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 pure products of America go crazy—mountain folk from Kentucky or the ribbed north end of Jersey with its isolate lakes and valleys, its deaf-mutes, thieves.”
—William Carlos Williams (1883–1963)
“I marvel at the many ways we, as black people, bend but do not break in order to survive. This astonishes me, and what excites me I write about. Everyone of us is a wonder. Everyone of us has a story.”
—Kristin Hunter (b. 1931)