The Kentucky Bend, variously called the New Madrid Bend, Madrid Bend, Bessie Bend, or Bubbleland, is an exclave of Fulton County, Kentucky, in the United States.
Kentucky Bend is a piece of land on the inside of an oxbow loop meander of the Mississippi River. It is surrounded by the states of Tennessee and Missouri. Because it is surrounded by two (rather than one) 'foreign' states, Kentucky Bend is not (as it is sometimes called) an enclave.
Kentucky Bend is the extreme southwestern corner of Kentucky. As of the 2000 census, the population was 17 persons in this area, officially known by the United States Census Bureau as Fulton County West Census County Division (CCD), a subdivision of Fulton County. The peninsula includes the lowest point in the state of Kentucky, at the banks of the Mississippi River. The only highway into the area is Tennessee State Route 22, whose continuation into Kentucky Bend at one time was signed as Kentucky State Route 313.
The mailing address of the area is Tiptonville, Tennessee.
Famous quotes containing the words kentucky and/or bend:
“The head must bow, and the back will have to bend,
Wherever the darkey may go;
A few more days, and the trouble all will end,
In the field where the sugar-canes grow.
A few more days for to tote the weary load,—
No matter, ‘t will never be light;
A few more days till we totter on the road:—
Then my old Kentucky home, good-night!”
—Stephen Collins Foster (1826–1884)
“Moneys is your suit.
What should I say to you? Should I not say,
“Hath a dog money? Is it possible
A cur can lend three thousand ducats?” Or
Shall I bend low and in a bondman’s key,
With bated breath and whispering humbleness,
Say this:
“Fair sir, you spat on me on Wednesday last,
You spurned me such a day, another time
You called me dog; and for these courtesies
I’ll lend you thus much moneys?””
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)