Taylorsville Lake State Park

Taylorsville Lake State Park is a park encompassing convert|1625|acre|km2|0 in Spencer County, Kentucky, roughly between Louisville and Lexington. Taylorsville Lake, its major feature, extends into parts of Anderson County and Nelson County.cite book |editor=Kleber, John E. |others=Associate editors: Thomas D. Clark, Lowell H. Harrison, and James C. Klotter |title="The Kentucky Encyclopedia" |year=1992 |publisher=The University Press of Kentucky |location=Lexington, Kentucky |isbn=0813117720 |chapter=Parks, State]

Taylorsville Lake gains its name from the nearby town, named for President Zachary Taylor's father, Richard Taylor, who donated sixty acres of his own land for creation of the town. The lake was created when the United States Army Corps of Engineers chose to dam the Salt River, thereby creating the lake, with its public opening in January 1983. The dam, which measures a height of convert|163|ft|m|0 and a length of convert|1280|ft|m|0, cost $28.8 million to build. The resulting lake is convert|3050|acre|km2|0 in total area, has convert|75|mi|km|0 of shoreline, and is convert|18|mi|km|0 long. [Bailey, Bill. "Kentucky State Parks". (Glovebox Guidebooks of America, 1995). pg.299-301] [ [http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/recparks/tl/ Kentucky State Parks - Home] ] [http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/recparks/tl/history/ Kentucky State Parks - History] ]

There is both a park office, maintained by the state of Kentucky, and a visitors' center maintained by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The Visitors' Center is pyramid-shaped with a brown metal roof, and contains displays of the local trees, boating, and dam management. Fishing is the main attraction, as it is the most heavily stocked lake in the Commonwealth of Kentucky; it is known for its bluegill, and features bass and crappie. This is fully aided by rule that fish had to be convert|15|in|cm|0 long minimum to be legally caught. There are also convert|17.3|mi|km of hiking trails, but these are seen as poor quality by hiking enthusiasts as their use by equestrian traffic as well made the hiking trails like "a plow had chattered down them". Camping was not available at the park until 1998. [Bailey pg.300-304] [Elliott, Brook & Barbara. "Hiking Kentucky" pg.149]

ee also

*List of parks in Louisville, Kentucky

References