Our History

The first Kentucky State Parks were Cumberland State Park (Pine Mountain State Resort Park), Blue and Gray State Park, Pioneer Memorial State Park (Old Fort Harrod State Park), and Natural Bridge State Park.

This year, these parks will celebrate 100 years of bringing history, outdoor recreation, and enjoyment to people across the country and around the world.

In 1916, the National Park Service was formed, and Kentucky wanted to participate in the movement to form state parks. In 1924, Governor Augustus Owsley Stanley tasked Dr. Willard Rouse Jillson, state geologist, with securing land for four of Kentucky’s most notable areas.

In 1925, the citizens of Bell County acquired two thousand acres of land and offered it to the Commonwealth for development as a recreation and conservation area. One property was Laurel Cove, a stunning natural amphitheater in eastern Kentucky. In 1925, the deeds to the land, donated by the citizens of Pineville, were turned over to the Commonwealth of Kentucky to form the nucleus of Kentucky’s first state park.

The State Park Commission presented Cumberland State Park to the General Assembly in 1926, and the legislature designated it as a Kentucky State Park. In 1938, the state changed the park’s name from Cumberland State Park to Pine Mountain State Park. With its mountain forests and valleys, its wildflowers and trees, and its natural location within the Kentucky Ridge State Forest, Pine Mountain State Resort Park is exceptional.

In the 1920s, as the town’s sesquicentennial approached, the Harrodsburg Historical Society began plans to erect a replica of Old Fort Hill. The Kentucky Pioneer Memorial Association (KPMA) suggested creating a replica fort and museum, preserving the historic burying ground and Lincoln Marriage Cabin. In 1925, the historical society purchased the Matheny-Taylor Mansion by subscription for use as a museum and deeded it to Kentucky for a Pioneer Memorial Park. Harrodsburg citizens gave thirty-five acres of land to the state in 1925 for Pioneer Memorial State Park, which was established by the Kentucky Legislature in 1926.

In 1889, the Kentucky Union Railway established a rail line through the town of Slade to connect with some of the Commonwealth’s most extensive timber resources. In 1895, the Kentucky Union Land Company sold the railroad and 137 acres of land to the Lexington and Eastern Railway Company, which developed the area into a private park and ran excursion trips to the park on Sundays and holidays. The Louisville and Nashville Railroad bought the Lexington and Eastern Railroad Company in 1912 and used the park for excursions until 1925. After that, L&N gave the 137 acres to Kentucky as a state park. The 1926 Kentucky Legislature established Natural Bridge as a state park.

The Parks Commission built a lodge at Natural Bridge and at Blue and Gray State Park. The picturesque Blue and Gray State Park, near Elkton, Kentucky, was named for its location between the President Abraham Lincoln Memorial in LaRue County and the Jefferson Davis Shrine at Fairview. The park, established in 1926, opened the rustic Traveler’s Lodge to guests on July 1, 1929. Its “atmosphere of old-time hospitality and charm in the midst of every convenience and luxury for summer feasting and resting” made it a popular place for locals to gather for picnics and events. However, after its initial success, the park simply did not bring in enough travelers, and in 1933, it closed.

Today, the Kentucky State Parks system includes 44 parks as well as Breaks Interstate Park, shared with the state of Virginia. 

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