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The Lexington area is very pretty, with rolling countryside in many areas, horse farms and well manicured fences.
There is a slight resemblance, for sure, in this part of Kentucky to certain sections of the UK.
But the glaring differences are a) the weather and b) very different geographies in general, in each region.
If you drive 25 miles east of roughly any city in the UK, (York for example) you will either hit the ocean or you are very close to coastline.
Whereas if you drive 25 miles east from bluegrass country in the Lexington area, you hit a very unappealing and impoverished Appalachian countryside in Kentucky--one of the poorest and economically depressed regions in the US.
Basically the regions are very, very different overall, but look alike somewhat in some regions. But that's really the end to the similarities.
The Lexington area is very pretty, with rolling countryside in many areas, horse farms and well manicured fences.
There is a slight resemblance, for sure, in this part of Kentucky to certain sections of the UK.
But the glaring differences are a) the weather and b) very different geographies in general, in each region.
If you drive 25 miles east of roughly any city in the UK, (York for example) you will either hit the ocean or you are very close to coastline.
Whereas if you drive 25 miles east from bluegrass country in the Lexington area, you hit a very unappealing and impoverished Appalachian countryside in Kentucky--one of the poorest and economically depressed regions in the US.
Basically the regions are very, very different overall, but look alike somewhat in some regions. But that's really the end to the similarities.
Actually - 25 miles east of Lexington will take you to the Outer Bluegrass, not Appalachia. Even if you interpret "the bluegrass (sic) country" as including both the Inner and Outer Bluegrass, and drive east from there, you'll wind up in Morehead, a very nice college town located in the wooded Appalachian foothills. It's neither unappealing nor impoverished, and is quite close to Cave Run Lake, a major recreation area which offers swimming, boating (motor and sail), fishing, and other watersports, while bordered by wooded hills with trails, picnic areas, marinas, campgrounds, and more.
If you drive south down I-75 from the edge of the Outer Bluegrass ( the edge is between Richmond and Berea), you'll wind up near Renfro Valley, home to traditional and country music for close to 100 years. It features historic log buildings and other historic structures, a good restaurant with homestyle food, a museum, concerts, festivals, and more.
Actually, you'll hit the mountains several miles north of Renfro Valley, in Berea, Kentucky's traditional music and dance, and arts and crafts capitol and home to fabled Berea College.
The Outer Bluegrass rolls a bit more than the lush Inner Bluegrass, has fewer thoroughbred horse farms and is more wooded and less "manicured", but it's hardly the "unappealing and impoverished" countryside you describe. Instead, it's dotted with nicely maintained historic small towns like Winchester, Mt. Sterling, Lancaster, Carlisle, and more. Farming is big business but so is small manufacturing in this area.
Of course, neither is Appalachian Kentucky, which lies considerably farther south and east of Lexington (plus some mountainous areas southwest of Lexington, as the Cumberland Range runs NE to SW) unappealing, either. It's very scenic, as mountains tend to be. Quite stunningly so, in places like Cumberland Falls (State Resort Park). the Red River Gorge. Breaks Interstate Park on the VA-KY line, Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, Carter Caves State Park, and Pine Mountain State Resort Park, for a sampling.
Though there are certainly impoverished areas in the Kentucky mountains, largely due to historic ownership of natural resources by companies headquartered far away from Kentucky, the Cumberland Mountains are among the most scenic regions of the state, and contain many additional state resort parks and recreational lakes, as well as the Daniel Boone National Forest, national Scenic and Wild Rivers, the Great South Fork National River and Recreation Area, and more.
So don't perpetuate the tired stereotype of poverty-stricken Eastern Kentucky, especially if you've never explored the area very thoroughly. It's different from the Bluegrass in many ways, no question of that - but writing it off as "unappealing and impoverished" is inaccurate and does the area a great disservice.
Actually - 25 miles east of Lexington will take you to the Outer Bluegrass, not Appalachia. Even if you interpret "the bluegrass (sic) country" as including both the Inner and Outer Bluegrass, and drive east from there, you'll wind up in Morehead, a very nice college town located in the wooded Appalachian foothills. It's neither unappealing nor impoverished, and is quite close to Cave Run Lake, a major recreation area which offers swimming, boating (motor and sail), fishing, and other watersports, while bordered by wooded hills with trails, picnic areas, marinas, campgrounds, and more.
If you drive south down I-75 from the edge of the Outer Bluegrass ( the edge is between Richmond and Berea), you'll wind up near Renfro Valley, home to traditional and country music for close to 100 years. It features historic log buildings and other historic structures, a good restaurant with homestyle food, a museum, concerts, festivals, and more.
Actually, you'll hit the mountains several miles north of Renfro Valley, in Berea, Kentucky's traditional music and dance, and arts and crafts capitol and home to fabled Berea College.
The Outer Bluegrass rolls a bit more than the lush Inner Bluegrass, has fewer thoroughbred horse farms and is more wooded and less "manicured", but it's hardly the "unappealing and impoverished" countryside you describe. Instead, it's dotted with nicely maintained historic small towns like Winchester, Mt. Sterling, Lancaster, Carlisle, and more. Farming is big business but so is small manufacturing in this area.
Of course, neither is Appalachian Kentucky, which lies considerably farther south and east of Lexington (plus some mountainous areas southwest of Lexington, as the Cumberland Range runs NE to SW) unappealing, either. It's very scenic, as mountains tend to be. Quite stunningly so, in places like Cumberland Falls (State Resort Park). the Red River Gorge. Breaks Interstate Park on the VA-KY line, Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, Carter Caves State Park, and Pine Mountain State Resort Park, for a sampling.
Though there are certainly impoverished areas in the Kentucky mountains, largely due to historic ownership of natural resources by companies headquartered far away from Kentucky, the Cumberland Mountains are among the most scenic regions of the state, and contain many additional state resort parks and recreational lakes, as well as the Daniel Boone National Forest, national Scenic and Wild Rivers, the Great South Fork National River and Recreation Area, and more.
So don't perpetuate the tired stereotype of poverty-stricken Eastern Kentucky, especially if you've never explored the area very thoroughly. It's different from the Bluegrass in many ways, no question of that - but writing it off as "unappealing and impoverished" is inaccurate and does the area a great disservice.
Amen.
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The Bluegrass Region resembles parts of England, not so sure about Eastern Kentucky,
But it can be totally breathtaking.
The Smokey Mountains just to our South in Tennessee, and the Blue Ridge Mountains just to the North in West Virginia...
Both are gorgeous and breathtaking. Stunning.
And they have nothing on our Mountains here in Kentucky (except maybe more tourism...and I don't consider that a plus!)
You can stand there in so many places in the depths and the beauty of all the trees, and look out over the Mountains and not see any sign of man or civilization....It must be what they looked like when people first explored the area....sheer heaven.
Eastern Kentucky here it shows what the land must have looked like when man first set foot, and when Daniel Boone first made his way through the Mountains to Kentucky
There is a Madison county man (from Berea I think) currently re-blazing the original Daniel Boone way through the mountains with period tools. He is published fairly often in the magazine Rural Heritage, which is usually focused on draft animals and traditional farming practices. I was reared in Madison County until I was eleven years old, have maintained residences in Kentucky on occasion and still visit the family members in Franklin County quite often, so I have been following his exploits/memories quite closely.
Last edited by nalabama; 07-26-2021 at 07:47 PM..
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