Big Bone Lick

Can You Dig It?  Bring your friends, family, and shovels to help make a difference planting trees in your community.  Volunteers will be planting trees to restore cleared areas back to native forest.  This will create a habitat for wildlife, improve air and water quality, prevent soil erosion, and reduce maintenance costs.

The first 200 volunteers will receive a FREE T-SHIRT!  Refreshments will be provided for all volunteers, who will also receive a native tree seedling to take home.

The annual reforestation event is sponsored by the Northern Kentucky Urban Forestry Council and other northern Kentucky companies.

GO GREEN AND CAR POOL!

March 23, 2013
9:30 AM – 1:00 PM

Click here to register to volunteer
Click here to download the event flyer

See what the early years of Big Bone Lick State Park was like from photographs by Bill and Anna Fitzgerald.  Their photo collection includes the planning of the park through the University of Nebraska excavations.  The presentation is by Bridget Striker, Local History Coordinator, and is co-sponsored by the Boone County Public Library.

Thursday February 28, 2013 @ 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM

This begins a series of articles about the history of Big Bone Lick State Park.

Christopher Gist was a colonial British explorer, surveyor and frontiersman.  He was one of the first white explorers of the Ohio Valley including the area where Big Bone Lick State Park presently resides.  When the French and Indian War began in 1754, Gist accompanied Colonel George Washington on missions into this wilderness and saved Washington’s life on two separate occasions.

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Wednesday 13 March 1750. — We set out S 45 W, down the said River on the S E Side 8 M then S 10 M here I met two men belonging to Robert Smith at whose House I lodged on this side of the Miamee River, and one Hugh Crawford the said Robt. Smith had given me an order upon these men for two of the teeth of a large Beest, which they were bringing from towards the Falls of the Ohio, one of which I turned in and delivered to the Ohio Company — Robert Smith informed Me that about seven years ago these Teeth and bones of three large Beests (One of which was somewhat smaller than the other two.) were found in a Salt Lick or Spring upon a small Creek which runs into the S Side of the Ohio about 15 M below the Mouth of the great Miamee River, and 20 above the Falls, He assured me that the Rib Bones of the largest of these Beests were eleven Feet long and the Skull Bone six feet wide, and the other bones in proportion; and that there were several teeth there, some of which he called horns, and they said they were upwards of Five Feet long, and as much as a man coud well carry; that he had his one in a Branch some distance from the place, lest the French Indians should carry it away — The tooth which I brought in for the Ohio Company, was a Jaw toothe of better Weight than four Pounds; it appeared to be the furtherest Tooth in the Jaw, and looked Like Fine Ivory when the outside was scraped off — I also met four Shannoah Indians coming up the River in their Canoes, who informed me there were about sixty French Indians encamped at the Falls.

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The Journal of Christopher Gist, 1750-1751

edited by Avi Hathor

1750 March – April

Copyright expired, public domain

Following is a summary of events at Big Bone Lick State Park in 2013.  See the official Big Bone Lick website or contact Todd Young, Park Naturalist at todd.young@ky.gov for event details and updates.

Read the rest of this entry »

My wife and I have returned from our one-year RV trip across western USA, Canada and Alaska.  It was an amazing trip, truly the adventure of a lifetime.  If you are interested, please check out our photo tour at National Park Explorers and our behind-the-scenes blog at TNTRV.

Now that our trip is over, even though I no longer live in the Big Bone Lick area, I will start updating this blog again on a regular basis.  I’ve always been a huge fan of Big Bone Lick State Park and have spent many days hiking the trails there.  With its natural and historic treasures, Big Bone Lick is a great place to bring the whole family for fun and education.

Big Bone Creek in Big Bone Lick State Park received 500 rainbow trout in October.  All trout must be released through March 31.  Trout anglers are restricted to artificial baits.  (additional information, source)

This short video features a few samples of Salt Festival music at Big Bone Lick State Park.

Have you ever wondered what galaxies look like from Earth?  What about the far away stars you can’t see with the naked eye?

Join two special guests from Northern Kentucky University — Dr. Wayne Bresser and Dr. Ray McNeil — and use their telescopes to view the wonders in the heavens above.  This free event is on Friday October 28, 2011 from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm at the Big Bone Lick Campground Store.

The 26th annual Salt Festival is coming to Big Bone Lick State Park this weekend.  The festival is open to the public on Saturday, October 15, 2011 from 10am to 6pm and on Sunday from 10am to 5pm.  Admission is $4.00 per person with children age 6 and under free.  Parking is free.  The museum, bison field, and nature trails are also open.

The Salt Festival will feature demonstrations of pioneer and Native American life, salt making, delicious food, crafts, music, and more.

This photo shows Changing Tymes playing traditional Folk songs and original ballads about the American Frontier.

Check out photos from the 25th Anniversary Salt Festival in 2010.

In the few years I have run this blog, I’ve never encountered poetry written about Big Bone Lick.  So imagine my surprise when I discovered this gem of a poem by Robert Morgan, Kappa Alpha Professor of English at Cornell University. 

Big Bone Lick

At Big Bone Lick the first explorers
found skeletons of elephants they said,
found ribs of wooly mammoths, tusks.
They dug out teeth the size of bricks
and skulls of giant bison, beavers.
In salty mud licked bare by elk
and deer and buffalo and bears
for ten millennia, the bones
seemed wreckage from a mighty dream,
a graveyard from a golden age,
or killing ground of titans. Here
they saw the ruins of a world
survived by its diminutives,
where Eden once gave way and shrank
to just a regular promised land
to fit our deadly, human scale.

Poem reprinted here with permission by the author.  Poem was first published in August 2011 by Southern Cultures journal (Volume 17, Number 3, Fall 2011 edition).

Check out more poems on Mr. Morgan’s website.