Kentucky Lighting In The Bluegrass State

By Tara Daniels


Famous for horse racing, bluegrass music, bourbon whisky and the country's most productive coalfield, one place where you need Kentucky lighting is at Mammoth Cave National Park. This is the longest continuous system of caves in the world. The park covers nearly 53,000 acres and spans three counties, Edmonson, Hart and Barren counties. The Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System, named for the overlying mountain range, was designated a national park in 1941.

The principle attraction at Mammoth is the cave system itself. Organized tours run seasonally. Reservations are recommended although not strictly necessary. There are firm limitations on what you an and cannot bring with you on a tour. These include tripods, backpacks (including ones with babies in them!) and strollers. Once the tour is over, visitors are required to walk on a bio-security mat as a precaution against White Nose Syndrome, a fungal condition that affects bats.

Other important natural attractions include Jefferson Memorial Forest, Red River Gorge and Cumberland Gap. Cumberland Gap earned its significance as the primary, indeed the only passage through the Appalachian mountain range on the road west. The British thought so and even named a decorative sausage after it. Kentucky is home to a large number of turkeys and deer, as well as the largest free range elk herd east of the Mississippi River.

For sporting glory, the Bluegrass State relies mainly on Cincinnati in its neighboring state of Ohio, home of the Bengals NFL and Reds baseball teams. The state is proud of its college basketball. It's main claim to fame in the world of sport is a horse race. The Kentucky Derby is held each year in Louisville to see which three year-old thoroughbred can outrun other horses from all over the world.

The state is surrounded by seven other states. Counterclockwise from Ohio, these are Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. Completely landlocked, Kentucky would have no use for a navy if it were a country on its own. It would not be able to summon much of an air force, either, with the big, fat Appalachian Mountain chain occupying so much of its footprint. Hopefully for their sake, the citizens of Kentucky are on good terms with their neighbors.

As lovely as they are, the Appalachians present an obstacle to east-west travel. Its interlocking valleys and mountain ridges make for challenging road-building. They run also through West Virginia, North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio and Tennessee.

The highest point in the state is Black Mountain, at an elevation of 4,145 feet. The state language is English. The area measures 40,409 square miles. The state flower is the Goldenrod. The state bird is the Cardinal, which makes you wonder how St Louis MO managed to hijack it for their major league baseball team.

Kentucky lighting brightens everywhere from hospitals to schools. The annual state fair is in Louisville. The local university provides the main source of adult education.




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