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100 unusual facts about Kentucky


1920 Louisiana hurricane

A train running from Louisville, Kentucky to Nashville, Tennessee was left stranded after being washed out near Chef Menteur Pass, and other rail operations were stopped between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama.

1967 NHL expansion

Cleveland and Louisville had also expressed previous interest but were not represented.

19th Tennessee Infantry

In September, Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk committed one of the Confederacy's worst strategic blunders by seizing Columbus, Kentucky, and ending the state's neutrality, thereby opening the door for Union forces to move through the Bluegrass State.

1st Scripps National Spelling Bee

The 1st Scripps National Spelling Bee was held in Louisville, Kentucky in 1925, not by Scripps Howard but by the Louisville Courier-Journal.

21st Ohio Infantry

The soldiers were discharged from the army and paid on July 28, 1865, when the regiment mustered out in Louisville, Kentucky.

39th Ohio Infantry

The 39th Ohio Infantry mustered out of service at Louisville, Kentucky on July 9, 1865.

43rd Ohio Infantry

The 43rd Ohio Infantry mustered out of service at Louisville, Kentucky on July 13, 1865.

74th Ohio Infantry

The 74th Ohio Infantry mustered out of service at Louisville, Kentucky on July 11, 1865.

78th Ohio Infantry

The 78th Ohio Infantry mustered out of service at Louisville, Kentucky on July 11, 1865.

80th Troop Carrier Squadron

Postwar the squadron was activated in the Air Force Reserve in 1947, first at Godman AFB, then at Standiford Field, Louisville, Kentucky, operating C-46 Commandos for Tactical Air Command Eighteenth Air Force; activated during the Korean War in 1951, its aircraft and personnel being used as fillers for active duty units, then inactivated.

95th Ohio Infantry

The 95th Ohio Infantry mustered out of service at Louisville, Kentucky on August 19, 1865.

Alexander Keith Marshall

Marshall was a member of the Kentucky constitutional convention held in Frankfort, Kentucky in 1849.

Angel Cordero, Jr.

The Kentucky Derby is held annually in Louisville, Kentucky and is considered by many as the most important race in American thoroughbred racing.

Any Given Saturday

On September 15, 2006, Any Given Saturday won his racing debut at Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky.

Bathtub Madonna

A drive down country roads in Nelson, Marion, and Washington counties will provide ample sightings of these small shrines.

Bell County High School

Bell County High School is one of three public high schools in Bell County, Kentucky and the only one in the county's school district (the other two, Middlesboro and Pineville, are operated by city-based "independent" districts).

Ben Charles Green

He was an attorney for the Federal Land Bank in Louisville, Kentucky from 1933 to 1935 before returning to private practice in Cleveland from 1935 to 1961.

Brandenburg stone

The Brandenburg stone is an inscribed stone slab found in Brandenburg, Kentucky, United States in 1912, on the farm of Craig Crecelius.

Brass Hat

Bred and raced by Fred F. Bradley of Frankfort, Kentucky, Brass Hat is trained by his son William "Buff" Bradley.

Bufotenin

In 1956, Dr. Harris S. Isbell at the Public Health Service Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky experimented with bufotenine as a snuff.

Callie Khouri

Following her graduation from St. Mary's High School in Paducah, Kentucky, she studied landscape architecture at Purdue University before changing her major to drama.

Camp Trousdale

This campaign led to Zollicoffer's death when he mistakenly crossed into Union lines during a battle near Camp Springs, Kentucky in which the Confederate troops were pushed back into Tennessee.

Campbell County, Kentucky

The Kentucky General Assembly then forced the county to move its seat to Alexandria, closer to the center of the new, smaller Campbell County.

Caney Creek

Pippa Passes, Kentucky, a city along the creek known to its inhabitants as "Caney Creek"

Carl Perkins Bridge

It is named after the late Carl D. Perkins, Congressman from the 7th District of Kentucky.

Chilukki

In March 2001 she was retired to serve as a broodmare at her owner's farm in Paris, Kentucky.

Chuck Hardwick

Charles Leighton Hardwick (born November 8, 1941 in Pulaski County, Kentucky) is a former state legislator in New Jersey, and a former Senior Vice President at Pfizer.

