Download Kentucky Regions

Kentucky Regions
(areas that have similar
landforms)
Bluegrass Region
Geography
• In the Bluegrass Region they think the grass is blue. But, it is not
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
Because
race officials
decorate
therace
winning
celebrated
horse
in America. The
with roses.
entire cityhorse
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?
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, 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.
History (Coal)
• Millions of years ago, the land was a swamp with large
plants. When the plants died, they were slowly covered by
layers of sand and mud
Coal is one of Kentucky’s most valuable
• Pressure and
heat from the layers turned the plants into
resources. In fact, only one state produces
coal. Miners dug
from
“bed.”
Then they
more the
coal coal
than our
stateits
does.
Do you
covered the mines know
with which
soil and
state planted
that is? 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
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,
Knobsa
often describe the Knobs
as horseshoe
shaped.
The Knobs region wraps
around
rounded
hill three
or sides of
the Bluegrass region. mountain
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.
History
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
A Port
is aField.
place on a shore where boats pick up
Eastern
Coal
or drop off goods.
The flat land make this area good for farming.
This region also Henderson
has the electric-generating
is also a port city. plant
at Paradise. It is a place where coal is turned
into power.
Almost all of the electric power used
Many of the things we buy probably came to
in Kentucky comes from electric-generating
Kentucky on a boat.
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
youand
areswampy
Much of this
region
is low
because it wearing
is bordered
mayby
bethe Ohio and
Mississippimade
Rivers.
is also some of the
fromIt cotton
flattest land
in Kentucky.
The lowest point
grown
in the Jackson
is Fulton County.
Purchase.
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
The
land
above the
caves
is full 360
of holes,
caves,
explorers
have
mapped
milestoo.
of
passages!
Mammoth
cave
was formed over
These
are called
sinkholes.
millions
of yearsmakes
as moving
water
Rainwater
its way
intoslowly
these
dissolved this layers of rock. Even today,
sinkholes, water
dissolves
the limestone,
and
underground
is forming
new caves.
dips
in the
ground.
• Mammothcreates
Cave is
home
to more
than 130 types
Sometimes,
dips
fill with
of creatures.
Onethe
kind
of fish
haswater.
no eyes. That
is because
deepponds
insidearound
the cave
there is no
light.
There
are many
Mammoth
Cave
Without light, most living things cannot see. Fish
that cannot see do not need eyes. They have
adapted to their lightless environment.
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?