Upland South

A cultural and geographic region of the southern United States, centered on the Appalachian and interior uplands. Its terrain, settlement history, and farming patterns distinguish it from the lowland Deep South.

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Appalachian Mountains: A mountain system extending from eastern Canada through the eastern United States to Alabama. The southern Appalachians form the region’s eastern highland core.
Scots-Irish Americans: An ethnic group in the United States descended largely from Ulster Protestant migrants from Ireland and Scotland. Their migration through the backcountry helped shape parts of the southern uplands.
Upper South: A northern subregion of the American South, commonly including states such as Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. The Upper South overlaps substantially with the Upland South, though the terms have different boundaries.
Plantation economy: An economic system organized around large estates producing crops for sale, historically often through enslaved labor. Large plantation agriculture was less dominant in much of the Upland South than in lowland cotton and rice districts.
Interior Low Plateaus: A physiographic province of dissected plateaus and valleys across parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, and nearby states. These plateaus extend the Upland South westward beyond the Appalachians.
Backcountry: A historical term for inland frontier regions beyond the settled coastal lowlands of colonial North America. The southern backcountry supplied much of the region’s early settlement context.
Kentucky: A state in the east-central United States, bordered by the Ohio River and characterized by varied uplands and lowlands. Its Appalachian east and interior plateau country exemplify major Upland South landscapes.
Cotton belt: A region of the American South where cotton production became economically dominant, especially during the nineteenth century. The cotton belt’s plantation-centered agriculture contrasts with the uplands’ more varied farms and terrain.
Piedmont (United States): A broad plateau region between the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Its western reaches meet upland cultural areas, though the Piedmont has its own regional history.
Appalachian folk culture: A diverse set of traditions associated with communities in the Appalachian region. Its music, crafts, and oral traditions overlap with, but do not define, all of the Upland South.