Every year in May, there is a famous sporting event in Louisville, Kentucky. The Kentucky Derby is a horse race that first started in 1875. The race is run over a distance of 1 ¼ miles. The horses usually complete the race in around 2 minutes! The horses that run in the Kentucky Derby are all three years old. The person who rides a horse in the race is called a jockey.
The Kentucky Derby is one of the most popular single-day sporting events in the world. Around 150,000 people attend and many millions more watch on TV or online. While the race draws people and attention to Kentucky, there are many more things to see and do in the state.
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About 750,000 people visit Mammoth Cave each year to view rock formations like this one.
Did you know that in Kentucky you can find the longest cave system in the world? A cave system is a series of connected caves. Mammoth Cave in Kentucky is a cave system that is over 350 miles long! Parts of Mammoth Cave are hundreds of feet underground. Some animals that live there have adapted to the darkness. Eyeless fish and eyeless crayfish live in Mammoth Cave. So too do bats, cave crickets, and blind beetles.
You can explore Mammoth Cave in different ways. You can use an elevator or stairs to go down into the caves. You can even go on an underground boat tour.
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The vault at Fort Knox is surrounded by many layers of security including landmines, electric fences, and laser-triggered machine guns.
Kentucky is also home to Fort Knox, which is a US Army base. The United States Bullion Depository is in Fort Knox. There are 147.3 million ounces of gold held there. The estimated value of the gold is hundreds of billions of dollars. The gold is kept in a vault, or a strong locked building, which is one of the most secure places in the world. There is no one person who knows all the things that need to be done to open the vault!
The first gold was sent to Fort Knox in 1937. At different times, other important items have been stored there, too. During World War II, the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights were stored at Fort Knox.
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More Facts About Kentucky
- Bluegrass is a type of grass that is common throughout Kentucky. This is why Kentucky’s nickname is The Bluegrass State.
- Kentucky became the 15th state in 1792.
- Before Kentucky was a state, it was a county of Virginia.
- President Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 1809.
- The Kentucky State Wild Animal is the Eastern gray squirrel.
- The Kentucky State Drink is milk.
Photo Credit: McGraw Hill
