Does central Kentucky really look like England?

[lvmensch]

I was born back east but grew up in Louisville. My two younger sisters were born in Louisville. We ended up back east and my youngest sister was a top ten graduate of the Bronx High School of Science. Went on to graduate from one of the fancy mid west schools.

She ended up with an English guy and for years they moved back and forth between the US and England. Their daughter lived extensively in both countries. They settled in England in middle age. Daughter became an English MD.

During my career I had a long period where I did a week a month in England. Two locations were both north of London. I would stay in London and reverse commute. The third place was on the border of Wales. A beautiful drive and the country felt very much like non urban Kentucky.

Some things were different. There is for instance no way to mistake a rural country road in KY for an English one. Hedge Rows and narrow and obviously developed over a long term.

I did like the English humor. When going between the two facilities north of London the instructions involved turning east after the farm with all the sheep. The funniest thing was it worked.

My sister found it very Kentuckian in the more rural areas. She liked it. The funnies thing is that her English MD daughter both a Brit and American chose to move to Copenhagen and become a Dane.

[jjbradleynyc]

Originally Posted by CraigCreek

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.

Nice description and nice writeup! Sure, some of these towns have their charms, and the entire region is not terrible--no entire region is. I love the charm and beauty of the Lexington area.

I have very close family from eastern Kentucky, and I visited there regularly as a child. The areas of Corbin, Middlesboro, Hazard and Manchester.

The region has its beauty indeed. But this eastern region of Kentucky is definitely in need of a huge economic boost--with well paying jobs, good healthcare and industries being pretty scarce.