Kentucky

The Kentucky River winds northwest through wooded hills and the Bluegrass country before joining the Ohio. Its valley formed part of a landscape used by Indigenous peoples for travel, hunting and settlement. Salt licks and trails drew people across the region, and the river later became a focus of European American settlement.

In 1775 Daniel Boone established Fort Boonesborough on the Kentucky River near the Wilderness Road from Cumberland Gap. The fortified settlement stood amid a struggle over land claimed by Indigenous nations and incoming settlers. Boonesborough was also the centre of the short-lived colony of Transylvania. In 1778 its defenders withstood a siege by a force of Indigenous warriors and their British allies. The river continued to connect the new settlements with the Ohio valley.

The later city of Lexington lies here.