By Gina Holt
Enquirer contributor

UNION - The remnants of the Hillside Trailer Park and its controversial water treatment system are being removed, as a $1 million expansion of Big Bone Lick State Park proceeds.

The area that once was the trailer park and home to nearly 100 people will now become a picnic area. The residents were forced to leave after problems with the water treatment serving the park required officials to declare it unfit for habitation.

The 45-acre trailer park site adjacent to the existing Big Bone Lick State Park was then purchased with part of a $1 million appropriation passed by the General Assembly in 2000.

A museum - called an interpretive center - is also being built in two phases.

"After consultation with the county, the Kentucky Department of Parks identified two projects for utilization of the $1 million. These projects were the expansion of the park and the construction of an interpretive museum," said John Stanton, deputy county administrator

"The Department of Parks retained Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Inc., an architectural firm based in Indianapolis, to design an interpretive museum for the park," he said.

Mike Crain, director of projects administration for the Department of Parks, said Tuesday that crews have been working for about two weeks to clean up the trailer park, also known as Hillside Trailer Park or Hick's Trailer Park.

"We have a crew set up, and they are addressing a number of issues to demolish some buildings, clean up some debris and remove a waste-water treatment plant," said Mr. Crain. "They'll be demolishing a waste-water collection system. They'll be grading and seeding the site to return it to a more natural environment. I'd expect they'll be done in another three or four weeks.

"There were about 60 trailers located on this site," he said adding that the area will be designated for picnics and day use.

"Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Inc. started the design process of an interpretive museum at the state park, including fossils, interactive exhibits, educational movies," said Mr. Stanton. "It's more than a bunch of display cases showing fossils. They are going to do the construction of it also."

Jim Dickerson of the Kentucky Department of Parks said the museum would be built in two phases.

"It's going to be 4,365 square feet," he said, adding that it is expected to cost about $745,000. "It's going to have a small exhibit lobby area, a gift shop, business offices for the park and public restrooms. We're going to be opening the bids on Phase One on January 9. We're hoping to have the building completed around November 1 of next year.

"We're not going to have any interactive displays until we get into Phase Two," Mr. Dickerson added.

Mr. Stanton said plans for the park expansion and museum were made, but there was one obstacle - money. The total projected cost was almost $1.127 million.

The county stepped in to help the park, which is part of Kentucky's state park system.

"The cost for these two projects exceeded the $1 million appropriated by the General Assembly. Because of the financial situation with the state, it is and was unlikely that additional funds for these projects could be obtained," Mr. Stanton said.

"As a result, in November of 2001, the Fiscal Court authorized $127,000 to be applied to the State Parks Department's efforts to purchase and clean up the Hillside Trailer Park and to design and build an interpretive museum at Big Bone Lick State Park."

The park, located on Beaver Road in Union, includes a salt lick produced by springs on the site. The lick attracted prehistoric animals, some of which became mired in the mud and died, leaving fossilized remains.

The big bones of the animals were found near the salt lick, thus the park's name.

A museum displays some of the items discovered during archaeological digs. A herd of bison can be seen from the park's discovery trail.

The park has recently been designated a Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Site.

It is one of only four such sites in the eastern United States. It was chosen by the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation because explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark collected fossils at the park during their famous expedition nearly 200 years ago.