The Kentucky Bend, variously called the New Madrid Bend, Madrid Bend, Bessie Bend, or Bubbleland, is an

exclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

of Fulton County, Kentucky, encircled by the states of

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...

and

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

. It is a portion of a peninsula defined by an oxbow loop

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ban ...

of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

, and its inclusion in the state of Kentucky stems from uncertainties of the course of the Mississippi River when the boundary between Tennessee and Kentucky was established. 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 State Route 22 (SR 22) is a south-to-north state highway in the western part of Tennessee, United States. It begins at the Mississippi state line in McNairy County, where the roadway continues as Mississippi Highway 2 (MS 2). It ends at the Ke ...

, whose continuation into Kentucky Bend at one time was signed as Kentucky State Route 313. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9 persons in this area, tabulated as the Kentucky Bend Census County Division. The mailing address of the area is Tiptonville, Tennessee. New Madrid, Missouri, is directly across the river to the north, but it is not connected to the bend by road or ferry. The closest crossings of the Mississippi River are the

Dorena–Hickman Ferry The Dorena–Hickman Ferry is a ferry across the Mississippi River between Dorena, Missouri and Hickman, Kentucky. A single boat takes vehicular traffic across the river seven days a week during daylight hours. Missouri Route 77 connects to the M ...

and the

Caruthersville Bridge The Caruthersville Bridge is a single tower cantilever bridge carrying Interstate 155 and U.S. Route 412 across the Mississippi River between Caruthersville, Missouri and Dyersburg, Tennessee. It is the only bridge that connects Missouri and Ten ...

located in nearby Dyer County.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the Kentucky Bend covers a land area of , of which are land and , or 35.08%, are covered by water. 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. 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.

History

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 The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertGilbert (Saunders Family), Sir Humphrey" (histor ...

and the

Province of Carolina Province of Carolina was a province of England (1663–1707) and Great Britain (1707–1712) that existed in North America and the Caribbean from 1663 until partitioned into North and South on January 24, 1712. It is part of present-day Alabam ...

, 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. 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. 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 A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

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 Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

-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 African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

. By 1900, "large numbers of Negroes in the Bend" were working as laborers to plant and harvest the cotton. In

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has pr ...

's book '' Life on the Mississippi'', he described the six-decade-long feud between the Darnell and Watson families and other elements of life in the bend.

Demographics

Climate

The Kentucky Bend, like the nearby Missouri Bootheel and Western Tennessee, has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') with characteristics of a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

, 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 The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

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 , while one night falls to or below , and the coldest temperature ever was on February 2, 1951. The hottest was on July 1, 1952, while an average of 2.9 days exceed . 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 The Azores High also known as North Atlantic (Subtropical) High/Anticyclone or the Bermuda-Azores High, is a large subtropical semi-permanent centre of high atmospheric pressure typically found south of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean, at the H ...

, plus occasional remnant depressions from hurricanes passing up the

Mississippi Valley The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...

. Between 1963 and 2012, the wettest calendar year was 1990 with and the driest 2005 with . The wettest day was September 23, 2006, with in one day, and September 2006 was also the wettest month with , while no precipitation fell during October 1964. Snowfall is common during the winter, with around annually. The most snow in one month was in January 1977 with , while the snowiest season was from July 1966 to June 1967 with .

References

External links