Transcript Kentucky Regions

Bluegrass Region
Geography
 In the Bluegrass Region they think the grass is blue. But, it is not
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actually blue. “Bluegrass” is just a type of a grass that was planted here
many years ago.
The two largest cities in Kentucky, Louisville and Lexington, are in this
region.
Horses are very important in the Bluegrass. People from all over the
world go to Churchill Downs in Louisville and Keeneland in Lexington
to watch horse races.
This region has some of the finest farmland in the state. Tobacco is the
major crop.
The Bluegrass region covers an area of 8,000 square miles.
The Bluegrass is the 3rd largest region.
The capital of Kentucky is Frankfort. Frankfort is located in the
Bluegrass region.
The Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby in Louisville is the most celebrated
horse race in America. The entire city begins
celebrating with decorations and parties two weeks
before the race takes place.
The Kentucky Derby is also called “The Run for the
Roses”? Do you know why?
Because race
officials decorate
the winning
horse with roses.
Economy
 Large producer of tobacco.
 Many farmers depend on tobacco to make money.
 Farmers grow crops like corn, cabbage, and tobacco.
 The Bluegrass has many natural resources such as soil
and minerals.
The Eastern Mountains and Coalfields
Region
Geography
 Partly bordered by the Ohio, Big Sandy, and Tug Fork Rivers.
 The Cumberland Gap is a pass through the mountains used by hunters,
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explorers, settlers, and animals
The terrain is very rugged
The landforms create major transportation problems
Today, there are not as many trees as there used to be, but there are still
many sawmills. Logging is important in this region.
The coalfields were not opened until late 1900's, but since then workers
have mined millions of tons of coal from this region
There are more mountains in this region than in any other part of the
state.
The Kentucky River run's through the Eastern boundary mountains.
This region has the highest elevation in Kentucky which is the Big
Black Mountain in Harlan County. It stands over 4,000 feet high.
Cumberland Falls
 The Cumberland river run's through this region,
and also forms the highest waterfall in Kentucky
also known as the Cumberland Falls.
 One of the most amazing things about
Cumberland Falls is the moonbow. A moonbow is
a special rainbow that appears only at night. It is
created when the mist above the falls reflects the
moonlight.
 It only happens when the weather is clear, and the
moon is at a certain place in the sky.
Coal is one of Kentucky’s
most valuable resources. In
fact, only one state
produces more coal than
our state does. Do you
know which state that is?
History
(Coal)
 Millions of years ago, the land was a swamp with large plants.
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When the plants died, they were slowly covered by layers of
sand and mud
Pressure and heat from the layers turned the plants into coal.
Miners dug the coal from its “bed.” Then they covered the
mines with soil and planted seeds so new plants would grow.
We use some of the coal right here, but much of it is moved
by train, truck, or ship to places around the world.
Much of the coal is used to make electricity. The coal is
It’s Wyoming.
cleaned before it is burned,
so it won’t pollute the air as much
Coal will continue to be an important source of energy in the
future.
Economy
 Eastern Kentucky features resorts at Natural bridge,
Carter Caves, Green Bo Lake, Buckhorn Lake,
Cumberland Falls, and Pine Mountains.
 Mining
 Limestone
The Knobs
Geography
 The knobs is the smallest of all 6 natural regions
(Bluegrass, Pennyroyal, Jackson Purchase, Western
and Eastern Coalfields.) it also borders the bluegrass
in an unusual horse shoe shape. Also the knobs region
contains 2,300 square miles of area.
History
Knobs- a
rounded hill or
mountain
To the west of the Eastern Mountains and Coal
Fields is the Knobs. The Knobs is the smallest of
Kentucky’s landform regions. Geographers,
people who study the land and its formations,
often describe the Knobs as horseshoe shaped.
The Knobs region wraps around three sides of the
Bluegrass region. The Knobs has rocky hills that
are not high enough to be called mountains. In
the valleys, the land is rich and good for farming.
None of Kentucky’s 120 counties is totally in this
region
The Western Coalfield Region
Geography
 The Western Coal Fields are 4,600 square feet and
contain 21 different counties. The region is surrounded
by the Ohio River on the north and the Pennyroyal
region on the east, south, and west. There is good
farmland near the Ohio River. Two-third's of all the
coal in the state is found in the Western Coal Fields.
A Port is a place on a shore where
boats pick up or drop off goods.
Henderson is also a port city.
History
Many of the things we buy
probably came to Kentucky on a
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boat
Like the Eastern Coal Field, this region is named for the huge
amounts of coal that lie under the ground.
