News Release

Holiday Hours, New Year’s Fort Hike, and Third Annual Winter Lecture Series Lineup

News Release Date: December 12, 2023

Contact: Steve T. Phan, 859-382-6902

NICHOLASVILLE, KY – The National Park Service (NPS) is excited to announce the new operating hours at Camp Nelson National Monument. The park’s Visitor Center and Museum is open 5-days a week (Wednesday-Sunday). The building will be open 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Guided tours will be offered on Saturday and Sunday at 10:00 am and 1:00 pm, and when staffing allows. The grounds remain open sunrise to sunset.
 

Holiday Closures: The Visitor Center and Museum will be closed on December 25^th (Christmas) and January 1^st (New Year’s Day). The grounds remain open sunrise to sunset.
 

Saturday, December 30^th: New Year’s Fort Hike (9:30 am – 12:00 pm)

Usher in 2024 with a special exploration of the historic earthworks that comprised the Defenses of Camp Nelson during the Civil War. NPS staff will guide visitors along the northern and eastern fortification line to explore the remnant earthworks, especially Fort Jones and the two stone rifle trenches that protected the approaches Camp Nelson along Hickman Creek, and Fort Putnam—the earthwork located east of the Visitor Center and Museum currently under rehabilitation.

The hike begins outside the Visitor Center. From there, park staff will guide participants on a 3-mile roundtrip hike along the Northern Fortification Line east toward the Eastern Fortification Line and Hickman Creek. Park staff will lead participants back to the visitor center to conclude the program.

The hike will be conducted on cleared dirt paths and will involve moderate inclines. Participants should wear comfortable hiking shoes and bring water.

3^rd Annual Winter Lecture Series: January-March 2024 (11:00 am – 12:30 pm) 
The special programs feature guest speakers who present on a variety of topic related to the Civil War Era. The presentations take place on select Saturdays starting at 11:00 am at the park. The 1.5-hour programs are free and open to the public.
 

January 13th: Dr. Lucas Wilder, Historian and Park Ranger at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, “Our Hold Upon East Tennessee”: The Knoxville Campaign
 

January 27th: Dr. Chuck Welsko, Digital Documentary Editor, Kentucky Historical Society, “Rebellion, Calamity, and Woe: Governor Thomas E. Bramlette’s Unionism in War and Memory”
 

February 10th: Dr. Patrick Lewis, Director of Collections and Research, The Filson Historical Society, “For Slavery and Union: Benjamin Buckner and Kentucky Loyalties in the Civil War”
 

February 24th: Ronald Wolford Blair, Historian, “Wild Wolf”: Colonel Frank Wolford: The Man, Kentucky, and the Black Enlistment Controversy
 

March 9th: Stuart Sanders, Director of Research and Publications, Kentucky History Society, “Anatomy of a Dual: Secession, Civil War, and the Evolution of Kentucky Violence”
 

March 30th: Steve T. Phan, Chief of Interpretation at Camp Nelson National Monument, “Advance on the Enemies of Your Country”: Camp Nelson’s Evolution and the US Army’s Spring Offensives in 1864

#FindYourPark

Camp Nelson National Monument, the 418^th unit of the National Park Service, is located six miles south of Nicholasville, KY on Highway 27 and directly north of the Camp Nelson National Cemetery.