Actually, Stephen Foster was not born in nor did he ever live in Kentucky. He is a native of Lawrenceville, a section of Pittsburgh that is indeed, a 5 minutes drive from where I live.

See this excerpt:

"Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826 - January 13, 1864) was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of his era. Many of his songs, such as "Oh! Susanna", "Camptown Races" and "Beautiful Dreamer", are still popular over 150 years after their composition.

Foster was born in Lawrenceville, which later became part of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and grew up as the youngest of ten children in a relatively well-off family."...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Foster

Also, see this excerpt:

"To America Foster has meant much. His songs are so native in their character that there need be no hesitation in stating that his was the most national expression that any of our composers has yet achieved. Born and raised here in Pittsburgh, he was little affected by the foreign music that enslaved those who lived on the seaboard. The voices Stephen heard were those of the minstrel shows, the singing and dancing of negroes on the wharves of the Ohio River, and the sentimental songs of midcentury that were carried through the country by the 'singing families' in concert and that were sung by demure young ladies who played the accompaniments on square pianos covered with brocade and lace."

Lawrenceville People: Stephen Collins Foster

Bottom line is Kentucky can't claim Foster. He was a Pittsburgher.