Abandoned Appalachia Series – Goss Park and Cupp Lake of Harlan County
High along the crest of Pine Mountain, where the Little Shepherd Trail clings to the ridge above Putney, there is a quiet pull off that looks almost forgotten. A few old tables, a weathered shelter, a narrow lane down toward a small mountaintop lake. On modern maps it appears as Goss Park or Goss Park Camping Area. In tourism copy it is sometimes called a hidden gem. In local hiking circles it is more often described as abandoned.
Seen from the road, Goss Park looks like a simple picnic ground. On paper and in the scientific record, though, it anchors an important piece of Kentenia State Forest and helps tell the story of how Kentucky tried to turn a rugged fire prone ridgeline into a place for conservation, recreation, and roadside rest.
Kentenia State Forest and the Crest of Pine Mountain
The story of Goss Park begins with Kentenia State Forest. In 1919 the coal company Kentenia Cantron gave the Commonwealth a scattered set of tracts along the south face of Pine Mountain in Harlan County. That donation became Kentucky’s first state owned forest and remains one of its oldest public woodlands.
State forestry summaries and tourism guides agree on the basic outline. Kentenia consists of several noncontiguous parcels that together cover just over four thousand acres on Pine Mountain’s flanks. The forest was set aside for timber management, fire protection, and public use, with early descriptions emphasizing hiking, primitive camping, picnicking, hunting, and fishing.
Later statewide features on “hidden treasures” of Kentucky singled out Kentenia’s ridge road, the Little Shepherd Trail, as the best way to experience the forest. They describe a narrow, partly paved thirty eight mile route between U.S. 119 and U.S. 421 that runs along the very crest of Pine Mountain, with overlooks where drivers can see both the steep Cumberland side and the equally sheer North Fork valleys.
From the beginning, then, Kentenia was imagined as both a working forest and a scenic drive. Goss Park would eventually grow up along that same road, in the largest and most visited of Kentenia’s tracts.
From State Forest to Roadside Recreation
By the early twenty first century state forest planners were describing Kentenia’s main Pine Mountain tract in more detail. In an official assessment prepared for the Kentucky Forest Legacy Program, foresters noted that the largest of Kentenia’s scattered parcels is accessible from Little Shepherd Trail and “contains Goss Park Camping Area on the crest of Pine Mountain.” The same document emphasized that the forest is open for hunting during state seasons and for hiking across its ridges.
A companion description on a state forest travel site repeats those themes. It calls Kentenia the oldest state owned forest in Kentucky, notes that its largest tract lies along the south side of Pine Mountain, and states plainly that this tract “contains Goss Park Camping Area on the crest of Pine Mountain.”
Together, those short passages do several important things. They pin down Goss Park as an official facility inside Kentenia rather than just an informal pull off. They connect it directly to the Little Shepherd Trail, the only road through that high crest. And they describe it as a camping area, not just a roadside overlook, which fits with local memories of tents, cookouts, and church groups using the site for weekend outings.
County level heritage promotion folded Goss Park into the same story. In its “Twenty Five Historic Stops in Harlan County” guide, Visit Harlan County describes Kentenia as more than four thousand acres on the south face of Pine Mountain and notes that the forest includes features such as Little Shepherd Trail and Goss Park. In that narrative, Goss Park becomes part of a network that also includes the 1937 Putney Ranger Station, the old Beschman fire tower up the hill, and the headwaters of the Cumberland River. The park is one of the places where conservation infrastructure, scenic driving, and local history meet.
Cupp Lake and the Pine Mountain Legacy Tract
The small lake below Goss Park has its own story. Modern tourism pieces often urge visitors to “spend an afternoon at Harlan’s highest elevated lake at Cupp Lake in Goss Park,” describing it as a hidden place for picnicking and fishing.
Behind that casual recommendation is a major conservation project. In the mid 2010s the state’s Land, Air & Water magazine highlighted a Pine Mountain Legacy Project tract that added more than seven hundred acres to Kentenia, including Cupp Lake and a scenic hiking corridor off the Little Shepherd Trail. Forestry outreach pieces from the University of Kentucky’s Kentucky Woodlands Magazine likewise describe “Kentenia Cupp Lake” as a small man made lake near the top of Pine Mountain inside Kentenia State Forest.
Taken together, those state and university publications sketch a likely sequence. Kentenia began as a scattered forest reservation in 1919. Later additions on the crest folded Cupp Lake into the forest’s holdings. As the Pine Mountain Legacy Project expanded protected lands and trail connections, recreation planners treated Cupp Lake and Goss Park as a single complex: a lake for fishing, a roadside park for camping and picnics, and a convenient access point to the surrounding ridge.
