Pine Mountain State Resort Park | Genuine Kentucky

Winter Photo Weekend: Jan. 23-25 at Pine Mountain State Resort Park

January 6, 2015 by Joi Sigers Leave a Comment

Pine Mountain State Resort Park Autumn Collage

Although this event has expired, there is always something to see and do in Kentucky. Visit our Kentucky Events page for up to the minute happenings and be sure to check out our Things to Do in Kentucky page.

One of the most spectacularly beautiful places I’ve ever been is Pine Mountain State Resort Park in Eastern Kentucky. And when I say spectacularly beautiful I mean breathtakingly gorgeous – the sort of scenery you don’t ever forget. Whether you visit in Autumn (see the pictures above), Spring, Summer, or Winter – it’s always the right time to visit Pine Mountain.

Fortunately, you’re looking at a perfect opportunity to either go to Pine Mountain State Park for the first time or a return trip.

Pine Mountain State Resort Park would like to announce the upcoming Winter Photo Weekend set for Jan. 23-25, 2015.

The event features a digital photography competition with divisions for both amateur and accomplished photographers, impressive evening picture shows, and the exceptional photographic work and instruction of John Snell, a native Kentuckian.

Snell, based in Lexington, specializes in landscape, nature, and equine photography. His work has appeared in Outdoor Photographer, Southern Living, and Keeneland magazines, TIME books, McGraw-Hill books, as well as numerous local publications. He also conducts photographic workshops and provides digital printing services. (Visit his website at: www.johnsnellphoto.com.)

The weekend event is a quest that leads you on a discovery trek to out-of-the-way places where raw nature resides. Woodlands, waters, weather, and wildlife are all part of the experience, and it all takes place at one of the park system’s finest natural resorts. The evenings feature spectacular picture shows offered by our guest professional, and the wonderful dining and cozy accommodations on hand at the rustic lodge round out the experience.

The event focuses on nature and offers up four competition categories in two divisions.

Even though the photo competition is timed, the event is hassle-free. The emphasis is on interfacing with nature, finding the best locations, and taking your best shots. The event is a terrific alternative to being cooped up at home watching the snow fly.

If you’re looking to get out in the frosty air to stretch mind and body, Pine Mountain’s Winter Photo Weekend just may be the adventure you’re looking for. Don’t worry about the snow. The park has its own snow removal equipment.

A special event package will be offered for this year’s event that includes two nights’ accommodations and admission to all shows as well as the competition. The overnight package for one person starts at $114.90 (plus tax), and the overnight package for two persons starts at $139.90 (plus tax).

Registration starts at noon Friday, Jan. 23, and the evening program begins at 7:30 p.m.

To make a reservation, contact Pine Mountain State Resort Park’s Guest Services Desk at 800-325-1712 or 606-337-3066.

Also See: Pictures of Pine Mountain State Resort Park

Pine Mountain State Resort Park: The Hills Will Be Alive With Music!

September 8, 2014 by Joi Sigers Leave a Comment

The Beautiful Pine Mountain State Resort Park Lodge

If you’re presented with ANY reason whatsoever to visit Pine Mountain State Resort Park, you should jump at the chance. This is one of the most scenic and gorgeous places in the entire country. It’s beautiful, year round, but when you’re there in Autumn, you simply do not want to leave.

If you love music – especially bluegrass music, the information below will give you a perfect chance to visit this incredibly beautiful Kentucky State Park.

Dulcimer players from far and near will gather Sept. 26-27 at Pine Mountain State Resort Park at Pineville for a music festival devoted to dulcimers – the 2014 Great American Dulcimer Convention.

The Appalachian dulcimer is a sweet-sounding string instrument played on the lap. Similarly named but unrelated is the many-stringed hammered dulcimer, which dates back to ancient times. Both types are spotlighted in the convention’s concerts by professional musicians and in workshops, open stage opportunities and jams open to all.

This year’s returning performers include Kentuckians Anne MacFie, a songwriter and balladeer, who organizes the festival; and multi-instrumentalist Randy Wilson, as well as mountain dulcimer champion Gary Gallier of Springfield, Missouri. Making their first performance at Pine Mountain are Steve and Ruth Smith, a hammered dulcimer-banjo duo from North Carolina; Square Thirteen, an Ohio band featuring the mountain dulcimer of Laura Elder; and from Rhode Island, Aubrey Atwater and Elwood Donnelly, a husband/wife duo excelling in singing, folk dancing and playing an array of instruments.

