Pine Mountain State Resort Park

The Pine Mountain State Resort Park is a 615 acre state park in Bell County in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It was founded in 1924 and is the oldest state park in Kentucky.

Plant

The park is located in Pineville in the southeastern mountains of the Pine Mountains, a 200 -kilometer-long ridge of the Cumberland Mountains, which extend from Pineville to the border with Virginia. The park is adjacent to the Kentucky Ridge State Forest. It has a resort park with a lodge with 30 rooms and a restaurant. The oldest part of the lodge, the Upper Lobby, was built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps of sand stone and chestnut wood as a park office. Additional accommodations offer 20 cabins, of which nine are from the 1930s. In addition, the park contains the Wasioto Winds Golf Course, an 18 -hole golf course, an outdoor pool, a playground and a mini -golf course. One attraction of the park is the Chained rock, a gigantic rock on a cliff overlooking Pineville. 1933 had Fred Chappell, Pat Caton and Arthur Asher, three teenagers from Pineville, the idea, so set up the rocks on the mountain and to chain with a mighty chain of the cliff that it seems the chain secure the rocks before the crash of the city. With numerous helpers and supporters of the rocks have been prepared in two parts on the cliff and fixed with a 1.5 tonne chain. The forest clearing Laurel Cove in the park was converted into an open -air amphitheater with 2,000 seats, in the last weekend of the Laurel Mountain Festival is celebrated in May. The park is crossed nine different trails with a total of 19 kilometers in length.

Flora and Fauna

The park is covered with a forest of beech, hemlock and tulip trees. Of the numerous other plant species that occur in the park, are laurel roses and Corydalis flavula that grows in dry forests in the park and normally not present in the region, particularly worthy of mention. The park is home to a growing population of black bears.

History

1924 gave many citizens of the city of Pineville the grounds the State, the first State Park Kentucky opened here. Founded in the park under the name Cumberland State Park until 1938, the Cumberland Falls State Park was established. To avoid confusion, the Cumberland State Park was renamed in Pine Mountain State Park. In the 1920s, the park was only little developed until after 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps goal for the park with paths, bridges, and the first overnight cabins. In the 1960s, was the second major expansion of the park, as the Lodge, more overnight cabins, the swimming pool and the golf course was built. The lodge was to Herndon J. Evans, an editor of the local newspaper, Lexington Herald-Leader, named. From 1997 to 1999, the buildings and facilities were completely renovated.