Camp Nelson Heritage Park Opens In Kentucky
By Ed Ballam

NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. - Following a grand opening and dedication on April 21, Camp Nelson Heritage Park is now open to the public on a regular basis with volunteer docents to assist visitors and give tours.

Camp Nelson, constructed in June 1863, was a 4000-acre, well-defended federal quartermaster and commissary depot for the area and was one of the country's largest training centers for U.S. Colored Troops. It was also a self-sufficient refugee camp, with indoor plumbing, serving up to 3,000 people at a time.

The site is open regularly from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, at least through the warm months, according to Mary Kozak, the Jessamine County Project Director.

"This is the first time we've been able to offer official hours," Kozak said. Prior to the grand opening, visitors were allowed into the site by chance, if someone happened to be there, or by appointment.

Using federal and state transportation grant money, and other grants from private sources, the county, which owns the site and the heritage park, is now able to more fully interpret the site and provide some basic visitor services, Kozak said. Volunteers recruited and overseen by the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) staff the site. At least a dozen individuals have been trained to give tours and answer questions about the park.

"We've tapped into a lot of resources to make this happen," Kozak said.

Additionally, the funds have permitted the county to create a 1.2-mile interpretive trail with signs about area history, similar to those seen on National Park Service property. The dedication and open house included the trail opening, dedication of a monument to African-American soldiers and tours of the White House/Oliver Perry House.

A buggy shed, one of the few remaining structures of the some 300 that were once on the property, has been set up as a small and basic interpretive area and visitor center.

The other remaining structure, the White House, which served as officers' quarters for three years during the war, was a residence before and after the war. Kozak said family life in the home is depicted, as is the time when it was used as a military headquarters.

The April opening is the beginning of some much grander plans the county and its friends organization, Camp Nelson Restoration & Preservation Foundation, have for the site. She called foundation members the "public guardians" of the site who are also largely responsible for educating the public about the camp's significance.

Kozak said the county has started working with an architect to create a visitors' center. Funding for the plan has been awarded, but it will be Kozak's responsibility to find the money to complete it. Additionally, there are plans to recreate of the camp's Fort Putnam.

"It's a very busy and rewarding time to be involved with Camp Nelson," Kozak said. "There's been a lot of effort put into this by a lot of people."

Kozak said that now that the site is open regularly, she hopes that its exposure, at least within Kentucky, will increase as will its status as a destination.

Camp Nelson was founded and constructed by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside's 9th Corps of the Army of the Ohio in June 1863 and was closed in June 1866.

As a commissary depot, it supplied Federal troops of the Army of the Ohio, Department of the Ohio, and Department of the Kentucky, who were stationed in Eastern and Central Kentucky and Eastern Tennessee.

Camp Nelson was the largest recruiting, mustering and training center for U.S. Colored Troops in Kentucky. It was also a contraband or refugee camp for the family members of the U.S. Colored Troop recruits. The camp, which was administered by the Rev. John G. Fee of the American Missionary Association and Capt. Theron Hall of the U.S. Army, contained cottages, dormitories, a hospital, school, dining room and laundry.

The large complex was served by a water system that was considered a tremendous engineering feat at the time. It consisted of a pump house on the river, a 500,000-gallon reservoir, thousands of feet of piping which supplied water all over the camp, and indoor running water faucets and water closets in the hospital and soldiers' home.

Kozak said that some of the lead pipes from that distribution system remain in the ground today.

"This is a very large site," she said, noting that the county's 408 acres can be used to interpret and protect the site. "There is a lot of opportunity here."

An archeological school will be held this summer and a U.S.C.T. recruiting and training living history weekend is planned for Sept. 8 and 9. Its aim is to recruit and train black reenactors and begin to interest their families in learning how to portray refugee wives and children. The 7th Kentucky has agreed to conduct the training and there's hope that Camp Nelson can organize its own U.S.C.T. reenactor group from the event.

More information about Camp Nelson is available on its web page at www.campnelson.org. Calls may be directed to the foundation at (859) 881-9126.