Shawnee Hills
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Shawnee Hills is a region of Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois.
The Kentucky part consists of many low, rolling hills, primarily underlain by rocks of Pennsylvanian age, including coal. The coal is primarily accessed by strip mining techniques, which have been environmentally devastating to parts of this region.
Mineral resources of the Illinois part include fluorite, mined for many years near Golconda. The Shawnee National Forest contains much of this part of Illinois. This area includes some fairly remote designated wilderness areas, and much scenery, although the forests are almost exclusively second- and third- growth.
The Shawnee Hills of Illinois attracted many settlers from farther south in Kentucky and Tennessee, especially during the early 19th century, and the culture of the region still has a decidedly Southern flavor. The Illinois region of the Shawnee Hills is known for the growing of wine grapes, and was listed in December 2006 as the Shawnee Hills American Viticultural Area.