Dan Neal

Dan Neal (born August 30, 1949 in Corbin, Kentucky) is a former American Football player who played offensive line for eleven seasons between 1973 and 1983 for the Baltimore Colts and the Chicago Bears.

David Elson

The Hoosiers made their first road trip of the year to play Elson's former team, the WKU Hilltoppers in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

David Pajo

A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Pajo played with three Louisville hardcore and hardcore-inflected bands in his early career.

Elna

Elna, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in Johnson County, Kentucky, USA

Ernie Allen

Mr. Allen is also a former Director of Public Health & Safety for the City of Louisville, Kentucky.

Felix Zollicoffer

Zollicoffer moved west and established an encampment at Mill Springs, Kentucky (near present day Nancy, Kentucky) on the south bank of the Cumberland River.

Forceythe Willson

In 1846, his father loaded the family and their belongings on a raft and floated down the Allegany and Ohio Rivers to Maysville, Kentucky.

Ford P platform

Production of the Super Duty trucks will continue at the Louisville, Kentucky truck plant.

George James, Jr.

for the Kentucky State University Thorobreds located in Frankfort, Kentucky

Georgetown Tigers

The Georgetown College Tigers are the sports teams of Georgetown College located in Georgetown, Kentucky.

Gino Guidugli

Guidugli played at Highlands High School in Fort Thomas, Kentucky.

Godzillus

Godzillus is the tentative name of a 450 million years old fossil discovered in a rock layer near Covington, Kentucky by amateur paleontologist Ron Fine, of the Cincinnati Dry Dredgers.

Great Waters Association of Vexillology

GWAV hosted the North American Vexillological Association’s 1995 annual meeting in Covington, Kentucky, the 2000 annual meeting in Lansing, Michigan, the 2004 annual meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, and the 2012 annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio.

Heritage Village Museum

Schram Printing Company was located on Madison Avenue in Covington, Kentucky.

Hermon P. Carpenter

Carpenter graduated from Sue Bennett Memorial School, now Sue Bennett College, at London, Kentucky, and worked his way through Kentucky Wesleyan College, where he received the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1909.

History of Visalia, California

Visalia was named after Visalia, Kentucky, a place to which Nathaniel Vise can trace his family ancestry.

In the Fishtank 6

In the Fishtank 6 is the recording of a live session in a Dutch studio by Louisville-based math rock band June of 44.

J. Edward Anderson

The Sky Loop plan was submitted to the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI), but the proposal was ultimately rejected by OKI's Central Area Loop Study Committee.

James W. Adams

James W. Adams of Southville, Kentucky was a carpenter, builder, and designer in south central Shelby County, Kentucky.

Jock Sutherland

While on a scouting trip for the Steelers in April 1948, Sutherland was found in his car in Bandana, Kentucky, where he was experiencing confusion and was then taken to a hospital in Cairo, Illinois, where he was initially diagnosed with "nervous exhaustion".

Joe Szakos

Szakos began his work in eastern Kentucky working on housing development in David (Floyd County) in 1979.

John Michael Hayden

A two-time Parade Magazine All-American at Trinity High School in Louisville, Kentucky, Hayden matriculated at Indiana University in 2002.

Jon Petrovich

Petrovich began as a reporter for WHAS-TV in Louisville, Kentucky before moving on to become assistant News Director for WDIV-TV in Detroit, Michigan.

Jorge Navarro Suárez

In 2010, Navarro was captured in an undercover video for ABC News during an event of the Council of United States Legislators in Louisville, Kentucky.

Judi Patton

In December 1995, Judi and her husband Paul Patton (59th Governor of Kentucky) entered the Governor’s Office in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Kentucky Route 20

Near Petersburg, it heads northeast, before turning to the east in Petersburg.

Kentucky Route 289

KY 289 begins at an intersection with US 68/KY 55 in Campbellsville, Taylor County, heading north on two-lane undivided Lebanon Avenue.

Kentucky Route 61

Kentucky Route 61 (KY 61) is a 148.006 mile (238.193 km) long Kentucky State Highway extending north from the Tennessee state line in Cumberland County to Columbia in Adair County through to Greensburg in Green County.

Kevin Groob

Kevin Michael Groob (born December 9, 1981) is an American singer/songwriter originally from Fort Mitchell, Kentucky.

