About Kentucky

The name Kentucky comes from an Iroquoian word whose exact meaning has been debated for centuries. The most common translation offered is "dark and bloody ground," though linguists have questioned this interpretation. Other proposed meanings include "land of tomorrow," "meadowland," "at the head of the river," and "prairie." The name was recorded by European explorers in the 1700s for the river that cuts through the region, and the territory took the river's name when it became a state in 1792. Kentucky was the first state carved out of territory west of the Appalachian Mountains, and its admission as the 15th state in 1792 marked the beginning of American westward expansion beyond the original coastal colonies.

Kentucky sits at the crossroads of the American South and Midwest. Bordered by seven states and the Ohio River to the north, it has always been a place where different cultures, landscapes, and loyalties meet. That tension , between North and South, tradition and progress, rural and urban, defines much of what makes Kentucky unique.

The state is famous worldwide for three things above almost everything else: bourbon whiskey, thoroughbred horse racing, and the Kentucky Derby. But there's far more here, from the Appalachian mountains in the east, to the world's longest cave system at Mammoth Cave, to two of America's most consequential presidents sharing a birthplace less than 100 miles apart.

Kentucky became the 15th state in 1792, making it the first state admitted west of the Appalachian Mountains. It has been shaping American history, and American culture , ever since.