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"The first observance of
Mother's Day was in Henderson by teacher Mary S. Wilson in 1887. It was made a
national holiday in 1916.
The great Man o' War won all of his races except one, which he lost to a horse
named Upset.
Cheeseburgers were first served in 1934 at Kaelin's in Louisville.
All Chevrolet Corvettes are manufactured in Bowling Green.
The world's longest cave, Mammoth Cave, was first promoted in 1816, making it
the second oldest tourist attraction in the U.S., preceded only by Niagara
Falls.
The only monument south of the Ohio River dedicated to Union Soldiers who died
in the Civil War is located in Vanceburg, KY.
More than $6 billion worth of gold is held in the underground vaults of Fort
Knox. This is the largest amount of gold stored anywhere in the world.
The public saw an electric light for the first time in Louisville. Thomas Edison
introduced his incandescent light bulb to crowds at the Southern Exposition in
1883.
Middlesboro, Kentucky is the only city in the U.S. built within a meteor crater.
Modern archaeologists classify
Kentucky's prehistoric past into six cultures which spanned from 13,000 BC to
1,650 AD. These cultures were the Paleo-Indian culture; the Archaic culture; the
Woodland culture; the Adena culture; the Mississippian culture and the Fort
Ancient culture. From about 1650 until the arrival of the first white settlers,
Shawnee tribes from north of the Ohio River and the Cherokee and Chickasaw
tribes from south of the Cumberland River fought for control of the "Great
Meadow." During this time, no Indian nation held possession of the land
that would eventually become Kentucky.
Dr. Thomas Walker and Christopher
Gist led the first surveying parties into Kentucky in 1750 and 1751,
respectively, but the outbreak of the French and Indian War in 1754 delayed
further exploration of the state for over a decade. Daniel Boone visited
Kentucky in 1767, and in 1769, with a party of hunters led by John Finley, he
returned to Kentucky for a two-year exploration of the region. In 1774, James
Harrod constructed the first permanent settlement in Kentucky at Fort Harrod,
the site of present-day Harrodsburg. Boonesboro was established in 1775, and
many other settlements were created soon after.
The last major Indian raid in
Kentucky occurred at the Battle of Blue Licks in 1782, although small skirmishes
and raids would continue until 1813. Kentucky was originally declared to be a
part of Virginia and was made a separate county of that state in 1776. Soon
after the end of the American Revolution, a separation movement began in
Kentucky. In 1792, after nine conventions to discuss the separation, Kentucky
was made a separate state and was admitted to the Union as the fifteenth state.
Isaac Shelby was chosen as the first governor. Kentucky's first constitution was
drafted in April and May of that year (the constitution was rewritten in 1800,
and again in 1850 and 1891), and Frankfort was chosen to be the site of the
state capital. In 1818, the westernmost region of the state was annexed,
following its purchase from the Chicasaw Indians.
When the Civil War erupted in
1861, Kentucky was torn apart by conflicting loyalties. Officially a neutral
state, brother often fought against brother as Kentucky supplied approximately
100,000 troops to the North and 40,000 troops to the South. Ironically, Kentucky
was the birthplace of the Union president, Abraham Lincoln, and the Confederate
president, Jefferson Davis. The two great men were born in log cabins within one
year and 100 miles of each other. Kentucky's strategic potential was recognized
by both sides in the conflict, and several bloody engagements and many guerrilla
raids occurred throughout the state. The most violent battle took place near
Perryville in 1862, with a toll of 1,600 dead and 5,400 wounded.
After the Civil war, Kentucky's
economy underwent dramatic changes. As the hemp industry declined, the
development of burley tobacco contributed to a tremendous increase in tobacco
production.
The U.S. Treasury Gold Vault was
established at Fort Knox in 1936. During World War II, Kentucky began to shift
from an agricultural to an industrial economy, but it was not until 1970 that
the state had more urban than rural dwellers. Tourism developed into a major
industry, aided by an impressive state park system and new highways across the
state.
- From the kytourism.com website
To learn more about Kentucky visit http://www.kytourism.com/
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