Lake Cumberland Tourism

Pulaski County Park, a 465-acre recreational facility, presently contains 36 campsites with electrical hook-ups, and numerous primitive sites. There are seven shelter houses, playgrounds, a disc golf course, and two boat launching ramps.

Somersport Park, a 20-acre city park, provides facilities for picnicking, soccer fields, baseball and softball fields, a youth football field, driving range, tot lot, community building, public restrooms, and concession stand. A theme playground is also under construction.

General Burnside Island State Park, seven miles south of Somerset on U.S. 27, is Kentucky's only island state park. Rising out of Lake Cumberland and surrounded by beautiful Kentucky mountains, the park encompasses 430 acres offering excellent fishing, an 18-hole golf course which is open year-round, picnicking areas, two shelters, 94 campsites with water and electric, and numerous primitive sites. The park also has a community swimming pool and one of the best boat launching ramps on the entire lake. Beginning November 17 - January 1, General Burnside Island is transformed into Christmas Island's Festival of Lights.

Rocky Hollow Park, in Somerset, contains an amphitheater, bleachers, playgrounds, exercise stations, hard-surface basketball courts, a pavilion, a picnic area and hiking trails.

A portion of Pulaski County is located in the Daniel Boone National Forest, a rugged 640,000 acre timberland stretching throughout east central Kentucky. It encompasses much of Kentucky's great beauty and provides a vacation paradise. There are scenic hiking trails, rivers and streams stocked with a variety of fish, hunting preserves, camping sites, and numerous other natural and historical attractions such as Natural Arch and Yahoo Falls.

Woodson Bend Resort is a private resort located on Lake Cumberland near Burnside, Kentucky. This development features an 18-hole Trevino-Bennett golf course, five tennis courts, a swimming pool, boating, skiing, fishing, condominiums for sale or lease, a restaurant, and rental units.

Eagles Nest Country Club, a private recreational facility located three miles north of Somerset on Kentucky 39 features an 18-hole golf course, a fishing lake, four tennis courts, an Olympic size swimming pool and a two-story clubhouse.

Fishing Creek and Waitsboro are both U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Recreational areas. Waitsboro has 24 campsites and several picnicking areas, and is located south of Somerset on U.S. 27. Fishing Creek is about 3 miles west off Kentucky 80 with 44 campsites and picnic areas, playground equipment, and a beach area.

The YMCA as well as other private recreational facilities are available in the area. Slate Branch Golf Course is a public 18-hole course located just off Slate Branch road in southern Somerset.

The Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area (now a National Park Concessionaire) is located 25 miles south of Somerset, and was developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in cooperation with the National Park Service. The "National Area" is located along the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River from Whitley City in Kentucky, south to Oneida in Tennessee. Recreational opportunitites in this rugged scenic area include whitewater rafting, canoeing, kayaking, camping, hiking, horseback riding and picnicking.

The Blue Heron Recreation Area, a restored mining camp, is operated by the National Park Service as part of the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. The Interpretive exhibits provides visitors with an opportunity to witness life as it would have been when the mining camp operated on the banks of the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River. A campgound, scenic overlooks, and hiking trails are located in the area.

The Big South Fork Scenic Railway offers a chance to see part of the rugged Cumberland River area by rail. The train operates on a regular schedule between Strearns and the Blue Heron Recreation Area within the Big South Fork National River and Recreation area, a distance of about six miles in each direction.

Step into the past with two popular tours in Pulaski County. Visit historic downtown Somerset on a self-guided walking tour--a 1.75 mile journey of fact, recollection, legend, and imagination. A driving tour of the Battle of Mill Springs offers stops at the Mill Springs National Cemetery, which was established in 1866; Zollicoffer Park, the scene of the heaviest fighting during the height of the battle; the Confederate's last stand; the confederate camp at Beech Grove; and the confederate retreat.

Area (within 45 miles)