Kingdom Come State Park is a part of

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

's state park system in Harlan County atop

Pine Mountain Pine Mountain may refer to: Natural formations Australia * Pine Mountain (Victoria), large monolith located in Burrowa-Pine Mountain National Park United States * Pine Mountain Wilderness, a protected wilderness area in Prescott National Fore ...

near the city of

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

. It was named after the 1903 best-selling novel '' The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come'' by native Kentuckian

John Fox, Jr. John Fox Jr. (December 18, 1862 – July 3, 1919) was an American journalist, novelist, and short story writer. His home in Big Stone Gap, Virginia is a museum and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Several of his works were best ...

Features of the park include Raven Rock, Log Rock, and a mountain lake. The section of the park is also a legally dedicated state nature preserve by the

Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves The Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves is an agency of the Commonwealth of Kentucky in the United States dedicated to the protection of Kentucky's natural heritage. The agency's primary focus is protecting rare and endangered species habitats. It ...

Park features

Natural formations

Raven Rock is a naturally bare, large rock face composed mostly of

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

, leaning at a 45° angle over in the air. Nearby is the Cave Amphitheater. In the back of the Cave Amphitheater are deep crevices that house thousands of bats. Also within the park is a natural sandstone bridge called "Log Rock", which resembles a petrified tree that has fallen over. The Log Rock has been severely vandalized over the years, and the underside is now covered with people's names that they have spray-painted or scratched onto the stone. There are also numerous overlooks to the valleys below. Among the most popular of these viewing points is the Creech Overlook.

Wildlife

Within the park is a 225-acre nature preserve, primarily to protect the federally designated as endangered

Indiana bat The Indiana bat (''Myotis sodalis'') is a medium-sized mouse-eared bat native to North America. It lives primarily in Southern and Midwestern U.S. states and is listed as an endangered species. The Indiana bat is grey, black, or chestnut in colo ...

species. The preserve's Line Fork Cave is the winter roosting site for more than 3,000 Indiana bats. The park has the third largest colony of these bats in the state of Kentucky. Black bears inhabit Kingdom Come State Park and adjoining lands in the Cumberland, Kentucky area. Black bears naturally recolonized extreme eastern Kentucky counties (Harlan, Letcher, Bell, and Pike) over the last three decades from the neighboring states of Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee. The species was not reintroduced to Kingdom Come State Park or any portion of Kentucky east of Interstate 75. It is illegal to feed black bears. Other wildlife species also call Kingdom Come State Park home, including the state-threatened common raven, fox, multiple species of hawks, cottontail rabbit, multiple bat species, coyote, multiple species of amphibians, and an array of insect life.

Activities and amenities

Fourteen hiking trails, a 9-hole miniature golf course, lake with paddle boats, picnic shelters, fishing, and primitive campsites are available at the park. The park offers access to Little Shepherd Trail, a primitive road for mountain biking and adventure driving that winds across the Pine Mountain ridgetop to the city of

Harlan Harlan is a given name and a surname which may refer to: Surname * Abram D. Harlan (1833–1908), American politician from Pennsylvania * Bob Harlan (born 1936 Robert E. Harlan), American football executive * Bruce Harlan (1926–1959), America ...

Nearby

The Kentucky Coal Mining Museum, Portal 31 Mine Tour, and Benham Schoolhouse Inn are operated by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System in Benham.

References

External links

Kingdom Come State Park
Kentucky Department of Parks {{authority control Protected areas of Harlan County, Kentucky State parks of Kentucky Protected areas established in 1961 1961 establishments in Kentucky