Big Bone Lick Historic Site encompasses 512 acres of Kentucky parkland named after the Pleisotocene megafauna fossils found there, including mammoths, sloths and bison.
The park is nicknamed the “birthplace of American paleontology” and is an official Lewis and Clark Heritage Trail Site. To celebrate its history, the annual Salt Festival features demonstrations of pioneer life.
Learn frontier skills and traditions, shop a handmade crafter’s corner, listen to Bluegrass and Folk music, view prehistoric artifacts, watch blacksmiths at work, see how bison hair can be spun into yarn and discover how salt was extracted from the springs of Big Bone — the mineral is one of the reasons the site was so popular with prehistoric animals.
9 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. $5; free ages 5 and under. Big Bone Lick Historic Site, 3380 Beaver Road, Union, Ky., parks.ky.gov.
This article appears in Oct 10-17, 2018.