Digging Up Bones

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Remember “Diggin’ Up Bones,” an early hit by Randy Travis? The good folks at Big Bone Lick State Historic Park sure do! Big Bone Lick, located not too far from Cincinnati, is considered “the birthplace of American paleontology.” President Thomas Jefferson asked explorer William Clark to examine the area and see if all the stories about big bones from ancient animals were true. They were. Big Bone Lick is still an active archeological dig, with new artifacts being discovered all the time. New fossils, as well as older ones, are on display in the museum at the gift shop. A mile-long, mostly ADA friendly (there are a few places that would be difficult for a stroller or wheelchair, more due to mud than incline), path takes the hiker through the area, showing areas where fossils had been found, with plenty of informational plaques detailing life along the Big Bone Creek for pre-historic life, American Indians, and late 19th/early 20th century travelers who came for the mineral springs. Considerable attention is given on the path and in the museum to Mary Draper Ingalls, who was captured by Shawnee and brought to the Ohio Valley, where she worked in the Big Bone salt deposits. She escaped and trekked through the mountainous region of eastern Kentucky to return home. Big Bone Lick isn’t a “fancy” park, but if you’re in the neighborhood, it’s a delightful place to spend an hour or so looking way back in American history. Here’s the Randy Travis song: