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Kentucky
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Kentucky: flag Kentucky; seal Kentucky: state bird Kentucky: state flower Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky: horse farm Kentucky United States: The Upper South Kentucky: Bluegrass region Kentucky: Pennyrile region
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Lexington, Kentucky: horse farm
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Kentucky: flag
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Kentucky

state, United States
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Also known as: Bluegrass State
Written by
Wilford Allen Bladen
Emeritus Professor of Geography, University of Kentucky, Lexington. Author of Geography of Kentucky and Across the Appalachians.
Wilford Allen Bladen,
Wilma Dykeman
Adjunct Professor of English, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. State Historian of Tennessee. Author of The French Broad; coauthor of The Appalachian Mountains and others.
Wilma Dykeman•All
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Last Updated: • Article History

News •

Winter storms bring flooding and 'thunder ice' in several US states • Feb. 6, 2025, 10:57 PM ET (AP)
In Kentucky bourbon country, the prospect of a trade war feels like a hangover that won't go away • Feb. 3, 2025, 6:59 PM ET (AP)
Calipari gets lukewarm response in return to Kentucky as Arkansas coach • Feb. 2, 2025, 12:25 AM ET (AP)
Brea scores 18 to lead No. 12 Kentucky past No. 8 Tennessee 78-73 • Jan. 28, 2025, 9:43 PM ET (AP)
Kentucky students challenging whether the state is meeting its constitutional duty on education • Jan. 15, 2025, 3:25 PM ET (AP)

Kentucky, constituent state of the United States of America. Rivers define Kentucky’s boundaries except on the south, where it shares a border with Tennessee along a nearly straight line of about 425 miles (685 km), and on the southeast, where it shares an irregular, mountainous border with Virginia. Flowing generally northwestward, the Tug and Big Sandy rivers separate Kentucky from West Virginia on the east and northeast. On the north, Kentucky’s boundary follows the Ohio River to the Mississippi, meeting the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois en route. The Mississippi River then demarcates Kentucky’s short southwestern border with Missouri. ...(100 of 7938 words)

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