Kentucky Bend

Kentucky Bend is the extreme southwestern corner of Kentucky. The peninsula is traversed by the southern line of latitude of the state of Kentucky, at the banks of the Mississippi River. The only highway into the area is Tennessee State Route 22,{{cite map |author= Tennessee Department of Transportation |title= Official Transportation Map |location= Nashville |publisher= Tennessee Department of Transportation|year=2019}} whose continuation into Kentucky Bend at one time was signed as Kentucky State Route 313.{{cite map |author= Kentucky Transportation Cabinet |url= http://transportation.ky.gov/Planning/Maps/FultonCo1953.pdf |title=Fulton County Highway Map |year=1953|scale=1:62500|location=Frankfort |publisher= Kentucky Transportation Cabinet |access-date=May 20, 2023}}

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Kentucky Bend covers a land area of {{convert|69.6|sqkm|order=flip}}, of which {{convert|45.2|sqkm|order=flip}} are land and {{convert|24.4|sqkm|order=flip}}, or 35.08%, are covered by water.{{cite web| url=http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_SF1/G001/0600000US2107591918| title=Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Census Summary File 1 (G001), Kentucky Bend CCD, Fulton County, Kentucky| publisher=U.S. Census Bureau| work=American FactFinder| access-date=May 25, 2016| archive-url=https://archive.today/20200213122159/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_SF1/G001/0600000US2107591918| archive-date=February 13, 2020| url-status=dead}} The water area is primarily within the Mississippi River. Surveyors marking the boundary between Kentucky and Tennessee had only estimated where their line would meet the Mississippi; later, more detailed surveys revealed the location of this line to pass through north–south bends in the river, creating a division of the peninsula.{{cite web |url= http://www.ket.org/kentuckylife/800s/kylife804.html |title= Life on the Mississippi |publisher= Kentucky Educational Television |access-date= January 15, 2007 |archive-date= February 13, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070213074544/http://www.ket.org/kentuckylife/800s/kylife804.html |url-status= dead }} The western border of Kentucky is designated as the Mississippi River, as is the eastern border of Missouri—thus the creation of a "notch" for Kentucky, but not for Tennessee.

Image:KYstateline.jpg

File:Madrid Bend front stone.jpg

The border predates the separation of Kentucky from Virginia and Tennessee from North Carolina. Its location stems from the Royal Colonial Boundary of 1665, which was meant to delimit overlapping inland claims of the Colony of Virginia and the Province of Carolina, respectively.

In 1812, this area of the river was highly disrupted and was reported to even flow backward because of the 1811–1812 New Madrid series of earthquakes, some of the most powerful ever felt in the United States.{{cite web |url= http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/kybend.htm |title= Kentucky Bend Map and Information Page |publisher= Worldatlas.com |access-date= December 10, 2011}}

The state of Tennessee contested the inclusion of the Kentucky Bend in the state of Kentucky, claiming it as part of Obion County until at least 1848, but Tennessee eventually dropped its claim.{{citation needed|date=April 2013}}

This area of the Mississippi River, from just east at "Island Number Ten" around to the town of New Madrid, Missouri, was the site of a Civil War battle from February 28 to April 8, 1862, the Battle of Island Number Ten.

Due to its highly productive soil in the river's floodplain, Kentucky Bend was developed as a major cotton-producing area. The 1870 census recorded more than 300 residents. In The West Tennessee Farm edited by Marvin Downing (University of Tennessee at Martin Press, 1979), Norman L. Parks reports a population in 1880 of 303, of whom 18 were African American. By 1900, "large numbers of Negroes in the Bend" were working as laborers to plant and harvest the cotton.

In Mark Twain's book Life on the Mississippi,{{cite book |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8476/8476-h/8476-h.htm |last=Twain |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Twain |title=Life on the Mississippi |volume= Part 6 |location= Boston |publisher=James R. Osgood & Co. |via= Project Gutenberg |year= 1883 |access-date=January 15, 2007}} he described the six-decade-long feud between the Darnell and Watson families and other elements of life in the bend.

{{US Census population

| 1820 = 2

| 1870 = 308

| 1880 = 332

| 1890 = 322

| 2000 = 21

| 2010 = 18

| 2020 = 9

| 2020n = {{cite web |title=Kentucky Bend CCD |url=https://www.census.gov/search-results.html?searchType=web&cssp=SERP&q=Kentucky%20Bend%20CCD,%20Fulton%20County,%20Kentucky |website=The United States Census Bureau |language=EN-US}}

}}

The Kentucky Bend, like the nearby Missouri Bootheel and Western Tennessee, has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) with characteristics of a humid continental climate, and experiences hot, humid summers and chilly, though not severe, winters. Winter weather can vary from very mild and wet when air masses from the Gulf of Mexico predominate, to very cold, dry, and windy with northerly or northwesterly airflows as in the famous cold month of January 1977. On average, 82 nights fall to or below {{convert|32|F|C|disp=or}}, while one night falls to or below {{convert|0|F|C|1|disp=or}}, and the coldest temperature ever was {{convert|−17|F|C|1|disp=or}} on February 2, 1951. The hottest was {{convert|107|F|C|1|disp=or}} on July 1, 1952, while an average of 2.9 days exceed {{convert|100|F|C|1|disp=or}}.

