Pine Mountain State Park features breathtaking panoramic views, old-growth forests, a golf course, and a nature preserve in southeast Kentucky.
Pine Mountain was opened in 1924 as Kentucky’s first state park and has grown over the decades to encompass 1,700 acres. More than half of the state resort park is dedicated as a state nature preserve to protect the old-growth forest.
There was speculation at the time at which area would become Kentucky’s first state park. A reserve along the Cumberland Mountains was first considered but with its potential as a future national park, the state looked towards Pine Mountain. Dozens of local citizens joined county officials to assemble and donate land in a community effort towards the establishment of what became Pine Mountain State Park.
The formation of the Civilian Conservation Corps, a federally funded program designed to put citizens to work through the Great Depression, led to the construction of many of today’s park’s amenities, including its hiking trails, shelters, and cabins.
Today, Pine Mountain State Park offers 12-miles of moderate to strenuous hiking trails set among cascading streams, old-growth forests, and rock outcroppings; Wasioto Winds, an 18-hole golf course; the Laurel Cove Amphitheater; the 30-room Herndon J. Evans Lodge; rustic log-cabins and modern cottages; and the Mountain View Restaurant.
