The spirits of native sons Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Boone, and Henry Clay are still present in many aspects of modern-day Kentucky. Known for such traditions as mountain music, mint juleps, and the Derby, Kentucky's rich heritage has not faded over time. Although the bluegrass is blue only for a short time in the spring, and few self-respecting Kentuckians will dilute a good bourbon with sugar and mint leaves, Kentucky has not sought to distance itself from its history. To many, this is still the land where Lincoln was born, where Zachary Taylor spent his youth, and where Harriet Beecher Stowe witnessed the auctioning of slaves and found the inspiration to write Uncle Tom's Cabin. Such pioneers and visionaries continue to be revered today, perhaps more so in Kentucky than anywhere else. The state itself has been assured immortality through the words of Stephen Foster's song, "My Old Kentucky Home."

Kentucky stretches from Virginia to Missouri, a geographic and historic bridge in the westward flow of American settlement. The state can be divided into four sections: the Bluegrass, the south central cave country, the eastern mountains, and the western lakes. Each differs drastically in geography, culture, and economics. A circular area in the north-central portion of the state, the Lexington plain is bluegrass country, home of great horses and gentlemen farmers. A predominantly rural nature has remained even though a patina of industry has been imposed, thanks to generous tax laws that have added industrial muscle to almost every major community. The great dams of the Tennessee Valley Authority have harnessed floods, generated cheap power, lured chemical plants, and created new vacation resources.

More than 450 million pounds of burley and dark tobacco are typically grown in Kentucky each year. This principal crop is followed by corn, soybeans, and wheat. Cattle, hogs, sheep, and poultry round out the farm family. Not all of Kentucky's corn is served on the cob; much of it winds up as bourbon whiskey, respected and treasured in much of the world. Kentucky is a major mining state as well, with rich deposits of bituminous coal, petroleum, natural gas, fluorspar, natural cement, and clay. Tobacco and food products, electronic equipment, transportation equipment, chemicals, and machinery are the principal factory products.

The Cumberland Gap, a natural passageway through the mountains that sealed the Kentucky wilderness off from Virginia, was the gateway of the pioneers. Dr. Thomas Walker, the first recorded explorer to make a thorough land expedition into the state, arrived in 1750. Daniel Boone and a company of axmen hacked the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap and far into the wilds. The first permanent settlement was at Harrodsburg in 1774, followed quickly by Boonesborough in 1775. Richard Henderson, founder of the Transylvania Company, asked Congress to recognize Transylvania as the 14th state; instead, Virginia claimed Kentucky as one of its counties, and Transylvania passed into history. Finally, in 1792, Congress admitted Kentucky as a state. The Civil War found Kentucky for the Union but against abolition. It remained officially with the North but fought on both sides.