Knob Lick

Knob Lick, Metcalfe County, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in Metcalfe County, Kentucky

Laban T. Moore

Born in Wayne County, Virginia (now West Virginia), near Louisa, Kentucky, Moore attended Marshall Academy in Virginia and was graduated from Marietta College in Ohio.

Leallah

She was retired after her three-year-old campaign to stand at her olwners Marchmont Farm on Winchester Road near Paris, Kentucky.

Lee Roberson

At the age of nineteen, he was called to a church in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, but he did not accept.

London, Ohio

It is the second largest community in the United States named London.

Louisville Lightning

Louisville was awarded the team in August with the ownership group of Wayne Estopinal and Ted Nichols and the new team was aptly named the Lightning as well.

Louisville Thunder

Louisville Thunder was an indoor soccer club based in Louisville, Kentucky that competed in the American Indoor Soccer Association.

Margaret Vandercook

Daughter of Joel Mayo Womack and Nannie Gibson (O'Bannon) Womack, she was born in Louisville, Kentucky, where she attended both public and private schools.

Michael Baze

On June 3, 2011, deputy Jefferson County coroner Jim Wesley reported that Michael Baze died of an accidental overdose.

Middleton S. Barnwell

Middleton S. Barnwell was born September 9, 1882 in Louisville, Kentucky.

Midwestern Hayride

Inspired by the Shreveport-based Louisiana Hayride, the show was originally called Boone County Jamboree (named for nearby Boone County in Northern Kentucky).

Model M keyboard

These keyboards were produced by IBM in their plants in Lexington, Greenock and Guadalajara.

Monon, Indiana

The northern division came into Monon and turned ninety degrees heading south to Lafayette and Louisville, Kentucky.

Nancy Lincoln

The family lived on land along Pottinger's Creek, in a settlement called Rolling Fork in Nelson County, Kentucky, until patriarch Joseph's death in 1793.

National League

After recruiting St. Louis privately, four western clubs met in Louisville, Kentucky, in January 1876.

National Weather Service St. Louis, Missouri

Programming for Wayne and Bollinger counties are provided by the National Weather Service office located in Paducah, Kentucky.

Orie Solomon Ware

He was admitted to the bar in 1903 and commenced practice in Covington, Kentucky.

Peaks and Valleys

Bred by Josephine Abercrombie's Pin Oak Stud in Versailles, Kentucky, he was the son of Carter Handicap winner Mt. Livermore, a son of the very important Champion sire, Blushing Groom.

Pheme Perkins

Pheme Perkins (born 1945 in Louisville, Kentucky) is a Professor of Theology at Boston College, where she has been teaching since 1972.

Rank Strangers

The Rank Strangers were also headliners at the Station Inn in Nashville, and the Louisville, Kentucky, music festival, supporting guitar legend Tony Rice's bluegrass band.

Reportedly haunted locations in Kentucky

The Owens House in Barbourville, Knox County, Kentucky, is a Queen Anne house which was built by John Allen Owens in 1894.

Return J. Meigs, Jr.

The first of these - called Return J. Meigs III - passed the bar in Frankfort, Kentucky, commenced law practice in Athens, Tennessee, and became prominent in Tennessee state affairs before the Civil War.

Robert H. Grubbs

Robert Howard Grubbs (born February 27, 1942 Possum Trot, Kentucky) is an American chemist and Nobel laureate.

Rosemary Clooney Museum

The Rosemary Clooney Museum is located in a historic 1835 house, located on Riverside Drive, in Augusta, Kentucky.

Sabacon cavicolens

It was originally described from Bat Cave, Carter County, Kentucky and New Hampshire, and a year later found under rotten logs in a deep gorge at Ithaca, New York.

Saint Liam

Saint Liam was standing at stud at Lane's End Farm in Versailles, Kentucky when, in a freak accident in August 2006 he slipped and fell, suffering an untreatable left tibial fracture.

Samuel Ornitz

In 1931, Ornitz collaborated with Theodore Dreiser, John Dos Passos and other left-leaning writers on the report of the Dreiser Committee, an investigation of the Harlan County War strike in Harlan County, Kentucky.

Scott Ritcher

Scott Ritcher is a magazine publisher and graphic designer from Louisville, Kentucky, born September 27, 1969.

