This is the map from the expedition of Captain Charles Lemoyne de Longueil.  We put the yellow dot on it so you can easily locate what would become Cincinnati. Note down around Big Bone, where it notes “Endroit -- ou` on a` trouve' des os d'Elephant en 1729”. In English, that’s “Place where one found the bones of Elephant in 1729.”  This is the map that put Big Bone, well, on the map, and made it famous throughout the world. Not America; the world. The map is dated 1729, was published in 1744. Many - not all - believe it was actually from 1739, not 1729.

“At Big Bone Lick, thirty miles above the mouth of Kentucky River, I saw [Carolina parakeets] in great numbers. They came screaming through the woods in the morning, about an hour after sunrise, to drink the salt water, of which they, as well as the pigeons, are remarkably fond. When they alighted on the ground, it appeared at a distance as if covered by a carpet of richest green, orange, and yellow: they afterwards settled, in one body, on a neighboring tree, which stood detached from any other, covering almost every twig of it, and the sun, shining strongly on their gay and glossy plumage, produced a very beautiful and splendid appearance.” Alexander Wilson, 1808, American Ornithology, Or, The Natural History of the Birds of the United States. Image: Carolina Parakeets, John James Audubon, 1833.

The mineral waters drew attention from national publications, inspired scientists, and led to dreadful poetry. One journal pronounced them perfectly safe, except for the local residents the waters made sick. Then there's this review of the taste of the waters.

July 2, 1960 - The Commonwealth of Kentucky accepted a 525-acre tract of land in Boone County to be developed as a state park to showcase Kentucky’s pre-historic past and the location of one of America’s earliest animal inhabitations.