• During the Civil War, Kentucky had both Union and Confederate soldiers, and sometimes two brothers in one family were fighting in the war on separate sides.

• Can you be “blind as a shrimp”? Yes. Mammoth Cave is so dark that several species of creatures have become blind. They couldn't see anything if they could see! It happened this way: seeing stuff didn't give any shrimp any advantage — it was just too dark. So, after millions of years, sight just sort of dropped out of their genes.

Hodgenville, Kentucky, has the first memorial to Honest Abe. They have moved the log cabin where he was born inside another building, to keep it from falling apart. Lincoln is noted for enacting the Emancipation Proclamation, and delivering the Gettysburg Address in 1863. He was assassinated on April 14, 1865.

Kentucky is best known for horse farms and racing. The Kentucky Derby is a horserace held at Churchill Downs every year. The racetrack has a museum dedicated to champion horses and the history of horse racing in the area.

Kentucky is the twenty-third largest state in population, with almost four million people. The largest city, Louisville, is ten times bigger (253,000) than the capital, Frankfurt.