Goss Park, in other words, is not just a roadside rest area. It is the visible edge of a conservation corridor that stretches along Pine Mountain and links state forests, wildlife areas, and nature preserves into one long ridge top landscape.
Pinpointing Goss Park on the Map
For historians and field researchers, one challenge with a small place like Goss Park is simply figuring out exactly where it sits. Tourism copy and driving directions can be vague. Maps do not always name minor pull offs. In this case, however, scientific work has done some of the hardest locational work.
In 2022 lichenologists with the New York Botanical Garden’s “Ozark Lichens” project collected specimens on the east slopes of Pine Mountain. Herbarium labels for species such as Lecanora subpallens and Graphis scripta list the locality as “Kentenia State Forest, vicinity of Goss Park, E of Little Shepherd Trail / SR 1679 at junction with Putney Lookout Tower Road, between Spruce Ridge Branch and Hi Lewis Branch,” and give precise GPS coordinates of roughly 36.9243 degrees north and 83.2242 degrees west at an elevation of about 2612 feet.
Those specimen records matter for more than botany. Because they are georeferenced with handheld GPS units and carefully documented, they fix “vicinity of Goss Park” on the landscape in a way that few tourism pamphlets ever do. Plotted on a map, the coordinates fall along the east facing slopes just below the Little Shepherd Trail, near the crossroads where a short road climbs toward the old Beschman fire tower.
State wildlife maps reinforce that picture. A Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources information sheet for the Kentenia State Forest Wildlife Management Area gives an entrance coordinate of 36.92443 north, 83.22687 west and directs visitors to reach the area by taking U.S. 421 north from its junction with U.S. 119, then turning onto the Little Shepherd Trail. When overlaid with the lichen coordinates, those directions show that the main modern access to Kentenia’s crest arrives at almost exactly the same short pull off that visitors now know as Goss Park.
In combination, the herbarium vouchers and wildlife maps move Goss Park from a loosely defined tourist label to a precisely mapped corner of Kentenia, nestled between named hollows and rising ridges that appear on U.S. Geological Survey quadrangles.
Goss Park in Local Memory and Hiking Culture
Official documents tell only part of the story. The rest lives in local tourism sites, hiking guides, and social media posts.
Harlan County’s hiking and tourism community has embraced Goss Park as both a viewpoint and a trailhead. In the Pine Mountain collection on the Kentucky Hiker website, author Michael Harr repeatedly mentions the site. His description of the Putney or Beschman Lookout Tower notes that parking for the tower trailhead is across the road at Goss Park along the Little Shepherd Trail. His companion entry for an unnamed KY 2010 rock overlook above the road adds that visitors can set up camp “not far from here at Goss Park in Kentenia State Forest.”
County trail promotions echo that framing. A long “things to do” list from Visit Harlan County urges visitors to spend time at Cupp Lake in Goss Park, calling it the county’s highest elevation lake and recommending it for relaxed picnics and fishing.
Social media adds another layer by capturing what people actually see when they drive up onto the ridge. The Harlan County Hiking Club has shared photographs labeled “View from the overlook at Goss Park in Kentenia State Forest,” showing broad vistas southward across steep, forested hollows. A Facebook post titled “Kentenia State Forest and abandoned Goss Park” describes the ridge top park as a once developed but now abandoned spot along the Laden Trail and Little Shepherd Trail corridor.
Recent video pushes that theme even further. A 2024 YouTube clip titled “Goss Park (abandoned) – Little Shepherd Trail – Mar 2024” walks viewers through the site, documenting remaining shelters, tables, and fire rings and contrasting them with overgrown paths and a general air of neglect.
All of these bits and pieces converge on a simple picture. Goss Park is still there, still accessible, and still used, but it no longer receives the regular maintenance or staffing that visitors might expect from a more formal state park. In local language it has become an “abandoned” park, one of many small recreation sites in Appalachia where the infrastructure lingers after budgets and attention have moved on.
A Roadside Park in a Larger Network
Goss Park does not stand alone on the ridge. It grew up inside a landscape already shaped by fire towers, truck trails, and ranger stations.
Just a short walk from the park, a steep user path climbs to the rusting frame of the Beschman or Putney lookout tower, a steel structure that once served as a fire detection point in a statewide network. Modern guides place the tower trailhead at a pull off near Goss Park, and hikers often visit both sites in a single outing.
