Any Kentuckians here?

Might start with these guys:

http://www.westernkyhistory.org/crittenden/crithissoc.html

Didn't live there, but been there a number of times. Rural, somewhat poor, not very many people. Big Amish community, but that's not the dominating environment. Nice hunting, the Ohio river is nice there as well with some good bass fishing. I remember mostly antique shops, no real large businesses. Some cute restaurants with local food, no real big name places. Paducah is the happening place out there, and that's not saying much.

The area is rolling hills, mountains aren't like the Rockies, more rounded and worn. Country roads, lots of wildlife. Tons of deer. People are slower, more laid back, generally very nice and courteous. Southern charm, but not the refined type like Charlston would be. Dry county, but I don't know before prohibition, when your character would be there. Speech was a bit of a southern drawl, but not real thick like a Georgia/Alabama drawl. Y'all spoken here, of course. Big Civil War history area, which might affect your character.

Turn of the century might be classic Beverly Hillbillies.

Jeff

If that's in the areas of the land between the lakes that's near bayou.Yes, there's bayou in western Ky.

Only it probably would be called slough, not bayou, in this area.

coal country is in eastern ky. mountain region. think justified.

western is flat.

and i 24 takes you straight to nashville from parts of the western side.

eta; it is where my current wip takes place and where my real life ancestors first settled. = )


ETA: you say "Specifically, I need thoughts on the geography, flora and fauna." On flora and fauna I'd suggest you research books, nurseries etc. I know I've spent hundreds and hundreds of hours on research, travel etc to be accurate in mine.

My father grew up in western Kentucky in a county bordering Crittenden. There would not have been many blacktop roads in 1920. There would have been a lot of dirt roads. People walked or used equines, either mules or horses.

Komnena said:

My father grew up in western Kentucky in a county bordering Crittenden. There would not have been many blacktop roads in 1920. There would have been a lot of dirt roads. People walked or used equines, either mules or horses.

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aye and with crit co having the ohio river bordering it north/ and northwest, that area would have been a bustling lil' trading/buying spot.

Also, there would have been little electricity or running water. There would have been no Lake Barkley or Kentucky Lake. Your character could well have known people who remembered the Civil War.

hip. let's start with your flora and fauna, maybe here. http://www.knps.org/links.html and of course all your kentucky uni's generally have an ag dept. so those are a valuable resource.

in early 1900, the town would've relied on the ohio river for transportation goods etc. the town(s) in this area will have possibly flooded during your period, if i recall, and caused a lot of problems for folks etc.

i'll see what else i can find for you.

eta: no amish until the late 1970's. and around those parts, a methodist bishop would be having a lot of power and influence back then, i believe ... but will double check.

Fauna- groundhogs, rabbits. Perhaps coyotes. Moles. Foxes. Raccoons. Opossums.
Insect life would include a not so charming creature known as chiggers. Ants would be found wherever people had food. I don't know if fire ants would be found in Crittenden County but they are nasty creatures. Flies. Shuck corn outside and they will come. Nasty-biting little creatures. They will make you appreciate non poisonous spiders. Cicadas. No harm in them but a lot of noise.
Reptile life would be snakes. Close to the river the water moccasin would be a feared creature. Garter snakes and a big one called a chickensnake. Not poisonous but an ugly thing given to taking chickens.
Spider life would include black widows and brown recluses. And perhaps a pretty one called writing spider.

Also 1918 was noted for being the year of the Great Flu.
The winter of 1917-18 was unusually harsh. The Ohio River froze.

Not a native Kentuckian, but I live here now and I travel through that area often.

It's pretty flat, maybe some rolling hills, but it's definitely not Appalachia. I think there are some covered bridges in the area that probably would've been there around that time.

Deciduous forest that looks pretty bleak in the winter. It's rural but then the whole state pretty much is, except for Louisville.

Don't know what the mentality was back then but today a lot of Kentucky sort of sees Louisville as different from the rest of the state. Sometimes like it's not part of it. Haha.

for "character of people": this is a wonderful native author who writes many books about the western region. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005IEGTYE/?tag=absowrit-20

I'd also read Jesse Stuart.
True, Louisville is often seen as different from the rest of Kentucky. I didn't grow up here. My grandparents lived in Graves and Christian counties.
There's also Lexington. It's a big place too.

I am not from that area, but I have a bunch of relatives in the next county northeast from there. I have been there a few times, and WeaselFire's comments seem accurate.

Another thing would be that there was a major flood there that led to levees being built. Apparently the flood was in 1897, but I don't know when the levee was finished. There probably were smaller floods anyway.

hillcountryannie said:

Don't know what the mentality was back then but today a lot of Kentucky sort of sees Louisville as different from the rest of the state. Sometimes like it's not part of it. Haha.

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That's actually correct. In general Louisville culturally is part of Indiana, yet Cincinnati and Dayton are part of Kentucky

1920's in any part of Ky except Northern Ky, there would have been a lot of anti-Catholic sentiment, anti-Mormon, anti-Jew, anti-black, anti-German, anti French...let's just say a lot of WASPs