Culturally , Southern Illinois draws influences from the rest of Illinois but also from neighboring Missouri and Upper Southern states like Kentucky and Tennessee . The immigration route from the east coast ran along the Ohio River , which joined settlements on both sides . In addition , the Cumberland River flowed northwest through Kentucky and Tennessee before joining the Ohio near Paducah , Kentucky , affording a migration route from the interior of those states . Thus , settlers who came to Southern Illinois were from Virginia , Kentucky , and Tennessee , with most of these being of northern English and Scots-Irish descent , who formed the last major migration from the British Isles to the colonies before the Revolutionary War , and settled mostly in the backcountry . Some migrated further west into Missouri . A road between Golconda and Jonesboro carried settlers and commerce across Southern Illinois , as well as the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Southern Illinois