Far below the crest, the 1937 Putney Ranger Station stands beside the Clover Fork, built of local timber and stone for state forestry crews who watched the mountain. Harlan County heritage writers and news outlets have described ongoing efforts to restore that building, highlighting its role as one of Kentucky’s earliest ranger residences.
Seen against that backdrop, Goss Park looks less like an isolated picnic ground and more like the ridge top component of a system. The ranger station in the hollow, the fire tower on the knob, and the roadside park between them together represent decades of work in which state and county officials tried to balance fire control, timber management, scenic driving, and local recreation on Pine Mountain.
Visiting Goss Park Today
For anyone who wants to see the site on the ground, the basic approach still follows the official wildlife directions. From the junction of U.S. 119 and U.S. 421 near Harlan, drivers take U.S. 421 north for roughly three and a half miles, then turn onto the Little Shepherd Trail. The road climbs steeply, narrows to a winding ridge line lane, and eventually reaches the Kentenia crest where a pull off and small loop mark the Goss Park area.
The Forest Legacy assessment and state parks descriptions are clear that this is a primitive facility. There are no modern restrooms and amenities may be limited to an older shelter, scattered tables, and informal fire rings. Depending on recent maintenance and storms, the access road may be rough, and the picnic area may be partially overgrown.
For hikers and naturalists, though, the park still offers several advantages. It sits close to the junction with the tower access road and near user paths leading toward other Pine Mountain overlooks. The herbarium records suggest that the surrounding slopes host mixed hardwood conifer forest with sandstone outcrops and rhododendron thickets, making the site a useful entry point for anyone interested in ridge top ecology as well as scenery.
Anyone visiting should remember that Kentenia is a working state forest and wildlife management area. Hunting seasons, active forestry work, and rapidly changing weather all affect conditions on the mountain. As with the Beschman tower, the safest approach is to treat any decaying structures with caution, obey posted signs, and pack out all trash so that the park and lake do not suffer further damage from dumping or vandalism.
Why Goss Park Matters
From a distance, Goss Park might seem like a small subject. It is only a loop off a ridge road, a scattering of tables, a little lake with a modest dam. Yet it matters for several reasons.
First, Goss Park gives a concrete face to Kentenia State Forest. State level descriptions of acreage and management goals can feel abstract. A roadside park and mountaintop lake show how that public land is actually experienced by people walking, picnicking, and camping along the crest.
Second, the park illustrates how conservation projects like the Pine Mountain Legacy tract connect with recreation. The protection of additional forest around Cupp Lake did not just secure habitat for wildlife; it also preserved a quiet place where local families and travelers can step away from the highway and into a high elevation landscape.
Third, the slow decline of Goss Park is a reminder of how fragile small public sites can be. When funding or attention shifts, shelters rot, signs fade, and weeds begin to reclaim parking loops. Social media descriptions of an “abandoned” park capture both the sadness and the strange beauty of that process.
Finally, Goss Park sits at a crossroads of stories. The same pull off serves hikers heading to an old fire tower, tourists tracing the curves of the Little Shepherd Trail, biologists mapping lichens on sandstone ledges, and county residents taking visitors to see a lake that looks down on the Cumberland headwaters. Preserving that crossroads, even in modest form, keeps those overlapping narratives alive.
On a clear day the view from the Goss Park overlook runs across ridges that have carried fire, timber, coal trucks, and now curious travelers. The park itself may be quiet and partly overgrown, but as long as the shelter posts stand and the lake reflects the sky, it will remain a small but telling chapter in the larger story of Pine Mountain and Kentenia State Forest.
