Cherokee State Park located within Kenlake State Resort Park is among three historic preservation projects to be awarded federal funding from the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet to help preserve African American history in the commonwealth.
Governor Andy Beshear made the announcement Monday that Cherokee State Park in Aurora, Hotel Metropolitan in Paducah, and the Palmer Pharmacy Building in Louisville will each receive $50,000 in federal funding.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation announced that 40 grants totaling more than $3 million will be distributed nationally from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund to help preserve historic African American historic sites, including $150,000 for these three projects in Kentucky.
The governor says Cherokee State Park, the first segregated state park and recreational site for Black Americans in the South was established in 1951, operated until 1964, and was abandoned until 2002. Today the park is used for weddings and other recreational activities. Beshear says the funding will be used for interpretative signage and programming to tell its story with the Friends of Cherokee State Park as the recipient.
According to the governor, Kentucky’s arts and culture sector is a vital part of the state’s $11.8 billion tourism industry. He says the funding of these projects is part of the commonwealth’s ongoing effort to foster investments in tourism and economic development projects that will position the state to attract new, diverse travel markets.
