Jenny Wiley State Resort Park

Jenny Wiley State Resort Park, originally known as Dewey Lake State Park, located at Prestonsburg, Kentucky, is a mountain resort park located on the shores of Dewey Lake. It is named for Virginia "Jenny" Wiley, a pioneer woman and Indian captive. The park opened on January 1, 1954.

Taken captive by a group composed of (two Cherokees, three Shawnees, three Wyandots, three Delawares) in 1789, Wiley endured the slaying of her brother and four children and escaped after 11 months of captivity. However, the Cherokee had intended to punish the Harmon family for killing two Cherokees, and had mistakenly attacked the Wileys on October 1, 1789. Despite having given birth during the captivity, and seeing her three-month-old child murdered by the Cherokee by tomahawk, she learned Cherokee lifestyles until her rescue in the spring of 1790. [Bailey, Bill. "Kentucky State Parks". (Glovebox Guidebooks of America, 1995) pg.144-146] [ [http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/resortparks/jw/history/ Kentucky State Parks - History ] ]

Of the park's 2,871 acres, 1,100 of them comprise Dewey Lake. The Kentucky record for largest tiger muskie has been caught in Dewey Lake. Dewey Lake was named for the hero of the Battle of Manila Bay, Admiral George Dewey, when the United States Army Corps of Engineers built the lake in 1951. [Bailey pg.144,150,151]

The park has several features. It lies in a "Moist Appalachian" environment, dominated by maple, pawpaw and tulip poplars. The park's hotel, May Lodge, has 47 rooms and a dining room that seats over 200. The Music Highway Grill makes a point of using local produce in their food. The Jenny Wiley Theatre hosts numerous plays, such as "The Wizard of Oz" and "A Chorus Line", and the "Story of Jenny Wiley", throughout the summer. Fishing is irregular, as the lake can be low during the summer, weeds are abundant in the fall, and the lake can be very cloudy in late winter/early spring. The Jenny Wiley Trail marks the path Wiley took to escape her Cherokee tormentors; it is advised that lone hikers do not take the path because of "trail difficulty". [Elliott, Brook & Barbara. "Hiking Indiana" (Human Kinetics, 1998) pg.7] [Bailey pg.146-149] [ [http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/resortparks/jw/ Kentucky State Parks - Home ] ]

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