Showing Up

Foaled near Wilmore, Kentucky, in 2003 at Peter Taafe's Taafe Farm, he was bred by Nellie M. Cox of Rose Retreat Farm.

South Floyd High School

South Floyd High School (SFHS) is a secondary school located in Hi Hat, Floyd County, Kentucky, U.S.A., and is one of five public high schools in the Floyd County School system.

Strathmoor, Kentucky

Strathmoor is a former suburb of Louisville, Kentucky.

Strip mill

The strip mill was a major innovation, with the first being erected at Ashland, Kentucky in 1923.

The Wicked North

The Wicked North stood as a stallion at the True North farm at Versailles, Kentucky until 2008 when he was retired after suffering from equine protozoal myeloencephalitis.

Timothy Shay Arthur

He then found employment with a wholesale merchandiser and later as an agent for an investment concern, a job that took him briefly to Louisville, Kentucky.

Tropics and Meridians

Tropics and Meridians is the second album by Louisville-based math rock band June of 44.

Walton, Kentucky

There is an elementary school in the neighboring community of Verona, and a high school and middle school within the city of Walton.

Waterfront Development Corporation

An agreement to provide equal funding between the governments of Louisville, Jefferson County, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky led to the creation of the Waterfront Development Corporation.

Wesley Phelps

He was educated in the Ohio County, Kentucky, elementary schools and graduated from Horse Branch High School in 1942.

Western Kentucky Lady Toppers basketball

The Western Kentucky Lady Toppers basketball team represents Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

William B. Baugh

Born July 7, 1930, in McKinney, Kentucky, William Bernard Baugh was employed by Harrison Shoe Corporation before his enlistment in the Marine Corps on January 23, 1948, at the age of 17.

William McKendree

In 1798, he was appointed to the Baltimore conference, and in 1800 he went with Bishop Asbury and Bishop Richard Whatcoat to the Western Conference, which met that year at Bethel, Kentucky.

Williamson, West Virginia

South Williamson is an unincorporated area of Pike County and is associated with the adjacent Kentucky neighborhoods of Goody and Belfry.

Woodlawn trophy

Considered one of the most valuable trophies in sports, the trophy has its roots at the Woodlawn Race Course, a 19th century race track near Louisville, Kentucky.

You Got to Move

Fought to get damage payments for the people in her community in Cranks Creek, Harlan County, Kentucky much of whose property was destroyed by a series of floods related to strip-mining abuses; succeeded in reclaiming much of the mountainous land around Cranks Creek.


Air Kentucky

The airline was mentioned in the film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou; one of the main characters, Ned Plimpton, is a pilot for Air Kentucky.

Alice Lloyd

Alice Lloyd College, a liberal arts college in Pippa Passes, Kentucky, a small Appalachian community

Andrew Stahl

He currently lives on his family farm in Butler County, Kentucky and works out of Atlanta, Georgia and Nashville, Tennessee.

Anna Mac Clarke

While at Kentucky State, Clarke was a very active student, participating in sports, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and the school's newspaper, The Kentucky Thorobred.

Appalachian Stakes

First held in 1989, the Appalachian Stakes was named for the Appalachian Mountains which extend into Eastern Kentucky.

Battle of Camp Wildcat

Brig. Gen. Felix Zollicoffer's Confederates moved from Tennessee in an effort to push from Cumberland Gap into central Kentucky and gain control of the important border state.

Belle Meade Plantation

The bloodlines of Belle Meade Plantation, primarily due to the success of "Bonnie Scotland, a Belle Meade foundation stud, include famous descendants such as Secretariat, Funny Cide, Seabiscuit, Giacamo, Mine That Bird, Smarty Jones, and Barbaro, Since the 1990s, every horse that has run the Kentucky Derby is a blood descendent of Belle Meade Plantation foundations.

Cedar Key Museum State Park

The naturalist John Muir visited Cedar Key in 1867 on his historic walk from Kentucky to Florida.

Cumberland Presbytery

History of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Kentucky to 1988, by Matthew H. Gore, Joint Heritage Committee of Covenant and Cumberland Presbyteries.

Dinsmore House

Dinsmore Homestead, Burlington, Kentucky, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Dinsmore House and as James Dinsmore House, in Boone County, Kentucky

Don Phelps

Phelps was suspended for most of the 1948 season for breaking team rules, but he returned in 1949, when Kentucky played in the Orange Bowl.