Convention activities begin with an 8 p.m. Friday evening (Sept. 26) concert by all six acts. Saturday morning (Sept. 27), the performers teach mountain and hammered dulcimer classes at beginning, intermediate and advanced levels. Afternoon activities include a group jam, open stage for dulcimer players, learning workshops and informal performances. The event winds up with a Saturday evening concert.

Information about tickets, lodging, dining and a special GADC weekend package from Pine Mountain State Resort Park is available by logging onto the park’s website: http://parks.ky.gov/parks/resortparks/pine-mountain/default.aspx or calling 800-325-1712. More information on the festival can be found at: http://americandulcimerconvention.com

About Pine Mountain State Resort Park

The park has a 30-room lodge, cottages and a full-service restaurant. It also has a golf course and other recreational opportunities for guests. Pine Mountain State Resort Park is located south of Pineville, on U.S. 25E, 10 miles north of Middlesboro.

See more pictures of Pine Mountain State Resort Park in our photo galleries! People (me, included) throw the words “breathtakingly beautiful” around pretty loosely, but Pine Mountain and Pine Mountain State Resort Park serve as reminder what the words really mean.

The Scenery at Pine Mountain State Resort Park Boggles the Mind

November 20, 2012 by Joi Sigers Leave a Comment

Pine Mountain State Resort Park: It’ll Take Your Breath Away

When I look at the picture above, I can almost smell the pine trees, feel the mountain air, and hear the leaves crunching beneath my feet – as if I’m back in the Pine Mountain State Resort Park. We last visited Pine Mountain in October. We planned the trip for autumn because we couldn’t wait to see the Pine Mountain all decked out in the beautiful colors of fall.

As you can see, it did not remotely disappoint.

When I think of this particular Kentucky State Park, I think of a couple of things in particular:

Some of the friendliest servers we’ve ever encountered in a State Resort Park restaurant. As I said in a previous Pine Mountain State Resort Park Review, they didn’t just make us feel like guests, they made us feel like guests they’d been expecting and didn’t want to leave. Do I even have to tell you how special that is? It reminded me of the staff at another favorite Park, Rough River Dam State Resort Park.
The best potato soup I’ve ever had in my life. So creamy and Heavenly… I could have eaten 10 buckets of it.
Finally, I think of myself becoming a whirling dervish. I was surrounded by so many beautiful things that I couldn’t point my camera at them fast enough. At one point, I caught myself spinning around like a top.. camera in hand, almost overwhelmed by all of the gorgeous sites.

For more pictures of Pine Mountain State Resort Park, click the link.

Pine Mountain State Resort Park: In a Word, Breathtaking

October 25, 2012 by Joi Sigers Leave a Comment

A few days ago I told you about one of our infamous one day excursions through Kentucky. We took a beautiful trip to gorgeous Pine Mountain State Resort Park last Saturday and I still haven’t recovered from all the beauty.

We made sure to pass through Columbia so we could have lunch at Dickey’s Barbecue Pit. Even though I had two large mouth ulcers at the time (one the size of Danny DeVito), I wasn’t about to miss out on Dickey’s. I brought one of their huge pickles home with me to enjoy when my mouth healed. I actually had it last night. (Unfortunately, since I wrote this post, Dickey’s in Columbia has closed. Depressing!)

The drive to Pine Mountain was stunning. Kentucky is always gorgeous, but she really pulls out the stops in Autumn. Pulling into Pineville, Kentucky is honestly like something out of a movie. One of the first thoughts in my head was, “This place must look like the front of a Christmas card in winter!” I absolutely cannot wait to go back and test that theory.

Unfortunately, we were battling against sunset when it came to looking around and taking pictures. There are a lot of trails, cabins, cottages, and sights we didn’t have an opportunity to see, let alone photograph. I’m not complaining, though, what we did see was far more beauty than any person has a right to see. Starting with a beautiful white cat who greeted us on the lodge’s patio and ending in the lodge after a delicious meal in the lodge’s Mountain View Restaurant – Pine Mountain State Resort Park absolutely blew me away.

