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Kentucky
The Bluegrass State, between the Appalachians and the Mississippi
Kentucky stretches from the coalfields of the Appalachian Mountains in the east to the floodplain of the Mississippi River in the far west, and the land changes character every hundred miles. At its center lies the Bluegrass region, a gently rolling plateau of limestone-rich soil that grows the famous pasture and built the state's horse country. The Ohio River traces its entire northern border, a 600-mile arc that gives Kentucky its top edge and much of its history.
Beneath the surface, Kentucky is hollow. The same soluble limestone that feeds its pastures has dissolved into the longest cave system on Earth at Mammoth Cave, with more than 400 mapped miles of passage. The eastern mountains, part of the Cumberland Plateau, are rugged, forested, and coal-rich — the western Pennyroyal and Jackson Purchase flatten toward the Mississippi. Black Mountain, the high point at 4,145 feet (1,263 m), rises on the Virginia line in the far southeast.
Economy
Kentucky produces the overwhelming majority of the world's bourbon whiskey and is the global center of thoroughbred horse breeding in the Bluegrass region. Its economy also includes automotive manufacturing by Toyota and Ford, the UPS Worldport air hub in Louisville, agriculture, and the declining but historically central coal industry of the eastern Appalachian counties.
Politics
Kentucky carries 8 electoral votes and votes reliably Republican in presidential elections, though it has frequently elected Democratic governors. Its larger cities, Louisville and Lexington, lean Democratic, while the coalfields and rural counties are strongly Republican.