Cherokee Park
| Cherokee Park | |
|---|---|
Cherokee Park, Baringer Hill
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| Type | Municipal |
| Location | East Louisville, Kentucky |
| Coordinates | 38°14′28″N 85°41′49″W / 38.24120°N 85.69690°WCoordinates: 38°14′28″N 85°41′49″W / 38.24120°N 85.69690°W |
| Area | 409 acres (166 ha) |
| Created | 1891 |
| Operated by | Metro Parks |
Cherokee Park is a 409-acre (166 ha) municipal park located in Louisville, Kentucky, United States and is part of the Louisville Olmsted Parks Conservancy. It was designed in 1891 by Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of landscape architecture along with 18 of Louisville's 123 parks. Beargrass Creek runs through much of the park, and is crossed by numerous pedestrian and automobile bridges.
According to The Trust for Public Land, Cherokee Park has 500,000 visitors annually, making it tied for the 69th most popular municipal park in the United States.
The park features a 2.4 mile Scenic Loop through the park's pastoral setting featuring rolling hills, open meadows and woodlands with separate lanes for vehicle traffic (one-way) and recreational users.
Cherokee Park opened in 1891, has always been a major draw, and was a key factor in sparking development in nearby parts of town.
The land comprising Cherokee Park was originally part of a 4,000-acre (16 km2) military land grant in 1773 to James Southall and Richard Charlton.
A 43-acre (170,000 m2) portion of the land passed to Judge Joshua Fry Bullitt, who sold it in 1868 to foundry magnate Archibald P. Cochran. Cochran established an estate there called Fern Cliff, which operated as a museum for a while but has since been demolished.
As the land was located around Beargrass Creek, it was hilly and ill-suited to farming. Prior to its conversion as a park, the land was used primarily for animal grazing, although much of it was wooded. By 1893 the land was carved into six estates, including Cochran's (which was sold to the city after his death in 1889). The other estates belonged to the Bonnycastle 63 acres (250,000 m2), Barret 20 acres (81,000 m2), Morton & Griswold 106 acres (0.43 km2), Alexander 25 acres (100,000 m2) families, respectively. Those and two small lots under 1-acre (4,000 m2) were bought by 1891. Additional land from the Longest, Barringer and Belknap families would be added to expand the park to its modern size.
In 1887, a city park system was proposed with three large suburban parks: east, west and south. The initial name of the eastern park was to be Beargrass Park, but in 1891, as was fashionable in the late 19th century, a name that evoked the romantic imagery of Native Americans was chosen.
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Wikipedia