By state · KY

National Parks in Kentucky.

By Nicholas Major · Last updated

Kentucky has one official National Park, Mammoth Cave, plus National Historical Parks, Recreation Areas, Monuments, and battlefields, several National Park Service units in all. Mammoth Cave protects the world's longest known cave system, more than 400 mapped miles. By recreation visits the state's busiest NPS units are Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area (shared with Tennessee), Cumberland Gap National Historical Park (shared with Tennessee and Virginia), and Mammoth Cave itself; Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park and a set of battlefields round out the network. Louisville (SDF), Lexington (LEX), and Nashville (BNA, Tennessee) anchor different parts of the state. Mammoth Cave's tours run year-round because the cave holds near 54°F, but surface trails are best in spring and fall: summer brings dense humidity and winter brings ice. Cave tours sell out in summer and around holidays, so reserve in advance through the official NPS reservations page, and bring a light jacket underground even in July.

Every NPS unit in Kentucky.

Kentucky's 9 NPS units: 2 National Historical Parks · 2 National Monuments · 2 National Historic Trails · 1 National River & Recreation Area · 1 National Battlefield · 1 National Park. Combined 5-year-average annual visits: 2,669,010 (multi-state units count their full visits in every state they touch, see methodology). The most-visited unit is Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area at about 790K annual visits.

Every National Park Service site in Kentucky, mapped. Each glowing marker is one site, placed at its real coordinates and colored by type. Select a marker for its yearly visits and a link, or use the filters to show or hide a group. 8 of 9 units are mapped here; long-distance trails and units centered in another state are in the table below.
National Park Service sites in Kentucky, mapped Interactive map of Kentucky showing the location of 8 National Park Service sites, colored by type: national parks, monuments and memorials, historic sites, recreation areas and seashores, rivers, trails and parkways, and other sites. It includes the National Park Mammoth Cave National Park. Each site is also listed with its yearly visits in the table below the map.

Marker positions are each unit's official NPS coordinates. State outline: U.S. Census cartographic boundary (public domain). Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.

UnitDesignation5-yr avg visitsBusiest month
Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area National River & Recreation AreaBISO 790,481 October
Cumberland Gap National Historical Park National Historical ParkCUGA 767,728 October
Mammoth Cave National Park National ParkMACA 648,229 July
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park National Historical ParkABLI 243,782 July
Fort Donelson National Battlefield National BattlefieldFODO 183,133 May
Camp Nelson National Monument National MonumentCANE 26,238 May
Mill Springs Battlefield National Monument National MonumentMISP 9,419 August
Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail National Historic TrailLECL — —
Trail Of Tears National Historic Trail National Historic TrailTRTE — —

Methodology

Unit list and per-unit visit counts come from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025. The "5-year average visits" column is the mean of 2021-2025 Recreation Visits. Multi-state NPS units (Yellowstone, Death Valley, Great Smoky Mountains and others) are listed under every state they touch; the per-unit visit count is the unit's total, not a per-state share. Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.

Adjacent reading

Independence

Independent site. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Park Service. Data comes from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025; editorial analysis is ours. The NPS Arrowhead and other NPS marks are not used.

Last updated · 2026-05-19