2023 Heritage Geocache Challenge: Communities Between the Rivers

2023 Heritage Geocache Challenge: Communities Between the Rivers

The 2023 Heritage Geocache Challenge begins Sunday, May 7  at Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area! The 2023 Communities Between the Rivers Heritage Challenge Coin The annual Heritage Geocache Challenge is put on by the Heritage Program at Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area as part of our outreach to the public, to get people to explore their forest and their history, and to share the unique heritage of the families from Between the Rivers. About the GeocachesThis is the eighth year of the Heritage Geocache Challenge at the Land Between the Lakes and, like in previous years,…
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Soldiers From Fort Campbell Assist in Clean-up at Cleo Griffin House

Soldiers From Fort Campbell Assist in Clean-up at Cleo Griffin House

Soldiers from Alpha Company, 39th Brigade Engineer Battalion came out to the Land Between the Lakes for a very special mission. They helped the Heritage program begin a project to safeguard and preserve the house formerly occupied by Cleo Sanford Griffin. Griffin was a veteran of World War II and, according to locals, may have suffered from PTSD. He was in the Battle of Monte Cassino which began in January 1944 and didn’t end until May of that year. Allied casualties were in excess of 55,000. So it would be understandable if Griffin did, indeed, suffer PTSD as a result.…
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Dusk till Dawn

Dusk till Dawn

I looked east and spotted the orange glow piercing through the oaks still leafless from the long winter nights. I turned right from the trailhead and regained my footing as I reached a muddy path. I slipped and contorted in many ways as I tried to maintain my footing. My mind kept racing, “warm thoughts, warm thoughts,” but it did nothing to stop my now uncontrollable shivering. Only a madman could be up in these conditions for my specific agenda. I stumbled in the half-morn light crashing heavily on a twig. The crack pierced the cold morning air and a…
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Millstone Rescue at Empire Farm

Millstone Rescue at Empire Farm

With lake levels for Lake Barkley at winter pool, artifacts and features of a by-gone era will sometimes be visible. Recently, a concerned member of the public reported to Land Between the Lakes Area Supervisor, Tina Tilley, he had seen a millstone along the lake shore near Empire Farm. He was concerned that someone might try to steal this piece of history. The Heritage department sent a crew to investigate and found it easily with detailed directions provided by the concerned citizen. What they found was a millstone, about 3 feet in diameter and about 6-8 inches thick located along the edge of…
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Golden Pond Interpretive Overlook Dedication

Golden Pond Interpretive Overlook Dedication

About Golden Pond, Kentucky Long after the people of Golden Pond were displaced by the creation of Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, former residents of Golden Pond continued to gather and remember at the location where their town had once been. While the buildings were gone, the large flower garden that lay at the center of town and concrete mounting blocks still existed in place, acting as visual cues, orienting visitors to the layout of the former town. However, when the new four-lane version of Highway 68/80 was constructed, even those last remains of Golden Pond were removed,…
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