Kentucky is known as The Bluegrass State because of its bluish-green tinged grass. There are tons of weird, wonderful, cool and quirky facts about the Bluegrass State you may have never known.
The authors of Weird Kentucky, Mark Scuerman, Mark Moran and Jeffrey Scott Holland would have a great time with these weird and quirky facts
1. The starting horses in the annual Kentucky Derby had names beginning with every letter of the alphabet except X
2. The most famous race horse ever born and raised in Kentucky, Man O'War, never actually ran a derby
3. Thunder Over Louisville is the world's largest fireworks display. This event kicks off the Kentucky Derby
4. 7,000 liters of bourbon and 120,000 mint juleps are consumed every year at the Kentucky Derby
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| This image gives you an idea of how people dress for the Kentucky Derby |
5. Bourbon County is not a dry state, as internet lore would lead you to believe
6. The famed beverage takes its name from this county, where it was first distilled
7. Progressive Farmer Magazine lists Barren County as America's best place to live
8. The 13th Chief Justice of the United States, Frederick Vinson, started out in a Louisa County jailhouse
9. "Honest" Dick Tate, a Kentucky treasurer, can add irony to his name. He fled in 1888 with a good quarter million from the state treasury
10. Located in Vanceburg is the only memorial to Union Soldiers killed during the Civil War. It pays respect to the 107 local men and boys who gave their lives fighting for the Union. It's called the Union Memorial
11. Prior to taking office, Kentucky governors must swear an oath that they have never fought a duel with deadly weapons
12. Frankfort, the state's now capital, was the only city to be captured by the Confederate Army
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| Almost every school in Northern Kentucky has sent their students on field trips here |
13. "The Kentucky Giant", Martin Van Buren Bates was a staggering 7'2''. He was a captain in the 7th Kentucky Cavalry. His feet dragged when he sat in the saddle. After the war ended, he met a woman who was even taller than him and he married her
14. Richmond, KY was almost the nation's capital. But, because of its lack of nearby seaports, Washington D.C. became the nation's capital
15. Local Louisville restaurant Kaelin's claims to have invented the cheeseburger in 1934. Only a year later, a Denver-based restaurant called Humpty Dumpty's patented the cheeseburger
16. Pikeville is the city with the most Pepsi consumption
17. Colonel Sanders, the smiling bespectacled Southern Gent on the KFC commercials was a real person
-His famed chicken started out being sold in a gas station he ran in Corbin, KY. When he realized he was selling more chicken than gas, he started making restaurants serving his famous recipe chicken
18. Bowling Green has the proud and unique honor of being the birth place of famous cake mix company Duncan Hines
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| Food writer / cake mix inventor Duncan Hines |
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| One of his products |
19. Bowling Green also has bragging rights to being the birthplace of Chevrolet Corvettes
20. Cynthiana is where Post-It Notes were invented
21. Mammoth Cave is the oldest cave system in the US and also the longest cave system in the US. It's the second most popular tourist attraction behind Niagara Falls
22. One of the few places you can witness a moonbow is Cumberland Falls in the Daniel Boone National Forest
23. Despite what history says, the first commercial oil well was not created in Texas. It was actually drilled in 1819 along the banks of the Cumberland River in McCreary County
24. Two Louisville-based sisters, Patty and Mildred Hill, wrote the melody now known as "Happy Birthday"
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