Sources & Further Reading
Kentucky Division of Forestry. Forest Legacy Program: Assessment of Need. In Kentucky Forest Action Plan, Appendix 3. Frankfort: Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, 2020. https://eec.ky.gov/Natural-Resources/Forestry/forest-stewardship-program-and-landowner-services/Statewide%20Assessment%20of%20Forest%20Resources%20and%20Strat/Forest%20Legacy%20Program%20Assessment%20of%20Need.pdf
Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves. “Kentenia State Forest.” Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, 2022. https://eec.ky.gov/Nature-Preserves/Locations/pages/kentenia.aspx
Kentucky Division of Forestry. “From Hiking to Horseback Riding: Visitors to Kentenia State Forest Take in Scenic Views, Get an Education.” Land, Air & Water (Spring 2015). Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet. https://eec.ky.gov/Land%20Air%20Water/Spring%202015.pdf
Kentucky Division of Forestry. “Kentucky’s State Forests.” Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet. Accessed January 8, 2026. http://forestry.ky.gov/Kentuckysstateforests/Pages/default.aspx
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “Kentenia State Forest Wildlife Management Area.” Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. Accessed January 8, 2026. https://fw.ky.gov
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. Kentenia State Forest WMA Map and Information Sheet. Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. Accessed January 8, 2026. https://fw.ky.gov
Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet. “Kentenia State Forest.” Fishing, Paddling, Outdoor Recreation locations page, Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves. Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, 2022. https://eec.ky.gov/Nature-Preserves/Locations/pages/kentenia.aspx
Kentucky Division of Forestry. “Kentucky State Forest System and History.” In Kentucky Forest Action Plan: 2020 Statewide Assessment of Forest Resources and Strategy. Frankfort: Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, 2020. https://eec.ky.gov/Natural-Resources/Forestry/forest-stewardship-program-and-landowner-services/Statewide%20Assessment%20of%20Forest%20Resources%20and%20Strat
Kentucky Woodlands Magazine. “Kentenia Cupp Lake.” Kentucky Woodlands Magazine 4, no. 3. University of Kentucky, Cooperative Extension Service. Accessed January 8, 2026. https://ukforestry.org
Kentucky Division of Forestry. “Kentenia State Forest Centennial History.” Kentucky Woodlands Magazine. University of Kentucky, Cooperative Extension Service. Accessed January 8, 2026. https://ukforestry.org
Kentucky Division of Geographic Information. “State Forest Boundaries.” Kentucky Geoportal (KyGeoNet) GIS dataset. Kentucky Geography Network. Accessed January 8, 2026. https://kygeoportal.ky.gov
New York Botanical Garden, Steere Herbarium. “Phlyctis petraea, United States of America, Kentucky, Harlan Co., Kentenia State Forest, vicinity of Goss Park, east of Little Shepherd Trail at junction with Putney Lookout Tower Road, between Spruce Ridge Branch and Hi Lewis Branch, 796 m, 2022.” Virtual Herbarium specimen record. New York Botanical Garden. Accessed January 8, 2026. https://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/vh
New York Botanical Garden, Steere Herbarium. “Graphis scripta, United States of America, Kentucky, Harlan Co., Kentenia State Forest, vicinity of Goss Park, east of Little Shepherd Trail at junction with Putney Lookout Tower Road, between Spruce Ridge Branch and Hi Lewis Branch, 796 m, 2022.” Virtual Herbarium specimen record. New York Botanical Garden. Accessed January 8, 2026. https://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/vh
Visit Harlan County. “25 Historic Stops in Harlan County.” Harlan County Tourism Commission. Accessed January 8, 2026. https://harlancountytrails.com/25-historic-stops-in-harlan-county
Visit Harlan County. “223 Things To Do in Harlan County in 2023.” Harlan County Tourism Commission, 2023. Accessed January 8, 2026. https://harlancountytrails.com/223-things-to-do-in-harlan-county-in-2023
Harr, Michael. “Putney (Beschman) Lookout Tower.” Kentucky Hiker blog, September 10, 2020. Accessed January 8, 2026. https://kyhiker.com
Harr, Michael. “Little Shepherd Trail KY 2010 Overlook.” Kentucky Hiker blog. Accessed January 8, 2026. https://kyhiker.com
Harr, Michael. “Pine Mountain Hikes Collection.” Kentucky Hiker blog. Accessed January 8, 2026. https://kyhiker.com
Stateparks.com. “Kentenia State Forest, a Kentucky forest located near Harlan, Evarts and Cumberland.” Stateparks.com. Accessed January 8, 2026. https://www.stateparks.com/kentenia_state_forest_in_kentucky.html
Trip.com. “Goss Park.” Trip.com Travel Guide. Accessed January 8, 2026. https://www.trip.com
Harlan County Hiking Club. “View from the Overlook at Goss Park in Kentenia State Forest.” Facebook photo post. Accessed January 8, 2026. https://www.facebook.com
Harlan County Hiking Club. “Kentenia State Forest and Abandoned Goss Park.” Facebook group post. Accessed January 8, 2026. https://www.facebook.com
“Goss Park (Abandoned) Little Shepherd Trail Mar 2024.” YouTube video. Accessed January 8, 2026. https://www.youtube.com
Author Note: As a Harlan County–based historian, I have spent years tracing how small roadside sites like Goss Park fit into the bigger story of Pine Mountain and Kentenia State Forest. I hope this piece helps you see that quiet pull off not just as an abandoned park, but as part of a living conservation landscape worth visiting gently and preserving.