We arrived at ACOE Fall Creek Campground on Lake Cumberland near Monticello Kentucky on 4 May 2024 for 7 nights. The forecast for our time in Kentucky showed rain and/or thunderstorms every day we were here. We managed to get out and do a little sight seeing, but we spent quite a bit of time hunkered down inside reading books and listening to big raindrops and occasional roars of thunder. One night we got 2 inches of rain. Fortunately we never felt like we should leave our camper and take shelter in the bath house. We had enough TV access to see local weather and where the tornado warnings were, and they were mostly south of us. Anita was still scared by the thunder especially when it seemed to be directly overhead and shook the ground.
On Sunday 5 May, we attended mass at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Monticello. After lunch of a Chinese buffet, we went to Mill Springs Mill there in Monticello. Built in 1877, the mill still does demonstrations but not till after Memorial Day. Anita would have liked to see the process of corn being ground with the water wheel power. The water wheel at Mill Springs Mill is the oldest of its kind still working and largest in US. We soon learned that Monticello is very hilly with lots of steps to descend and climb to get up-close looks at the water and/or historic markers.
After the Mill, we drove to General Burnside Island State Park in Somerset Kentucky, about 20 miles from Monticello. It is a nice park with a nice campground, golf course and marina. We checked out the campground and the marina. Burnside Kentucky claims to be the home of the first Boy Scout troop in 1908.
Mill Springs Mill 5 May 2024
Mill Springs Mill 5 May 2024
Mill Springs Mill 5 May 2024
Floating dock with no access from shore
Actual Spring at Mill Springs Mill 5 May 2024
Mill Springs Mill 5 May 2024
Mill Springs Mill 5 May 2024
Mill Springs Mill 5 May 2024
Mill Springs Mill 5 May 2024
The Brown-Lanier House
Box Turtle on the lawn of the Brown-Lanier House 5 May 2024
Mill Springs Mill 5 May 2024
Mill Springs Mill 5 May 2024
On Monday, the rain was expected in the afternoon, so we took a walk from the campground. The campground itself is only 9 campsites with a boat launch and bath house. The road leading to the campground is a good walk with being hilly and one mile from the entrance to the stop sign. We did that late morning then were stuck inside for the afternoon. We each read about 3 books this week!
On Tuesday 7 May, we checked out the Wayne County Museum in Monticello. The museum is well done and entrance is free. We made a donation after being very impressed with the information and displays. On our way back to the campground that day, we checked out Conley Bottom Resort on Lake Cumberland in Monticello just a couple of miles from our campground. We had heard that it is very nice with a restaurant, marina and campground. We were there well before Memorial Day, so we didn't see much going on. We could see how it's probably nice in the summer months.
Wayne County Museum Monticello Kentucky 7 May 2024
Wayne County Museum Monticello Kentucky 7 May 2024
Wayne County Museum Monticello Kentucky 7 May 2024
The museum was built over a cave. One room has a hole in the floor to see the cave below. It's hard to see with the plexiglass glare, but this is the cave below the museum.
Fun facts from the Internet about our home for a week: Lake Cumberland in Southern Kentucky is known as the “Houseboating Capital of the World” and has the country's largest fleet of rental houseboats. Founded in 1801 and named after the famed home of Thomas Jefferson, the town of Monticello located on Lake Cumberland lives up to its claim as the Houseboat Capital of the World, hosting the largest concentration of houseboat manufacturers to be found anywhere.
We actually saw lots of houseboats in our travels in and around Monticello.
Lake Cumberland State Park 9 May 2024
Lake Cumberland State Park 9 May 2024
On Wednesday 8 May, we were rained out. There was no going out that day. On Thursday 9 May, we were itching to get out and finally the forecast showed no rain, so we went to Lake Cumberland State Resort Park about 40 miles from Monticello. We had a nice lunch in the restaurant at the lodge there. The view of the lake right from our table was great! On the way to the state park, we stopped at a national fish hatchery we saw a sign for. Anita was fascinated by the way the fish eggs are harvested and the fish are grown. It brought back memories of working at a fish hatchery for Steve. He had worked at one in Arkansas right out of college with his Fisheries Biology degree. On our way back to the campground we stopped to see Seventy-Six Falls, one of the area attractions listed on the fish hatchery's pamphlet.
We noticed that day since we traveled west from our campground in Monticello that our phones and the truck's times had fallen back an hour to Central Time Zone. We crossed into the Eastern Time Zone on our drive to Monticello. Half of Kentucky is on CST and the other half is EST. We will be driving farther east from the dividing line when we leave but it's been fun site seeing in a different zone this week.
9 May 2024
One of the "raceways" at the fish hatchery 9 May 2024
Wolf Creek Dam 9 May 2024
9 May 2024
Lake Cumberland State Resort Park 9 May 2024
Lake Cumberland State Resort Park 9 May 2024
9 May 2024
Seventy-Six Falls 9 May 2024
Seventy-Six Falls 9 May 2024
Monticello's Chamber of Commerce had a "Big Chair Project" to highlight local businesses a couple of years ago. Steve read that there are over 35 of these big chairs around Monticello. We saw quite a few of them, but only one was picture worthy...
Monticello Kentucky 9 May 2024
We really enjoyed our full day without rain on Thursday and even got to see a nice sunset out our back window. Today's been spent cleaning and getting things ready outside for tomorrow's trip. Anita walked to the stop sign again today, since the afternoon would be spent reading and working on the blog. Tomorrow (11 May), we're heading to West Virginia for 5 nights. We're making progress on seeing the 49 states we can see driving.
Sunset from our back window 9 May 2024
Lake Cumberland area looks like a great area to visit or live! Can't wait to hear about West Virginia!