On January 25, 1927 Blue Licks State Park became Kentucky’s fifth state park. Judge Samuel Wilson of Fayette County, chairman of the Blue Licks Battlefield Monument Commission, presented a deed for thirty-two acres to the Kentucky State Park Commission on behalf of local citizens who had donated the land. Located north of the Lower Blue Licks Crossing in present day Robertson County, the site of the Battle of Blue Licks enshrines the memory of the men who died in one of the worst military defeats of the American Revolution.
Blue Licks now has 148 acres and over 50 campsites with water and electricity. Each August, the park hosts a reenactment of the Battle of Blue Licks. One unique feature of the park is the existence of a rare plant. The Short’s Goldenrod is the first plant in Kentucky placed on the endangered species list of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The plant is named after amateur botanist Dr. Charles W. Short.