Rainfall is fairly heavy throughout the year due to moist air from the Gulf of Mexico being advected on the western side of the Bermuda High, plus occasional remnant depressions from hurricanes passing up the Mississippi Valley. Between 1963 and 2012, the wettest calendar year was 1990 with {{convert|71.24|in|mm|1|disp=or}} and the driest 2005 with {{convert|32.36|in|mm|1|disp=or}}. The wettest day was September 23, 2006, with {{convert|11.38|in|mm|1}} in one day, and September 2006 was also the wettest month with {{convert|15.27|in|mm|1}}, while no precipitation fell during October 1964.

Snowfall is common during the winter, with around {{convert|9.7|in|m|2|disp=or}} annually. The most snow in one month was in January 1977 with {{convert|13.1|in|m|2|disp=or}}, while the snowiest season was from July 1966 to June 1967 with {{convert|19.3|in|m|2|disp=or}}.

{{Weather box

|location = Kentucky Bend

|single line = Y

|Jan high F = 41

|Feb high F = 49

|Mar high F = 59

|Apr high F = 70

|May high F = 78

|Jun high F = 86

|Jul high F = 91

|Aug high F = 90

|Sep high F = 82

|Oct high F = 72

|Nov high F = 60

|Dec high F = 47

|year high F= 69

|Jan low F = 23

|Feb low F = 27

|Mar low F = 37

|Apr low F = 46

|May low F = 56

|Jun low F = 64

|Jul low F = 69

|Aug low F = 68

|Sep low F = 60

|Oct low F = 45

|Nov low F = 38

|Dec low F = 29

|year low F= 47

|Jan record high F = 78

|Feb record high F = 79

|Mar record high F = 86

|Apr record high F = 97

|May record high F = 98

|Jun record high F = 106

|Jul record high F = 107

|Aug record high F = 106

|Sep record high F = 104

|Oct record high F = 100

|Nov record high F = 85

|Dec record high F = 79

|year record high F= 107

|Jan record low F = −20

|Feb record low F = −17

|Mar record low F = 7

|Apr record low F = 23

|May record low F = 33

|Jun record low F = 43

|Jul record low F = 45

|Aug record low F = 46

|Sep record low F = 34

|Oct record low F = 23

|Nov record low F = 5

|Dec record low F = −12

|year record low F= −20

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation inch = 3.51

|Feb precipitation inch = 4.07

|Mar precipitation inch = 4.78

|Apr precipitation inch = 5.01

|May precipitation inch = 5.39

|Jun precipitation inch = 4.39

|Jul precipitation inch = 3.94

|Aug precipitation inch = 3.23

|Sep precipitation inch = 3.35

|Oct precipitation inch = 3.64

|Nov precipitation inch = 4.78

|Dec precipitation inch = 5.10

|year precipitation inch=

|Jan snow inch = 3.7

|Feb snow inch = 3.4

|Mar snow inch = 1.3

|Apr snow inch = 0

|May snow inch = 0

|Jun snow inch = 0

|Jul snow inch = 0

|Aug snow inch = 0

|Sep snow inch = 0

|Oct snow inch = 0

|Nov snow inch = 0.3

|Dec snow inch = 1

|year snow inch=

|source={{Cite web|url=http://www.intellicast.com/Local/History.aspx?location=USTN0507|title=Intellicast | Weather Underground}}

}}

• {{annotated link|Carter Lake, Iowa}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.ket.org/program/kentucky-life/life-on-the-mississippi-161723/ Video about Kentucky's Mississippi border] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160419062138/http://www.ket.org/kentuckylife/800s/kylife804.html synopsis])
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20170817211616/http://archive.showmenews.com/2002/Aug/20020804Feat006.asp Article on life in the Kentucky Bend]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20170426110829/http://motelmag.com/articles/bubbleland.html Article on Kentucky Bend and source of its nickname "Bubbleland"]
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20071115220819/http://www.bowed.org/045/nmb.html Bowed Radio at the New Madrid Bend]}}
• [https://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=36.533916,-89.501152&spn=0.139034,0.252686&t=h&z=12&om=0 Google Maps link (satellite view)]

{{Fulton County, Kentucky}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Border irregularities of the United States

Category:Geography of Fulton County, Kentucky

Category:Geography of Kentucky

Category:Mississippi River

Category:Geography of Obion County, Tennessee

Category:Unincorporated communities in Kentucky

Category:Borders of Kentucky

Category:Unincorporated communities in Fulton County, Kentucky

Category:Exclaves in the United States