Appalachian History Series
The Middle Fork Setting and Purpose
Where the Middle Fork of the Kentucky River cuts through steep country in Perry and Leslie counties, the federal government built Buckhorn Lake Dam to tame dangerous floods and stabilize low flows. The site sits above the confluence where narrow ridges funnel runoff into quick crests.
Congress authorized the project in the Flood Control Act of 1938 as part of a wider Ohio River basin program. The location offered a natural bowl that could store stormwater and then release it in a measured way once the danger passed downstream.
From the start, the plan balanced multiple purposes. Flood control stood first, but low flow augmentation for water quality and water supply mattered as well. The reservoir margin was set aside for public recreation that could lift local communities.
Building Buckhorn Lake Dam
The dam is an earthen and rock fill embankment set into rugged Appalachian terrain. Engineers managed steep slopes and tight curves while relocating river-hugging roads that once threaded the valley.
The structure works through gated outlets and spillway capacity. Operators can capture runoff during a storm, hold it safely, and then release it as rivers below the dam recede to manageable levels.
Much of the physical plant is utilitarian concrete inside an earthen wall, but the setting complicates everything. Foundations needed careful treatment, access roads had to be shifted, and crews worked within short weather windows that mountain contractors know well.
Flood Control in Practice and Lakeside Recreation
In day to day use Buckhorn Lake rises and falls with the seasons. Operators draw the pool down ahead of the wet months to leave storage for incoming storms, then let the lake refill with spring rains.
During flood events the gates throttle releases so that creeks and towns downstream can handle the water without the sudden crests that once tore up bottomland and roadbeds. Public updates during high water help residents prepare for temporary closures and low water crossings.
When conditions are stable the shoreline turns into a playground. Kentucky created Buckhorn Lake State Resort Park on the bluff above the reservoir in the mid 1960s, opening a lodge, beach, and picnic sites. Later additions included more rooms, a pool, boat slips, trails, a fishing pier, and miniature golf.
Bowlingtown Remembered
The lake did not arrive on an empty map. The pool covered the old community of Bowlingtown and pieces of the transportation network along the Middle Fork.
Families moved, churches and businesses closed, and graves were reinterred on higher ground. Former residents and their descendants still tell stories of homeplaces now under water, of gardens and front porches that today lie beneath summer waves.
That memory has become part of the local identity around Buckhorn. Visitors encounter the vanished town through interpretive signs, local histories, and shared recollections. The project promised safety downstream, yet it also asked a long established mountain community to give up its place.
Stewardship and Planning for the Next Generation
Buckhorn’s public footprint extends beyond the embankment. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages project lands and water for safety, environmental quality, and public access, while the Commonwealth operates park facilities.
That cooperation runs through formal planning documents that guide how shorelines are protected, where trails and ramps make sense, and how sensitive cultural and natural resources are handled. The master plan for Buckhorn Lake is periodically updated with public input and looks ahead roughly a quarter century.
The goal is simple to state and complex to execute. Keep people downstream safer. Keep water and land healthy. Keep room for families who want to fish, paddle, and sit quietly where the Middle Fork widens into a quiet morning lake.
Sources and further reading
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville District. Buckhorn Lake recreation and project overview, project purpose and operations.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Great Lakes and Ohio River Division. Buckhorn Lake Master Plan materials and public update notices.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and partners. Beattyville Flood Risk Management Feasibility Report and Environmental Assessment, basin background and flood control context relevant to Buckhorn.
City of Buckhorn. Local history and project notes, including construction era context and road relocations.
Buckhorn Lake State Resort Park information pages, lodge and facility development in the mid 1960s.
“Ghost Lakes” account of Bowlingtown, collected recollections and photographs that preserve local memory.
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