for things like Mammoth Cave, horse racing, bourbon, bluegrass music, barbecue, coal, and places that make cars and medicine. Want to see a horse farm?

Kentucky's work includes farming, factories, and special foods and events. Farms raise things like tobacco, goats, cattle, and corn. The state is important for auto manufacturing, energy, and medical jobs, too. Kentucky is famous for bourbon and for horse racing, which bring visitors and money.

Coal mining shaped many towns in the past, and companies that started here, like Kentucky Fried Chicken, are known around the world. About 4.6 million people live in Kentucky today (2024). People here work on farms, in factories, in hospitals, and on horse farms. Would you rather see a racehorse or a distillery?

One way to understand Kentucky is by its main regions. The Bluegrass region sits near the center and splits into Inner Bluegrass around Lexington and Outer Bluegrass to the north. Other major areas are the Cumberland Plateau (Eastern Coal Field) to the east, the Pennyroyal Plateau or Pennyrile to the south, the Western Coal Field, and the Jackson Purchase in the far west.

Kentucky also includes the low, flat alluvial plain along the Ohio River and parts of the Appalachian Ridge and Valley near Pine Mountain. The state looks like a patchwork of hills, forests, farms, and river valleys. Which region would you most like to visit?

Kentucky is divided into 120 counties, and counties handle local services like roads and schools. Each county is led by a County Judge/Executive and a group called the Fiscal Court, which acts like a county legislature now rather than a court.

Counties vary in size and people. Pike County is the largest by land area, and Jefferson County has the most people. Kentucky's highest point is Black Mountain in Harlan County, and Lake Cumberland in the south central part of the state has over a thousand miles of shoreline. How do you think counties make a difference where you live?

Endemic means a plant or animal that lives only in one place. Kentucky has more than 100 species found nowhere else, and many different homes for wildlife like forests, rivers, and caves. The Bluegrass region once looked like oak savanna with river cane, so some plants there are special to Kentucky.

People changed the land a lot with farming and mining, so Kentucky protects nature with parks and forests. There are national and state parks, wildlife refuges, and many state forests. Animals like elk were brought back in 1997 and grew into the biggest herd east of the Mississippi. Wild turkeys also returned after restocking. Programs at places like Land Between the Lakes help recover animals such as the red wolf. Would you like to visit a forest or a wildlife refuge?

The Ohio River forms much of Kentucky’s northern border and helped shape its towns and farms. To the west the Mississippi River touches Kentucky, and on the east the Big Sandy and Tug Fork rivers mark parts of the border. Inside the state are the Kentucky, Tennessee, Cumberland, Green, and Licking Rivers, plus about 90,000 miles of smaller streams that feed lakes and wetlands.

Kentucky has only three large natural lakes but many big man-made reservoirs. Lake Cumberland and Kentucky Lake have very long shorelines for boating and fishing. The state is home to special places like Mammoth Cave (the world’s longest cave system), Red River Gorge in Daniel Boone National Forest, Land Between the Lakes, Cumberland Falls (where you can sometimes see a moonbow), Natural Bridge, and Breaks Interstate Park. Would you like to explore a cave or see a moonbow?