Big Bone Lick

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.

Here is a nice video of the bison grazing at Big Bone Lick State Park.  This was recorded on Saturday, August 13, 2011 by DRAco Studios while visiting friends in Northern Kentucky.

We visited Big Bone Lick State Park on a warm Sunday afternoon, and the bison were out feeding in the prairie.

Read the rest of this entry »

This is one of many historic markers in Big Bone Lick State Park.  It reads as follows:

MARY INGLES

Reputed first white woman in Ky.  Shawnees captured her and two sons in July 1755 at site Roanoke, Va.  Led to village at mouth of Scioto, separated from sons, taken to Big Bone Lick.  Compelled to make salt here; adopted by chief; given few liberties.  Escaped late fall with another woman.  After 40 days she reached home.  Died 1813, age 83.  A courageous, resourceful pioneer.

1965 * Kentucky Historical Society * Kentucky Department of Highways * 859

Like most Kentucky state parks, Big Bone Lick State Park is dog-friendly.  Dogs are allowed throughout the park and campground for no additional fee.  There is a dog walk area at the campground.  Dogs must be current on all shots including rabies.  Dogs must be leashed and under their owner’s control at all times.

DogFriendly.com: Review of Big Bone Lick
GoPetFriendly.com: A Walk in the Big Bone Lick State Park

Big Bone Lick State Park is hosting its “Lick the Wild: Survival Skills Weekend” September 9-11, 2011. 

Join the park naturalist for a full weekend of pre-historic based survival training.  Taught from a “no modern tools” perspective, these classes are designed to teach you how to cope with various difficulties when in survival situations.  Registration is required and is limited to a first-come, first-served basis until all spots are full.

The $75 fee includes primitive camping for two nights and all class fees.  The program begins 4-6 p.m. Friday and ends at noon on Sunday.  Email todd.young@ky.gov for more information and registration.

The Friends of Big Bone will hold a dinner and roast to honor former Boone County Judge Executive Bruce Ferguson (1963-1982 and 1986-1992).  As President of the Big Bone Historical Association, Ferguson worked with William Fitzgerald (secretary) to raise funds to establish a park in the Big Bone Lick area.  On December 12, 1958, they purchased 17 acres of land from Alpha and India Hance for $5,000.  This land became the seed for Big Bone Lick State Park, which was formally established in 1960.  Ferguson has remained a supporter of the park over the years.

The dinner-roast will be held October 6, 2011 at Receptions Conference Center on Donaldson Road in Boone County.  The reception starts at 5:45 p.m. with dinner at 6:45 p.m.  Cost is $55 per person.  Funds raised by this dinner will be used to upgrade the Visitor’s Center and further promote and preserve the history of Big Bone Lick State Park.

The Friends of Big Bone are looking for anyone who has worked with Judge Ferguson or who wishes to participate in the roast.  To receive an invitation to the dinner, call (859) 689-5631 or send an email.