Transylvania
The name Transylvania conjures images of Bulgarian accents, gloomy mansions and castles containing vampires, werewolves, and mad scientists. Except that is, in the region of the United States known as the Bluegrass, where it refers to what was once considered to be a sub-colony of the colony of Virginia, before its parent separated itself from Great Britain. Kentucky was the anglicized version of one of the Indian names for its territory, but as a settlement in the area grew and stabilized it became known for a time under the name Transylvania.
Richard Henderson was one of the early speculators in land in the areas beyond Daniel Boone’s Wilderness Road. In fact, after purchasing a tract of land comprising about half of today’s Kentucky (and a little of Tennessee) Henderson hired Boone to lead people into the region to settle there. Henderson’s company was called the Transylvania Company, and he named the purchased region Transylvania.
Legal problems arose when it was discovered that prior claims to the land from both Virginia and North Carolina had made its sale to Henderson illegal. Henderson attempted to have the Continental Congress declare Transylvania a separate colony in 1775 – making 14 in all – but the influence of Virginia and North Carolina made such action nearly impossible.
After the revolution ended, settlers continued to pour into Kentucky across Boone’s road and down the Ohio River. Henderson eventually settled in Henderson County, Kentucky and before too many years went by Boone left the region for Missouri.
Transylvania became wholly absorbed into the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which became the fifteenth state to enter the Union. The name Transylvania lives on as that of Transylvania University, founded as a seminary in Lexington in 1780, the oldest college in the United States west of the Allegheny Mountains.