The Western Coal Field is much flatter than the Eastern Coal
Field.
The flat land make this area good for farming.
This region also has the electric-generating plant at Paradise.
It is a place where coal is turned into power. Almost all of
the electric power used in Kentucky comes from electricgenerating plants like this one.
Owensboro is one of the largest cities in this region, which is
a port city. What is a port?
Strip Mining
People have different ideas about how to use land. In
Kentucky, people have argued for years about coal mining.
With large earth-moving machines, workers remove whole
mountaintops to get to the coal faster. This is called strip
mining, or mountaintop removal.
After an area is stripped, the government often helps the coal
companies reclaim or restore, the land. For every ton of
coal taken from the ground, the coal companies pay a
reclamation fee. Sometimes, the government uses money
from the fees to build homes or businesses on the stripped
land. But in areas that have not been reclaimed, the land
looks barren and empty.
What do you think?
Many people are not satisfied with our state’s efforts
to repair the damage from strip mining. These
people say strip mining hurts Earth forever. They
say we are losing our natural resources. Some
experts say that when rain hits the stripped land,
chemicals mix with the rainwater. They say these
chemicals end up in our drinking water and can
make us sick.
How do you feel about strip mining? Should coal
companies be allowed to continue strip mining the
mountains of Kentucky?
Jackson Purchase
History
 Did you know that a long, long time ago Jackson
Purchase was not a part of Kentucky? Andrew Jackson
purchased a piece of land and put it on Kentucky 26
years after Kentucky became a state. The first
governor Isaac Shelby signed the treaty to make that
land a part of Kentucky. They named it Jackson
Purchase because Andrew Jackson purchased that part
of land.
Geography
 Jackson Purchase is located in the southwest part of
Kentucky. Jackson Purchase became known as the,"
Gateway to the west." It has a big bridge that connects
the Purchase to the rest of Kentucky. Before the bridge
was built, it was hard to travel between this region and
the rest of Kentucky. For a long time, people in the
Jackson Purchase felt separated from other
Kentuckians.
Geography
The clothes you are
wearing may be made
from cotton grown in the
Jackson Purchase.
Much of this region is low and swampy because it is
bordered by the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. It is
also some of the flattest land in Kentucky. The
lowest point is Fulton County.
But, this flat, rich, river bottom land is perfect for
growing crops especially cotton. The Jackson
Purchase is the only region in Kentucky where
cotton grows.
Continued
 Paducah is the largest city in this region. It has lots of
buildings, factories, and railroad yards. Most of the
people in the Jackson Purchase work in farming. But,
in Paducah, people have all sorts of jobs.
Pennyroyal Region
Geography
 “Pennyroyal” is the name of a plant in the mint family.
The region is named for the plant because pioneer
settlers found it growing everywhere. They used
pennyroyal to keep mosquitoes and ticks away.
 The Pennyroyal has more lakes than any region in
Kentucky including Barkley Lake and Kentucky
Lake. The land between the lakes is called: you
guessed it the Land Between the Lakes.
 The Pennyroyal is the largest land region of the state.
It touches all of Kentucky’s other land regions.
 Farmers in this region grow tobacco, apples, and
soybeans. They also raise dairy and beef cattle.
 Jessie James robed his first bank in Pennyroyal in
1868.Pennyroyal was the birth place of the first
confederacy president. It was also the birth place of
the 16 president Abe Lincoln.
Economy
 Pennyroyal has a very agricultural economy. Fort Knox
is located in Pennyroyal. One of the only Corvette
Factories in the world is located in Pennyroyal. It is the
best region for verified farming.
 But it also has one other famous attraction…
Mammoth Cave
 Mammoth Cave is the world’s longest known cave system. In the cave
system’s 200 smaller caves, explorers have mapped 360 miles of
passages! Mammoth cave was formed over millions of years as moving
water slowly dissolved this layers of rock. Even today, underground
water is forming new caves.
 Mammoth Cave is home to more than 130 types of creatures. One kind
of fish has no eyes. That is because deep inside the cave there is no
light. Without light, most living things cannot see. Fish that cannot
see do not need eyes. They have adapted to their lightless
environment.
The land above the caves is full of holes, too.
These are called sinkholes.
Rainwater makes its way into these
sinkholes, dissolves the limestone, and
creates dips in the ground.
Sometimes, the dips fill with water.
There are many ponds around Mammoth Cave
County
Another kind of region in our state is a county. A county
is a region that has at least one town. Every person in
Kentucky lives in one of our state’s 120 counties. Each
county has its own county seat. The county seat is the
town or city where the county government has offices.
Which county do you live in?