70 free Kentucky trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
65 free Kentucky trivia questions with answers. This Kentucky trivia quiz gathers the facts that make the Bluegrass State unlike anywhere else: the state that makes 95 percent of the world's bourbon, runs the oldest continuously held race in the Triple Crown, sits on the longest cave system on Earth, guards half the country's gold at Fort Knox and produced both presidents of the Civil War, plus Muhammad Ali, Bill Monroe, Loretta Lynn and the Louisville Slugger. The questions run from easy (the capital, the state bird, when the Derby is run) through the traditions (mint juleps, the Hot Brown, Ale-8-One, the Corvette plant) to the details even Kentuckians argue over: why the Kentucky Bend is cut off from the rest of the state, which town calls itself Quilt City, and where the first cheeseburger and Old Fashioned are claimed. It works for a classroom unit, a Derby party round or a family road trip through the commonwealth. Every answer has been checked against Wikipedia and Kentucky's own state records, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 70 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital of Kentucky?
Frankfort
With about 28,600 people it is only the state's 13th-largest city and the fourth-smallest state capital in the country.
Q 02Kentucky's capital city takes its name from what 1780 incident?
A ford where pioneer Stephen Frank was killed
The crossing was called Frank's Ford in his memory, and the name wore down to Frankfort.
Q 03Kentucky was admitted to the Union on June 1, 1792, as which state in order?
15th
It had been part of a neighbouring state; Congress approved statehood two weeks before it approved Vermont's petition.
Q 04Before statehood, Kentucky was part of which state?
Virginia
Ten constitutional conventions were held in Danville between 1784 and 1792 before separation finally went through.
Q 05Kentucky's nickname, the Bluegrass State, refers to a grass that was what?
Introduced by European settlers
The nickname has never actually been made official by the General Assembly, and no grass has been named the state grass.
Q 06What is Kentucky's official English-language state motto?
United we stand, divided we fall
It has been on the state seal since 1792, and in 2002 Kentucky added a Latin motto, Deo gratiam habeamus, meaning let us be grateful to God.
Q 07The two men on Kentucky's state seal, one in buckskin and one in formal dress, shake hands to symbolise what?
Unity of frontiersmen and statesmen
Popular legend says they are Daniel Boone and Henry Clay, but officially they stand for all such figures.
Q 08Kentucky's flag has a navy field with the state seal above sprigs of which state flower?
Goldenrod
The flag was designed by Jesse Cox Burgess, an art teacher in Frankfort, and adopted in 1918.
Q 09What is Kentucky's state bird?
Cardinal
Adopted in 1926, it was the state's second official emblem, after the seal had stood alone for more than 130 years.
Q 10Kentucky is one of only four US states that officially call themselves what?
A commonwealth
The others are Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia; the term carries no special legal meaning.
Q 11How many counties does Kentucky have?
120
Only Texas and Georgia have more; the largest by area is Pike County and the most populous is Jefferson, which is coextensive with Louisville Metro.
Q 12Kentucky's northern border is defined by which river?
Ohio
The state is the only one bordered by rivers on three sides: the Ohio, the Mississippi and the Big Sandy with its Tug Fork.
Q 13How many states border Kentucky?
Seven
Only Missouri and Tennessee, with eight each, touch more.
Q 14The Kentucky Bend, surrounded by Missouri and Tennessee, exists because of what?
Q 21The Kentucky Derby is run on the first Saturday of which month?
May
It is the first leg of the Triple Crown and, unlike the older Preakness and Belmont, has been run every single year since it began.
Q 22The Kentucky Derby is nicknamed the Run for the Roses because of what?
The winning horse is draped in a blanket of them
The garland holds 554 red roses; the nickname was popularised in 1925 by columnist Bill Corum.
Q 23Which drink is the traditional beverage of the Kentucky Derby?
Mint julep
It is bourbon, mint and sugar syrup over crushed ice, classically served in a frosted silver cup.
A surveying error
Reaching it by road means driving through Tennessee; the 2020 census counted nine residents.
Q 15Mammoth Cave in Kentucky is notable as the world's what?
Longest known system of passages
More than 426 miles have been surveyed, over 1.5 times the length of the runner-up, an underwater system in Mexico.
Q 16In 1842-43 the owner of Mammoth Cave ran what inside the cave, believing its vapours would heal patients?
A tuberculosis hospital
Enslaved guide Stephen Bishop had already mapped much of the cave, becoming the first person to cross its Bottomless Pit.
Q 17Cumberland Falls in Kentucky claims to be the only place in the Western Hemisphere where what is regularly seen?
A moonbow
The lunar rainbow forms in the falls' mist on clear nights around a full moon, helped by the shape of the gorge.
Q 18Kentucky produces roughly what share of the world's bourbon?
95%
The number of barrels ageing in the state, more than 5.7 million, exceeds its human population.
Q 19By US law, bourbon must be made from a grain mixture that is at least what percentage corn?
51%
It also has to be aged in new charred oak containers, and Congress declared it a distinctive product of the United States in 1964.
Q 20Maker's Mark bourbon, made in Loretto, Kentucky, is instantly recognisable by what feature of its bottle?
A wax seal, dipped in red
The first run was bottled in 1958 and the red dipped seal is a registered trademark.
Q 24Which horse set the still-standing Kentucky Derby record of 1:59.4 in 1973?
Secretariat
He ran each successive quarter-mile faster than the last, something no other Triple Crown race winner has done.
Q 25Churchill Downs has hosted the Kentucky Derby since the track opened in which year?
1875
With the infield open on Derby day the Louisville track holds roughly 170,000 people.
Q 26Lexington, Kentucky, calls itself the capital of the world for what?
Horses
Hundreds of horse farms surround the city, plus Keeneland, the Red Mile and the Kentucky Horse Park.
Q 27Louisville, Kentucky, was named in 1780 in honour of which monarch?
Louis XVI of France
French troops were helping the Americans in the Revolutionary War at the time; George Rogers Clark had founded the settlement two years earlier.
Q 28The Louisville Slugger traces its origin to an 1884 bat hand-made for which slumping Louisville Eclipse star?
Pete Browning
Company legend says 17-year-old Bud Hillerich made the bat in his father's woodworking shop and Browning got three hits with it the next day.
Q 29Which boxer was born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. in Louisville in 1942?
Muhammad Ali
He took up boxing at 12 after a policeman told the boy fuming over a stolen bicycle that he had better learn to fight first.
Q 30Civil War presidents Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were both born in which state?
Kentucky
Lincoln's birthplace was a log cabin near Hodgenville; Davis was born in Fairview, less than a year earlier and about 100 miles away.