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Cultural Heritage
People of various races, nationalities and religions use their traditions, art forms and experiences to tell a distinct story. Set these stories within the framework of specific places and historical events, and what you end up with is a region's cultural heritage. Kentucky has more than 200 years of history, tradition, art and music, and its people continue to add to the fabric of their story. Come explore our cultural heritage and discover what makes the Kentucky experience so rich.
Kentucky's cultural tapestry is woven of threads from Native Americans, African-Americans, explorers and pioneers. It comes from crossing the Cumberland Gap and arriving at the Falls of the Ohio River. It is woven in equal parts from blood (the conflicting loyalties resulting from its border state status during the Civil War); sweat (the labors of those hardy pioneers who came across the Appalachians to carve out a new life for themselves in the wilderness) and tears (the travails of the state's Native American and enslaved African American populations.)
Interwoven in these threads are George Rogers Clark, the founder of Louisville; Adam, the African-American slave who accompanied Daniel Boone when he first arrived in Kentucky in 1769; White path and Fly Smith, Cherokee chiefs who died in Kentucky on the forced removal from North Carolina to Indian Territory in Oklahoma, and are buried in the Trail of Tears Commemorative Park in Hopkinsville, and Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, both born on Kentucky soil and who became bitter adversaries during our nation's bloodiest conflict.
It has often been said that the past is a window to the future, and Kentucky's rich cultural roots continue to flourish in the growth of multiculturalism. From Louisville's Jewish Heritage Festival and Asian Institute to the Festival Latino in Lexington; from the traditional Scottish and English folk ballads still sung in Appalachia to the Mantle Rock Native American Education and Cultural Center in Marion, Kentuckians embrace their multicultural heritage.
Cultural Heritage
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