Kentucky's system of 44 state parks has been referred to as "the nation's finest" and experiences more repeat business annually than those of any other U.S. state. [1] The state's diverse geography provides a variety of environments to experience. From mountain lakes to expansive caves to forests teeming with wildlife, park-goers have their choice of attractions, and they are all within a day's drive of each other.
Unless otherwise specified, data in the following lists are taken from Kentucky State Parks by Bill Bailey. [1]
Although the Kentucky Horse Park is owned by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, it is administered separately from the Department of Parks and is not a state park. Breaks Interstate Park is also separate, administered under an interstate compact with the state of Virginia, in partnership with the parks departments of both states.
Kentucky's 24 "rec parks" span the state from Columbus to Pikeville. Each features outdoor camping areas with a variety of outdoor activities. [2]
Kentucky offers more state resort parks than any other state. Each features a lodge complete with dining room and Wi-Fi wireless Internet access. [6]
Photo | Park | Location | Area |
---|---|---|---|
Barren River Lake State Resort Park | Barren County [3] | Park:2,187 acres (8.9 km2) Lake:10,000 acres (40 km2) | |
Blue Licks Battlefield State Park | Robertson County [3] | 148 acres (0.60 km2) | |
Breaks Interstate Park | Pike County, Kentucky; Dickenson and Buchanan County, Virginia [7] | Park:4,600 acres (19 km2) [7] Lake:12 acres (0.05 km2) [8] | |
Buckhorn Lake State Resort Park | Perry County [3] | Park:856 acres (3.5 km2) Lake:1,200 acres (4.9 km2) | |
Carter Caves State Resort Park | Carter County [3] | Park:1,600 acres (6.5 km2) Lake:45 acres (0.18 km2) | |
Cumberland Falls State Resort Park | Whitley County [3] | 1,657 acres (6.7 km2) | |
Dale Hollow Lake State Park | Cumberland County | Park:3,398 acres (14 km2) Lake:27,700 acres (112 km2) [6] | |
General Butler State Resort Park | Carroll County [3] | Park:809 acres (3.3 km2) Lake:30 acres (0.12 km2) | |
Greenbo Lake State Resort Park | Greenup County | Park:3,300 acres (13 km2) Lake:192 acres (0.78 km2) | |
Jenny Wiley State Resort Park | Floyd County | Park:1,771 acres (7.2 km2) Lake:1,100 acres (4.5 km2) | |
Kenlake State Resort Park | Calloway and Marshall Counties [3] | Park:1,795 acres (7.3 km2) Lake:160,300 acres (649 km2) | |
Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park | Marshall County [3] | 1,351 acres (5.5 km2) | |
Lake Barkley State Resort Park | Trigg County [3] | Park:3,600 acres (15 km2) Lake:57,920 acres (234 km2) | |
Lake Cumberland State Resort Park | Russell County [3] | Park:3,117 acres (13 km2) Lake:50,000 acres (202 km2) | |
Natural Bridge State Resort Park | Powell County [3] | Park:2,300 acres (9.3 km2) Lake:54 acres (0.22 km2) | |
Pennyrile Forest State Resort Park | Hopkins County | Park:863 acres (3.5 km2) Lake:56 acres (0.23 km2) | |
Pine Mountain State Resort Park | Bell County [3] | 1,520 acres (6.2 km2) | |
Rough River Dam State Resort Park | Breckinridge, Hardin, & Grayson counties [3] | Park:637 acres (2.6 km2) Lake:5,000 acres (20 km2) |
Ten of Kentucky's recreational parks and two of its resort parks are simultaneously designated as state historic sites. An additional eleven state historic sites are also maintained by the Kentucky Department of Parks. [9]
Photo | Park | Location | Area |
---|---|---|---|
Big Bone Lick State Historic Site | Boone County [3] | Park:712 acres (2.9 km2) Lake:7.5 acres (0.03 km2) | |
Dr. Thomas Walker State Historic Site | Barbourville | 12 acres (0.05 km2) | |
Isaac Shelby Cemetery State Historic Site | Stanford [9] | ||
Jefferson Davis State Historic Site | Fairview | 19 acres (0.08 km2) | |
Old Mulkey Meetinghouse State Historic Site | Tompkinsville | 60 acres (0.24 km2) | |
Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site | Perryville | 669 acres (2.7 km2) | |
Waveland State Historic Site | Lexington | 10 acres (0.04 km2) | |
Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site | Wickliffe [9] | 21 acres (0.08 km2) |
Park City is a city in Utah, United States. The vast majority is in Summit County with some portions extending into Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is 32 miles (51 km) southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and 20 miles (32 km) from Salt Lake City's east edge of Sugar House along Interstate 80. The population was 8,396 at the 2020 census. On average, the tourist population greatly exceeds the number of permanent residents.
Canada has a large domestic and foreign tourism industry. The second largest country in the world, Canada's wide geographical variety is a significant tourist attractor. Much of the country's tourism is centred in the following regions: Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, Vancouver/Whistler, Niagara Falls, Vancouver Island, Canadian Rockies, British Columbia's Okanagan Valley, Churchill, Manitoba and the National Capital Region of Ottawa-Gatineau. The large cities are known for their culture, diversity, as well as the many national parks and historic sites.
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational potential. There are state parks under the administration of the government of each U.S. state, some of the Mexican states, and in Brazil. The term is also used in the Australian states of Victoria and New South Wales. The equivalent term used in Canada, Argentina, South Africa, and Belgium, is provincial park. Similar systems of local government maintained parks exist in other countries, but the terminology varies.