Edward H. Hobson

He was married to Katie Adair, a niece of Kentucky Governor John Adair.

Food City

K-VA-T Food City, a U.S. supermarket chain with stores located in Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee.

Gunther Behnke

He was recruited by head coach Joe B. Hall to play for the University of Kentucky but became homesick and never appeared in a game for Kentucky.

Heath High School

Heath High School (Kentucky) in West Paducah, Kentucky, a now-closed school also known as the site of a notable shooting in 1997 in which three students were killed and five wounded

J. Madison Wright Morris

Once graduating from university in summer 2006, Madison planned to begin a job teaching English to tenth grade children at George Rogers Clark High School, located in Winchester, Kentucky.

Jamal Mashburn

He owns 34 Outback Steakhouse franchises, 37 Papa John's franchises, and a number of car dealerships across the state of Kentucky.

James Harrod

A contemporary of better known explorers like Daniel Boone, George Rogers Clark, Benjamin Logan, and Simon Kenton, Harrod led many expeditions into the regions that now form Kentucky and Illinois.

John Minton

John D. Minton, Jr. (born 1952), Chief Justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court

Kenny Rogers Roasters

It was founded in 1991 by country musician Kenny Rogers and John Y. Brown, Jr., who was former governor of the U.S. state of Kentucky.

Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers

The Kentucky Wesleyan College Panthers are the athletic teams of Kentucky Wesleyan College, which compete in the NCAA Division II and the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.

Levi Todd

Two of his daughters married politicians, Jane Briggs marrying congressman Daniel Breck and Elizabeth Todd marrying Charles Carr, the son of Kentucky statesman Walter Carr.

Louisville and Nashville Railroad

The L&N Railroad is also the subject of at least two songs, the 2003 Rhonda Vincent bluegrass song "Kentucky Borderline", and "The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore" by Jean Ritchie and performed by Michelle Shocked.

Moundville Archaeological Site

The culture was expressed in villages and chiefdoms throughout the central Mississippi River Valley, the lower Ohio River Valley, and most of the Mid-South area, including Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi as the core of the classic Mississippian culture area.

Ole Miss Rebels

The younger Insell had spent the previous five seasons as an assistant under Matthew Mitchell at Kentucky.

Overmountain Men

Other influential Overmountain Men included John Crockett (father of Davy Crockett), William Lenoir, Joseph Dickson, Daniel Smith, William Russell, and John Rhea, all of whom were at Kings Mountain, and Anthony Bledsoe, who commanded the homeguard for the Holston settlement while the main force was away.

Prestonia, Louisville

Prestonia is a neighborhood five miles southeast of downtown Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. Its boundaries are Preston Highway, Interstate 65, Interstate 264 and the Norfolk Southern Railway tracks.

Scott May

With May's injury keeping him to 7 minutes of play, the No. 1 Hoosiers lost to Kentucky 92-90 in the Mideast Regional.

Thomas Clyde Bowling Jr.

In 2004 Bowling sued the Kentucky State Department of Corrections along with fellow inmate Ralph Baze on the grounds that execution by lethal injection constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Tri-state area

Three other prominent areas that have been labeled tri-state areas are the Cincinnati tri-state area, including Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana; the Pittsburgh tri-state area, covering parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia; and the Chicago tri-state area, also known as Chicagoland, which includes Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

WBLN

WQQR, a radio station (94.7 FM) licensed to Clinton, Kentucky, United States, which used the call sign WBLN from March 1997 to March 1998

WCLU

WCLU-FM, a radio station at 102.3 FM licensed to Munfordville, Kentucky

WDFB

WDFB-FM, a radio station at 88.1 FM licensed to Danville, Kentucky

Wildcat Mountain

Battle of Camp Wildcat (Battle of Wildcat Mountain), an American Civil War battle in Laurel County, Kentucky

William Thorne

William P. Thorne (1845–1928) Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky (1903–1907)

WKDZ

WKDZ-FM, a radio station (106.5 FM) located in Cadiz, Kentucky, United States

WMKJ

WWRW, a radio station (105.5 FM) licensed to serve Mount Sterling, Kentucky, United States, which held the call sign WMKJ from 2000 to 2010