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Note: Alaska and Hawaii are shown out of
position for reference only and are not to scale.
Blank
Kentucky State Outline Map
Kentucky borders states of both the
Midwest and
the Southeast.
West Virginia lies to
the east, Virginia to the
southeast, Tennessee to the
south, Missouri to the west,
Illinois and
Indiana to the northwest, and
Ohio to the north and northeast.
Kentucky's northern border is formed by the
Ohio River, its western
border by the
Mississippi River.
Kentucky is
the only U.S. state to have a non-contiguous part exist as
an exclave surrounded by other
states. Fulton County,
in the far west corner of the state, includes a small part
of land, Kentucky Bend, on the
Mississippi River bordered by Missouri and accessible via
Tennessee, created by the
New Madrid Earthquake.
Kentucky
can be divided into five primary regions: the
Cumberland Plateau in the
east, the north-central
Bluegrass region, the south-central and western
Pennyroyal Plateau, the
Western Coal Fields and
the far-west Jackson Purchase.
The Bluegrass region is commonly divided into two regions,
the Inner Bluegrass — the encircling 90 miles (145 km)
around Lexington — and
the Outer Bluegrass, the region that contains most of the
Northern portion of the state, above the
Knobs. Much of the outer
Bluegrass is in the Eden Shale
Hills area, made up of short, steep, and very narrow
hills.
Kentucky
has 120 counties, third in the U.S. behind
Texas' 254 and Georgia's
159. The original motivation for having so many counties was
to ensure that residents in the days of poor roads and
horseback travel could make a round trip from their home to
the county seat and back in a single day. Later, however,
politics began to play a part, with citizens who disagreed
with the present county government simply petitioning the
state to create a new county. The 1891
Kentucky Constitution
placed stricter limits on county creation, stipulating that
a new county:
-
must
have a land area of at least 400 square miles (1,000 km˛);
-
must
have a population of at least 12,000 people;
-
must
not by its creation reduce the land area of an existing
county to less than 400 square miles (1,000 km˛);
-
must
not by its creation reduce the population of an existing
county to less than 12,000 people;
-
must
not create a county boundary line that passes within 10 miles
(20 km) of an existing county seat.
These
regulations have reined in the proliferation of counties in
Kentucky. Since the 1891 Constitution, only
McCreary County has
been created. Because today's largest county by area,
Pike County, is
788 square miles (2,041 km˛), it is now impossible to create
a new county from a single existing county under the current
constitution. Any county created in this manner will by
necessity either be smaller than 400 square miles (1,000 km˛)
or reduce the land area of the old county to less than
400 square miles (1,000 km˛). It is still theoretically
possible to form a new county from portions of more than one
existing county (McCreary County was created from portions
of three counties), but the area and boundary restrictions
would make this extremely difficult.
Climate
Located
within the southeastern interior portion of North America,
Kentucky has a climate described as humid subtropical (indicating
that all monthly average temperatures are above freezing).
Monthly average temperatures in Kentucky range from a high
in the high 80s and low 90s (30.9 °C) to a low in the high
30s to low 40s (-4.9 °C) and averages 46 inches (116.84 cm)
of precipitation a year. Kentucky experiences all four
seasons, usually with striking variations in the severity of
summer and winter from year to year. In fact, it is not
unusual to see marked changes in temperature and weather
conditions within the same day, leading many locals to
observe, "If you don't like the weather, just wait a few
hours and it will change."
Lakes and rivers
Kentucky’s
90,000 miles (140,000 km) of streams provides one of the
most expansive and complex stream systems in the nation.
Kentucky has both the largest artificial lake east of the
Mississippi in water volume (Lake
Cumberland) and surface area (Kentucky
Lake). It is the only U.S. state
to be bordered on three sides by rivers — the
Mississippi River to the
west, the Ohio River to the north,
and the Big Sandy
River and Tug Fork to the east.
Its major internal rivers include the
Kentucky River,
Tennessee River,
Cumberland River,
Green River, and
Licking River.
Though it
has only three major natural lakes, the state is home to
many artificial lakes.
Kentucky also has more navigable miles of water than any
other state in the union, other than
Alaska.
Natural environment and
conservation
Kentucky
has an expansive park system which includes one national
park, two National Recreation areas, two National Historic
Parks, two national forests, 45 state parks, 37,696 acres
(153 km˛) of state forest, and 82 Wildlife Management Areas.
Kentucky
has been part of two of the most successful wildlife
reintroduction projects in United
States history. In the winter of 1997, the state's
eastern counties began to re-stock elk,
which had been extinct from the area for over 150 years. As
of 2006, the state's herd was estimated at 5,700 animals,
the largest herd east of the
Mississippi River.
The state
also stocked wild turkeys in the
1950s. Once extinct in the state, today Kentucky has more
turkeys per capita than any other eastern state.
Top tourist attractions in
Kentucky
Significant natural attractions
-
Cumberland Gap, chief
passageway through the
Appalachian Mountains in early American history.
-
Cumberland Falls State
Park, one of the few places in the Western Hemisphere
where a "moon-bow" may be
regularly seen.
-
Mammoth Cave
National Park, featuring the world's longest cave
system.
-
Red River Gorge
Geological Area, part of the
Daniel Boone
National Forest.
-
Land Between the Lakes,
a National Recreation Area managed by the
United States
Forest Service.
-
Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest a 14,000 acre
(57 km˛) arboretum, forest and nature preserve located
in Clermont.
-
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site in
Hodgenville.
-
Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area
near Whitley City.
-
Trail
of Tears National Historic Trail also passes through
Kentucky.
-
Black Mountain,
state's highest point. Runs along the border of
Harlan and
Letcher counties.
-
Bad
Branch Falls State Nature Preserve, 2,639 acre (11 km˛)
state nature preserve on southern slope of Pine Mountain
in Letcher County.
Includes one of the largest concentrations of rare and
endangered species in the state, as well as a 60 foot
(18 m) waterfall and a Kentucky Wild River.
-
Jefferson Memorial
Forest, located south of
Louisville in the
Knobs region, the largest
municipally run forest in the
United States.
-
Green River Lake
State Park, located in
Taylor County.
-
Lake Cumberland,
1,255 miles (2,020 km) of shoreline located in
South Central Kentucky.
Interactive Kentucky State Map
Explore the state of Kentucky with the dynamic map below. You can
zoom, pan and even get a satellite map view.
Move your cursor over the markers on the map to
learn more about Kentucky.
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