Frankfort is the capital. At the left is the State Capital Building

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Kentucky was used as sacred hunting grounds by roving bands of Shawnee and others. As early as 1750 there were no known permanent Native settlements. After 1770, settlers from Virginia and North Carolina came through the Cumberland Gap, and Kentucky grew rapidly as the first settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains were founded.

After the American Revolution, the counties of Virginia beyond the Appalachian Mountains became known as Kentucky County. Eventually, the residents of Kentucky County petitioned for a separation from Virginia. Ten constitutional conventions were held in the Constitution Square Courthouse in Danville between 1784 and 1792. In 1790, Kentucky's delegates accepted Virginia's terms of separation, and a state constitution was drafted at the final convention in April 1792. On June 1, 1792, Kentucky became the fifteenth state to be admitted to the union and Isaac Shelby, a military veteran from Virginia, was elected the first Governor of the Commonwealth Of Kentucky.

While remaining loyal to the Union, Kentucky was a border state during the American Civil War. The state did not secede, and was officially neutral until a new legislature took office on August 5, 1861 with strong Union sympathies. The Confederates entered the state during the "Kentucky Campaign" of Generals Braxton Bragg and Edmund Kirby Smith in 1862. Bragg's retreat following the Battle of Perryville left the state under the control of the Union Army for the remainder of the war. The state then abandoned neutrality, and publicly sided with the Union. Southern sympathizers attempted to establish an alternative state government with the goal of secession but failed to displace the legitimate government in Frankfort.

 

Kentucky Counties
ADAIR	ALLEN	ANDERSON	BALLARD	BARREN	BATH
BECKHAM	BELL	BOONE	BOURBON	BOYD	BOYLE
BRACKEN	BREATHITT	BRECKINRIDGE	BULLITT	BUTLER (HOSTED)	CALDWELL
CALLOWAY	CAMPBELL	CARLISLE	CARROLL	CARTER	CASEY
CHRISTIAN	CLARK	CLAY	CLINTON	CRITTENDEN	CUMBERLAND
DAVIESS	EDMONSON (HOSTED)	ELLIOTT	ESTILL	FAYETTE	FLEMING
FLOYD	FRANKLIN	FULTON	GALLATIN	GARRARD	GRANT
GRAVES	GRAYSON (HOSTED)	GREEN	GREENUP	HANCOCK	HARDIN (HOSTED)
HARLAN	HARRISON	HART	HENDERSON	HENRY	HICKMAN
HOPKINS	JACKSON	JEFFERSON	JESSAMINE	JOHNSON	KENTON
KNOTT	KNOX	LARUE	LAUREL	LAWRENCE (HOSTED)	LEE
LESLIE	LETCHER	LEWIS	LINCOLN	LIVINGSTON	LOGAN
LYON	MADISON	MAGOFFIN	MARION	MARSHALL	MARTIN
MASON	MCCRACKEN	MCCREARY	MCLEAN	MEADE	MENIFEE
MERCER	METCALFE	MONROE	MONTGOMERY	MORGAN	MUHLENBERG
NELSON	NICHOLAS	OHIO	OLDHAM	OWEN	OWSLEY
PENDLETON	PERRY	PIKE	POWELL	PULASKI	ROBERTSON
ROCKCASTLE	ROWAN	RUSSELL	SCOTT	SHELBY	SIMPSON
SPENCER	TAYLOR	TODD	TRIGG	TRIMBLE	UNION
WARREN	WASHINGTON	WAYNE	WEBSTER	WHITLEY	WOLFE
WOODFORD

 

Visit Kentucky's surrounding states:

Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, Missouri

 

 

Kentucky Facts

Statehood - June 1, 1790 Origin of Name - Nickname - Bluegrass State Capital - Frankfort Motto - United We Stand, Divided We Fall Bird - Cardinal Animal - Gray Squirrel

Horse - Thoroughbred Fish - Kentucky Bass Insect - Viceroy butterfly Flower - Goldenrod Tree - Kentucky coffee tree Mineral - Freshwater pearl Soil - Crider soil series Fossil - Brachiopod

 

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