Counties are extremely important in Kentucky. We are a small state with 120 counties. (all but three are named for men) Because we have few large cities, the county is often more important than a town or city in it when describing a geographic location. Also, most of the high schools are now a consolidated county-wide school, and with March Madness approaching (basketball tournaments), the names of various counties are quite familiar. Until recently we even had the name of our county on our car license plates, and often people could name the county but not a city or town in that county.

It is said (in the Kentucky history I always heard) that the counties were laid out so that the county seat (local government) was a day's horseback ride from every point in the county. Many boundaries follow creeks and hillsides, so they are very irregular. Our roads (except for modern interstate highways) are very winding also.

Open Mike, if you are interested in geneology, the small, local library here in Bardstown is very active in that area. Kentucky was the 15th state in the union and a crossroads for Western expansion. There is a lot of documented history here... all the way back to the 1780s or so. (That must sound funny to y'all across the pond, but it really is old stuff around here.)