Kentucky Regions areas that have similar landforms

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Kentucky Regions (areas that have similar
landforms)
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Bluegrass Region
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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.

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The Kentucky Derby
Because race officials decorate the winning horse
with roses.

• 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?

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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.

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The Eastern Mountains and Coalfields Region
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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.

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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.

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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
• 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 cleaned before it is burned, so it
  wont pollute the air as much
• Coal will continue to be an important source of
  energy in the future.
•  

Coal is one of Kentuckys most valuable
resources. In fact, only one state produces more
coal than our state does. Do you know which
state that is?
Its Wyoming.
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Economy

• Eastern Kentucky features resorts at Natural
  bridge, Carter Caves, Green Bo Lake, Buckhorn
  Lake, Cumberland Falls, and Pine Mountains. 
• Mining
• Limestone

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The Knobs
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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.

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History

• To the west of the Eastern Mountains and Coal
  Fields is the Knobs. The Knobs is the smallest
  of Kentuckys 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 Kentuckys 120 counties is
  totally in this region

Knobs- a rounded hill or mountain
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The Western Coalfield Region
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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. 

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History
A Port is a place on a shore where boats pick
up or drop off goods. Henderson is also a port
city. Many of the things we buy probably came to
Kentucky on a 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
  electric-generating plants like this one.
• Owensboro is one of the largest cities in this
  region, which is a port city. What is a port?

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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.

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What do you think?

• Many people are not satisfied with our states
  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?

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Jackson Purchase
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Pennyroyal Region
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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.

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• 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 Kentuckys 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.  

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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

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Mammoth Cave
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

• Mammoth Cave is the worlds longest known cave
  system. In the cave systems 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.

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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
  states 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?