Pine Mountain State Resort Park is actually Kentucky’s first state park. It’s lodge (the Herndon J. Evans Lodge) was built in the 1930’s and is absolutely perfect for a mountain lodge. Everything is just as it should be.

Speaking of “just as it should be,” we did what we almost always do when we’re in the vicinity of a State Resort Park: We ate in the lodge’s restaurant. I’m not saying ALL of the Kentucky State Resort Park restaurants are excellent – unfortunately they aren’t. However, Pine Mountain appears to have an excellent restaurant.

Why? Glad you asked!

The restaurant’s view is stunning. You’re treated to a mountain view that makes it hard to look at your food. It’s just stunning.
The restaurant, itself, is beautiful.
The hostess was one of the friendliest hostesses we’ve encountered at Kentucky State Park restaurants. Very friendly.
Not only was the young woman who was our server super sweet, a young man who wasn’t even our server asked if we needed refills and spoke to us several times. Each wore happy, beautiful smiles and couldn’t have been friendlier or more attentive.
It was a Saturday evening and there appeared to be some sort of a wedding rehearsal dinner going on at the time we were there. This means the kitchen was uncommonly busy. My husband got his meal almost immediately, but our server said mine would be a little longer, because of the chaos in the kitchen. Then she said I was free to enjoy some soup off the buffet if I wanted to in the meantime. I’ve never had a server offer that before and I just thought it was very thoughtful.
I took the server up on the soup suggestion and helped myself to a bowl of potato soup, a favorite. It wasn’t just creamy, hot, and delicious – it was the best potato soup I have ever had. If I’d known it was that delicious beforehand, I would have simply pulled my chair and spoon up to the bar and eaten the entire thing. The servers and hostess were all so uncommonly friendly, they’d have simply asked if I wanted any bread with it.
Speaking of bread, my husband was talking to our server when he noticed a gentleman at a nearby table with fried cornbread (it was off the buffet, we had ordered off the menu). Our server smiled and said, “I’ll get you some!” She brought him two pieces…. zero extra charge.
I ordered a Kentucky Hot Brown and it was one of the two best I’ve ever had – tying with Lake Barkley State Resort Park (home to another excellent restaurant). The cheese gravy (what my husband called the creamy delicious cheese covering the entire production) was delectable – even covering a juicy tomato. Beautiful presentation and delicious? AND on a very busy night? Wow.
We were served rolls with out meal, something some Kentucky State Park restaurants don’t do. The rolls were super soft and smelled almost as good as they tasted. Hard rolls make me sad – maybe even sadder than no rolls – but the only thing that was hard about these soft rolls was the fact they were hard to stop eating!
Finally, the clincher. It occurred to me that the hostess and servers we encountered treated us like we were extra special guests. They had no way of knowing that we’d traveled hours to get there. Heck, they had no idea I wrote restaurant reviews or that we were the humans behind a Kentucky website. Yet they made us feel like they were delighted for us to be there and went out of their way to make everything perfect. While that shouldn’t be uncommon, we all know it is. I’ve encountered enough surly servers and bored hostesses to know special people when I see them. Congratulations to Pine Mountain State Resort Park, from what I’ve seen your entire restaurant staff (chef, servers, hostess..) ranks as one of the best in the state.

My husband and I are, without a doubt, two of the biggest ambassadors for Kentucky Tourism. We spread the love for our beautiful state like it’s our job! I find myself always telling people about places they MUST see and things they MUST do in Kentucky. When someone says they’re planning a “vacation” or “weekend getaway,” I automatically launch into a “Well, there’s Rough River… Lake Cumberland… Lake Barkley…” Like these (and others), Pine Mountain State Resort Park makes it easy for us to convince people we know to enjoy vacations within our state. In fact, when I recently tweeted (and Instagramed) a picture of Pine Mountain, each person who told me how beautiful it was got this in reply, “So, when are YOU going?!”

I just wrote an article (complete with a lot of beautiful pictures) about Pine Mountain State Resort Park on Genuine Kentucky. I hope you’ll check that out and see why I STRONGLY urge you to plan a trip to Pine Mountain soon… as in today.