Big Bone Lick State Park

Infobox park
park=Big Bone Lick State Park

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image size=200px
caption=A sign for Big Bone Lick State Park
type=Kentucky state park
location=Boone County, Kentucky
coordinates=
size=512 acres
opened=1960cite book |editor=Kleber, John E. |others=Associate editors: Thomas D. Clark, Lowell H. Harrison, and James C. Klotter |title="The Kentucky Encyclopedia" |year=1992 |publisher=The University Press of Kentucky |location=Lexington, Kentucky |isbn=0813117720 |chapter=Big Bone Lick]
operator=Kentucky Department of Parks
annual visitors=
status=Open year-round

Big Bone Lick State Park is located at Big Bone in Boone County, Kentucky. It is located on Beaver Road and between the communities of Beaverlick and Rabbit Hash. The name of the park comes from the Pleistocene megafauna fossils found there. The mammoths and other creatures are believed to have been drawn to this location by a salt lick. It bills itself as "the birthplace of American paleontology" a term which dates from William Clark's expedition in 1807.

In 2002, the National Park Service designated Big Bone Lick State Park as an official Lewis and Clark Heritage Trail Site. [cite news |url=http://www.kypost.com/2002/10/19/bone101902.html |title=Big Bone Lick: Books, awards and festival give pride of Boone County its due |author=David Wecker |last=Wecker |first=David |work=The Kentucky Post |publisher=E. W. Scripps Company |date=2002-10-19 |accessdate=2007-02-05 |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20060511123942/http://www.kypost.com/2002/10/19/bone101902.html |archivedate=2006-05-11] The Park was also listed in 1972 on the National Register of Historic Places.

Attractions

A new visitor's center was officially opened on November 18, 2004, but this was only the first stage of a much larger project now in quest of funding. The center features American art and a 1,000 pound mastodon skull as well as a gift shop. The park also features several nature trails, including one with recreations of some of the animals whose bones were discovered in the past. A small bison herd is also maintained on-site. Another attraction to many visitors is the amusing name, which some see as an innuendo.

Gallery

References

See also

* Big Bone, Kentucky
* Pleistocene Megafauna

External links

* [http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/recparks/bb/ Official site]
* [http://www.geocities.com/bigbonehistory/ History and Documents from Big Bone, Kentucky]
* [http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/lewisandclark/bbo.htm Lewis and Clark Expedition Site article]
* [http://www.uky.edu/KGS/fossils/quatern.htm Kentucky Geological Survey article]
* [http://www.acnatsci.org/museum/jefferson/otherPages/bigBoneLick.html Thomas Jefferson Fossil Collection]
*http://groups.google.it/group/bigbonelick?lnk=lr&hl=it