Beloved country star Loretta Lynn brought Kentucky’s name to the world.
Now a group of fans wants to see her honored at a state park near her hometown, so the world can see Kentucky as she did, too.
Thirteen miles separate Paintsville Lake State Park from Lynn’s famed homeplace at Butcher Hollow . For decades, her songs painted a picture of what her life was like as a coal miner’s daughter in Johnson County during the Great Depression. The homeplace is modest with just a few rooms transformed into a museum. The experience and building are so intimate that often tours are given by the country star’s family members, who still live in the hills. At the park, however, there are 1,140 acres of Eastern Kentucky land where visitors can spread out and see the mountains almost like Lynn would have seen them as a child.
Following Lynn’s death in October 2022, at least two movements began stirring to honor Lynn at Paintsville Lake State Park.
“This is a beautiful place, like she was, and it’s in the home county that she was born in,” said Jody Sturgill, who lives just minutes from the park. “The state park will be there forever.”