McCracken County, Kentucky is built around the Tennessee Valley Ridge and a Watershed system that drains into Major Rivers: 1. * The Tennessee 2. * The Ohio The capital city, Paducah is located only 40 miles from the Ohio's confluence with the Mississippi at Cairo, Illinois. The county is the site of a peculiar and precarious built environment, but an interesting and promising natural environment. A set of academic studies of the area are in progress. These studies are being documented here and here.