The tree-lined access road off U.S. Hwy. 68 near Aurora winds through the softly rolling terrain for about a mile until it comes to an open gate. A side road veers to the right for a couple hundred yards, then forks. The right fork ends at a picnic pavilion; the left bends slightly downhill toward the bluff, where it stops in front of a couple of in-need-of-repair cabins perched on the edge of Kentucky Lake. One cabin has been reduced to a storage facility. The other houses a park worker. What the place lacks in updates is more than made up for by its location. The view is dazzling.
I turn around and drive past what was once probably the superintendent’s house but now is used for storage and turn through an open gate. The road tops a hill, and the lake fills the windshield. The surroundings have a rejuvenated feel.
The original dining hall has been renovated without loss of its rustic charm, renamed the Richard H. Lewis Lodge, and has become a popular venue for weddings or other gatherings. The front door is locked, but the linen-covered tables are evidence that it recently has been or will soon be in use.
Adjacent to the lodge and overlooking the lake, the area around a tiered, concrete pavilion has been cleared of trees, saplings and other brushy overgrowth and again offers a stunning view, including, at a distance, the new four-lane highway 68/80 bridge spanning Kentucky Lake. A trail from the pavilion skirts the lakeshore and may once have led to the scattering of cabins that dotted the hillside.
In front of the lodge, there’s ample parking. The road ends at the concrete boat ramp, which is long and unusually steep. A late-model Toyota attached to an empty boat trailer is parked near the ramp.
A car with Tennessee license plates circles the parking lot, then stops in the lower parking. A man and woman exit and wander over to a stone and iron grill precariously anchored near the lip of the bluff. It’s a 30-foot drop to the rock and slate shore. The grill might be a remnant of an original cabin site. The man pulls out a smartphone and clicks a couple of photos of the lake, which is nearly void of boat traffic on a sunny weekday afternoon.
Cherokee State Park is a beautiful spot that includes 300 acres perched on the western shore of the big lake like a bird on a wire. It also has a troubling past.
Kentuckians have every reason to preserve, visit, use and enjoy this place but no reason to be proud of this spot. The historic marker at the entrance tells the tale of Cherokee State Park succinctly:
“Known as the state park for Kentucky’s ‘Negro’ citizens. Cherokee Park was a product of ‘Jim Crow’ segregation. Built when African Americans fought to integrate recreation facilities in Louisville and other parts of Kentucky. Some thought park overdue. Others thought Cherokee an obstacle to full equality. Proposed in 1946 & opened in 1951, the only state park in Kentucky developed for African Americans. Closed by 1964, after Gov. Combs 1963 Exec. Order ended segregation in public facilities. 300 acres, beach, rental cottages, kitchen & dining hall, & picnic area. 2000 attended opening. Black families near and far vacationed here.”
According to the University of Kentucky’s Notable Kentucky African American database, nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/1430, when Cherokee opened in 1951, it was only the third segregated park for African Americans in the United States and included a beach, cottages, boat and fishing docks, picnic areas, a bathhouse and a 200-seat dining hall. It was advertised and promoted as “the finest colored vacation spot in the South.”
Today, Cherokee is part of neighboring Kenlake State Resort Park, one of the jewels of Kentucky’s state park system but, like Cherokee, it has its own segregation stain. Until Gov. Combs’ 1963 executive order, Kenlake was for only white visitors.
But change was coming. Combs’ order effectively closed the only park built for, and up until then, legally open to black Kentuckians. The Tennessee Valley Authority owned the property, which has been leased to the Commonwealth. Most equipment and facilities that could be moved were shifted to neighboring Kenlake. The place fell into disrepair, but following a half-century of neglect, it re-opened in 2010.
Today, of course, everyone is welcome. While America still sometimes struggles with its racially charged history, great strides have been made. Cherokee is worth a visit—both for what it was and what it is.
More at parks.ky.gov/groups/find_locations/western-region/kenlake.aspx.
Readers may contact Gary Garth at editor@kentuckymonthly.com