Kentucky Horse Park is a working horse farm, international equestrian competition venue, and an educational theme park opened in 1978 in Lexington, Kentucky. It is located off Kentucky State Highway 1973 and Interstate 75, at Exit 120, in northern Fayette County in the United States. The equestrian facility is a 1,224-acre (495 ha) park dedicated to "man's relationship with the horse." Open to the public, the park has a twice daily Horses of the World Show, showcasing both common and rare horses from around the globe. The horses are ridden in authentic costume. Each year the park is host to a number of special events and horse shows.
The National Trails System is a series of trails in the United States designated "to promote the preservation of, public access to, travel within, and enjoyment and appreciation of the open-air, outdoor areas and historic resources of the Nation". There are four types of trails: the national scenic trails, national historic trails, national recreation trails, and connecting or side trails. The national trails provide opportunities for hiking and historic education, as well as horseback riding, biking, camping, scenic driving, water sports, and other activities. The National Trails System consists of 11 national scenic trails, 21 national historic trails, over 1,300 national recreation trails, and seven connecting and side trails, as well as one national geologic trail, with a total length of more than 91,000 mi (150,000 km). The scenic and historic trails are in every state, and Virginia and Wyoming have the most running through them, with six.
Western Maryland, also known as the Maryland panhandle, is the portion of the U.S. state of Maryland that typically consists of Frederick, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett counties. The region is bounded by Preston County, West Virginia, to the west, the Mason–Dixon line (Pennsylvania) to the north, and the Potomac River and West Virginia to the south. At one point, at the town of Hancock, the northern and southern boundaries are separated by just 1.8 miles, the narrowest stretch in the state.
Northern Arizona is an unofficial, colloquially defined region of the U.S. state of Arizona. Generally consisting of Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, and Yavapai counties, the region is geographically dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the southern border of which in Arizona is called the Mogollon Rim.
The George Washington and Jefferson National Forests is an administrative entity combining two U.S. National Forests into one of the largest areas of public land in the Eastern United States. The forests cover 1.8 million acres (2,800 sq mi) of land in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky. Approximately 1 million acres (1,600 sq mi) of the forest are remote and undeveloped and 139,461 acres (218 sq mi) have been designated as wilderness areas, which prohibits future development.
Roan Mountain State Park is a Tennessee state park in Carter County, in Northeast Tennessee. It is close to the Tennessee-North Carolina border and near the community of Roan Mountain, Tennessee. Situated in the Blue Ridge of the Appalachian Mountains, the park preserves 2,006 acres (8.12 km2) of mostly hardwood forest. The park is in close proximity to 6,285-foot (1,916 m) Roan Mountain and the Appalachian Trail, both of which are owned and managed by the US Forest Service. On exceptionally clear days, the Charlotte skyline can be photographed from the peak. Most of the town of Roan Mountain is privately owned by the residence, and much of the land in Roan Mountain has been family owned for many generations, being passed down generation after generation through the years.
Natural Bridge State Resort Park is a Kentucky state park located in Powell and Wolfe Counties along the Middle Fork of the Red River, adjacent to the Red River Gorge Geologic Area and surrounded by the Daniel Boone National Forest. Its namesake natural bridge is the centerpiece of the park. The natural sandstone arch spans 78 ft (24 m) and is 65 ft (20 m) high. The natural process of weathering formed the arch over millions of years.
Breaks Interstate Park, also known as "the Breaks," is a bi-state state park located partly in southeastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia in the Jefferson National Forest, at the northeastern terminus of Pine Mountain. The land is managed by an interstate compact between the states of Virginia and Kentucky. It is one of two interstate parks in the United States operated jointly under a compact rather than as two separate state park units. The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Kentucky Department of Parks are still major partner organizations.
The Eastern Kentucky Coalfield is part of the Central Appalachian bituminous coalfield, including all or parts of 30 Kentucky counties and adjoining areas in Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, and Tennessee. It covers an area from the Allegheny Mountains in the east across the Cumberland Plateau to the Pottsville Escarpment in the west. The region is known for its coal mining; most family farms in the region have disappeared since the introduction of surface mining in the 1940s and 1950s.
Barren River Lake State Resort Park is a 1,053-acre (426 ha) park located in Barren County, Kentucky and extending into parts of Allen County and Monroe County. Barren River Lake, its major feature, is an artificial lake created with the building of a 146-foot-high (45 m) dam by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers begun in 1960. It covers approximately 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) and has 141 miles (227 km) of shoreline. The park was dedicated in 1965.
Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park is a park located near Mount Olivet, Kentucky in Robertson and Nicholas counties. The park encompasses 148 acres (60 ha) and features a monument commemorating the August 19, 1782 Battle of Blue Licks. The battle was regarded as the final battle of the American Revolutionary War.
Kenlake State Resort Park is a park located on the western shore of Kentucky Lake. The park's main entrance and most of its facilities are located in Marshall County; the park also extends into Calloway County. The mailing address of the park is Hardin, Kentucky; however, it is located much closer to the unincorporated community of Aurora, Kentucky. The nearest town of substantial size is Murray. The park encompasses 1,795 acres (726 ha) of land, 160,300 acres (64,900 ha) of water, and features climate-controlled indoor tennis courts. It was Kentucky's first state resort park. Along with Lake Barkley State Resort Park and Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park, Kenlake State Resort Park is part of the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, originally organized by the Great Depression–era Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).
Pine Mountain State Resort Park is a Kentucky state park located in Bell County, southeastern Kentucky, United States. Located on part of the Pine Mountain ridge in the Appalachians, the park opened in 1924 as Kentucky's first state park.
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