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Article: Bluegrass Country
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
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BLUEGRASS COUNTRY
BLUEGRASS COUNTRY,
a region of about 8,000 square miles in north central Kentucky, is named for its nutritious grass. European settlement, coming from Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas, started in the mid-1770s, and the region was well settled by 1800. The fertile soil, especially around Lexington, attracted many of the old agrarian gentry who were granted or bought large tracts of land, created estates, usually with slaves, and continued their former way of life. Smaller farmers occupied interstices between large farms as well as the less-fertile outlying areas. The region produced tobacco, hemp, and grains, and bred livestock, especially horses. The undulating ...