Kentucky State Parks celebrated 100 years in 2024 and Bell County is fortunate to be the home of Pine Mountain State Resort Park, which was the very first to be established in the state.

Park Manager Rita Edmondson said many of the state parks were built during the Great Depression to put people to work as part of the New Deal.

“Especially the resort parks were put in remote locations to spur economic development and bring money into those areas,” she said.

That goal has been a big success as tourism is now a booming industry across the state and a big part of our local economy.

A 2023 study showed that tourism in the state of Kentucky had a total economic impact of $13.8 billion and sustained 95,222 jobs across the commonwealth.

In 2019 Kentucky State Parks welcomed about 7.8 million visitors including 6.7 million day users and 1.6 million overnight guests.

“We don’t have a system that tracks the number of visitors just with foot traffic (at Pine Mountain),” Edmondson said. “I can tell you that we sell approximately 9300 room nights in a year so we have $1.3 million in revenue just through accommodations.”

She added that since the park was annexed into the city of Pineville, they now contribute an occupational tax of 1.5% for each of their 80 employees.

“We also pay the restaurant tax fee that goes into the city coffers. We pay 6% alcohol tax to the city of Pineville plus 6% to the state. For accommodations we pay 3% to Bell County Tourism, it’s a transient tax that all hotels pay. That’s how tourism is able to help support the events that they do and how they help put on some of the events they do,” Edmondson said. “People just don’t understand how much it helps when people visit here and the revenue that it brings into our area.”

The natural beauty and historical significance of the area are both major draws for tourists locally. Edmondson said visitors can stay locally and not only experience Kentucky’s oldest state park at Pine Mountain, they can take short trips to visit the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park and Wilderness Road State Park in Virginia.

“When the wildlife center opens at Boone’s Ridge, it will be a nature lover’s paradise. This will be the place to come,” she said. “So much tourism revolves around nature. That’s how Gatlinburg got started, then they put in Dollywood and that led to big growth in Pigeon Forge and Sevierville. That got real commercialized, but people still want the nature part of it. That’s here, we have it, we just have to learn to capitalize on it.”

Edmondson also shared some historical information compiled by the Spindletop Research Project that shows interest in preserving the state’s outstanding historic and natural sites date back even before 1924.

As early as 1919, the citizens of Bell County secured a 2,000 acre tract of land and offered it to the state for development as a recreation and conservation area. Soon after the establishment of the first park commission in 1924, Dr. Willard Rouse Jillison, then serving as State Geologist and Chairman of the Kentucky State Park Commission, was asked by the Pineville Kiwanis Club to attend an inter-city meeting with the City of Middlesboro and present his views on plans for development of the historic potential of the Cumberland Gap region.

Dr.  Jillison shared his ideas for turning Cumberland Gap into a state park, however the consensus opinion in Middlesboro was that Cumberland Gap was of such national significance as the gateway to the west that it should be recognized and established as a national park. Those efforts were rewarded years later as Cumberland Gap National Historical Park was authorized in June of 1940 and officially dedicated on July 4, 1959.

But on that night in 1924, the park-minded Pineville members persuaded Dr. Jillison to remain in Pineville until the following day and look at the area they thought might be substituted for Cumberland Gap as a potential state park. Overnight they lined up enough pledges of land on Pine Mountain, including the old “deer farm,” to form the nucleus of Kentucky’s first state park.

Later that year the 2,000 acres were transferred to the state and accepted by the State Park Commission. The park was first named Cumberland State Park but was later changed to Pine Mountain to avoid confusion with Cumberland Falls State Park.

“The people of Pineville got together and gave the land that is now Pine Mountain State Park and it has expanded over the years,” Edmondson said. “Kentucky Ridge State Forest used to be part of the park but they’ve separated that now so it can be maintained by the Division of Forestry.”

The park is probably best known for the Laurel Cove Amphitheater, which has hosted the Queen’s Coronation during the Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival since 1931 and also hosts the Laurel Cove Music Festival each year in June.

Another fairly new annual event at the Park is the SCCA HillClimb race coming up at the end of April.

During the 1930s, the people of Pineville decided to create a new tourist attraction. In 1933, a group hauled a 101-foot-long chain to the top of Pine Mountain and attached it to a massive boulder that loomed above the town.

Many locals don’t realize what a hidden gem the lodge at Pine Mountain is with a full service restaurant and the C.V. Whitley Convention Center that hosts many dinners, dances and other events throughout the year.

“People know that the cove is here and the shelters are here, a lot of them don’t realize that Wasioto Winds Golf Course is part of Pine Mountain State Park,” Edmondson said. “We have a restaurant, a convention center, there are 30 rooms in the lodge, and we have 20 cabins and cottages.”

Today the park hosts a lot of business meetings, corporate retreats, reunions and weddings.

“From the spring all the way through December weekends stay sold out,” Edmondson said. “In the summertime and spring there is probably not a weekend that the cove is not reserved for a wedding.”

The park also boasts 14 hiking trails, picnic shelters, miniature golf, a pool and a new playground as well as a paintball course.

“We don’t charge a fee to get into the park. You can enjoy our hiking trails or bring a picnic and enjoy the park and it doesn’t cost you anything other than the price of gas to get here,” Edmondson said. “We have a playground now for kids, there are a lot of things for a family to enjoy without spending much money. If you want to, you can enjoy a meal at the restaurant, you play a round of golf or putt-putt. We have also started to make our pool and pool house available to reserve for small pool parties on certain days during the summer.”

The park’s nature center is currently under construction and will soon be offering special programs.

The lodge entrance has been undergoing repairs to get ready for spring. The stairs leading up to the porch were torn out and redone because of a settling issue so new storm drains have been installed.  Workers are currently repairing the flag stones all the way around. Edmonson said once that’s finished they’ll replace the stairs between the lodge rooms and the back walls.

“I’m hoping to have all of that done in time for the festival,” she said.

Pine Mountain State Resort Park continues to live up to the Kentucky State Park’s mission of creating memorable experiences, providing a sense of place and preserving the historic and natural integrity of state parks for existing and future generations.