Camping in Kentucky

attending a family reunion in October... in Ohio. think I might pull my camper up for the weekend. I booked a campsite at Big Bone Lick state park in Union, Kentucky.. it's Oct 18 and 19. I am visiting family this weekend in northern Ky.. and drove through the campground. It's really nice.

Ok, somebody has to ask. What is the story behind the name "Big Bone Lick"?

cool name, right? lol. I actually read something, somewhere about the name.. but can't remember what it was. seems it had something to do with bone creek or bone river.. look it up and let us all know.

ok.. here's more....
Big Bone Lick State Park in northern Kentucky is famous for its name alone. It should be more famous for its fossils, since the area was once a swamp and home to all kinds of huge prehistoric animals like mammoths, mastodons, and ground sloths. A salt spring in the area attracts animals, who would come and lick the salt that was difficult to get in the rest of their diet. Hence, it was a "lick", the same name that sticks with other such areas. Native Americans also got salt there, and passed this tip on to a French Canadian named Baron de Longueil, who explored the area in 1739. A 1744 map marks the spot as the "place where they found the elephant bones in 1739." By then, the bones found at the lick were used for all kinds of purposes.

When John Filson published the a map of Kentucky in 1784, the lick was labeled, as well as Big Bone Creek and "Salt Springs and Medicinal Spring the large Bones are found here."

Whew!