Kentucky was the first region west of the Allegheny Mountains to be settled by American pioneers. Kentucky was originally part of Virginia they gained statehood in 1792. Though it was a slaveholding state, there was a considerable abolitionist population and as such Kentucky was caught in the middle during the Civil War, supplied both Union and Confederate forces with thousands of troops.
Kentucky prides itself on producing some of the nation's best tobacco, horses and whiskey. The famous Kentucky Derby is held annually in Louisville and this year (2007) Queen Elizabeth attended the race. Other attractions include Mammoth Cave, the George S. Patton Jr Military Museum at Fort Knox and the site where Col Saunders first sold his chicken cooked with those 11 secret herbs and spices.
We traveled through Kentucky on the way from Tennessee to Dayton, Ohio. We spent the night in Frankfort and it was certainly small for a State capital city (about half the size of Adelaide) but the State was beautiful. Something that we also needed to do was to stop in at the Wild Turkey Bourbon distillery.