Department of Parks
Teacher Appreciation Day Is Aug. 4 at Wickliffe Mounds and Columbus-Belmont

Two state historic sites in Western Kentucky will host Teacher Appreciation Day on Aug. 4 to let teachers know about the educational resources and opportunities that each park has to offer.

Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site and Columbus-Belmont State Park will offer free guided tours, discussion sessions with park administrators on the activities and programs offered to schools and teachers’ packets with materials relating to each park’s museum and relationship to Kentucky’s Core Content for Assessment. The program is also open to educators from other states.

School groups are very important to Columbus-Belmont and Wickliffe Mounds.  A visit to each park provides a better understanding of two important time periods in Kentucky history. Wickliffe Mounds in Ballard County is an archaeological site of a Native American village of the Mississippian culture and Columbus-Belmont in Hickman County is the site of a Civil War battle, fort, trenches and encampment.

“We want to promote the significance of these two western Kentucky historic parks by raising awareness of the educational resources for teachers to use in their classroom and field trips,” said Carla Hildebrand, park manager at Wickliffe Mounds. “We want to hear from teachers what they would like to see and do on a school visit to each park.  We are offering a special program just for teachers to let them know we appreciate their visitation to our parks and hope to assist them with their lesson plans.”

Cindy Lynch, park manager of Columbus-Belmont, said “we want to let teachers know what we have to offer and how it will benefit the teacher, the student and the class.”  Two different time periods can be toured in one day by teachers and their students because Columbus-Belmont and Wickliffe Mounds are only 20 miles apart and easily accessible. 

The Aug. 4 program will start at Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site from 9:30-11:30 a.m. CT and will continue 12:30-3 p.m. at Columbus-Belmont State Park.  The program is free of charge to teachers and school administrators, but registration is required.  To register or for more information, call Wickliffe Mounds at 270-335-3681 or Columbus-Belmont at 270-677-2327 and a schedule will be provided to the participant. Participants must provide their own transportation.

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The Kentucky State Park System is composed of 53 state parks plus an interstate park shared with Virginia. The Department of Parks, an agency of the Commerce Cabinet, operates 17 resort parks with lodges -- more than any other state. Each year, Kentucky parks draw 7 million visitors and contribute $317 million to the economy. For more information on Kentucky parks, visit our Web site at http://www.parks.ky.gov