Big Bone Lick State Park

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 are believed to have been drawn to this location by a salt lick. Ancestors of the sloth, bison, and horse also grazed the vegetation and salty earth around the springs that the animals relied on for their diet. The area near the springs was very soft and marshy causing many animals to become stuck with no way to escape. It bills itself as "the birthplace of American paleontology" a term which dates from the 1807 expedition by William Clark and his brother General George Rogers Clark.

In 2002, the National Park Service designated Big Bone Lick State Park as an official Lewis and Clark Heritage Trail Site. The Park was also listed in 1972 on the National Register of Historic Places, and was further listed as a National Natural Landmark in February 2009.

Read more about Big Bone Lick State Park:  Attractions, Gallery

Famous quotes containing the words big, bone, lick, state and/or park:

    No way dude.
    Chris Matheson, U.S. screen actor, Ed Solomon, U.S. screen actor, and Stephen Herek. Bill & Ted’s Big Adventure (film)

    Here lies the body of William Jones
    Who all his life collected bones,
    Till Death, that grim and boney spectre,
    That universal bone collector,
    Boned old Jones, so neat and tidy,
    And here he lies, all bona fide.
    —Anonymous. “Epitaph on William Jones,” from Eleanor Broughton’s Varia (1925)

    I like to see it lap the Miles—
    And lick the Valleys up—
    Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)

    Science is neither a single tradition, nor the best tradition there is, except for people who have become accustomed to its presence, its benefits and its disadvantages. In a democracy it should be separated from the state just as churches are now separated from the state.
    Paul Feyerabend (1924–1994)

    The park is filled with night and fog,
    The veils are drawn about the world,
    Sara Teasdale (1884–1933)