Community Atlas -- Clark County, Kentucky

CLARK COUNTY, KENTUCKY

COMMUNITY ATLAS

Created by: The Clark County 4-H GPS CLUB

Our community is Clark County, Kentucky. Clark County is located in Central Kentucky, part of the Bluegrass Region. Clark County was founded in 1793 and is the namesake of George Rogers Clark, a Revolutionary war hero. Clark County has a rich history of Indians who roamed through here and settled in our valleys. Well-known figures such as Daniel Boone and Capt. William Bush fought battles on the banks of the Kentucky River at Fort Boonesborough. The population of Clark County as of the 2005 census estimate is 34,887 people. Clark County is bordered by six counties (Bourbon, Montgomery, Powell, Estill, Madison and Fayette). The Kentucky River forms the border to the south between Clark and Madison Counties. The Red River forms the border to the southeast between Clark and Estill Counties. Lulbegrud Creek forms the border to the southeast between Clark and Powell Counties.

The city of Winchester is the county seat. Winchester can be found in the center of Clark County along its one major Interstate 64. Winchester has a population of 16,412 people and was founded in 1877. Winchester was named after the Virginia town of Winchester. Winchester may be the only town in Clark County but we can say we live in many “areas”. These areas being old settlements formed long ago as settlers made their homes in the area that would become Clark County.

Clark County 4-H is open to everyone in Clark County. Some of us come from home school families while many of us go to school at one of the public or private schools in our county. We have one public school system made up one high school, two middle schools and seven elementary schools. We also have three private elementary and middle schools. This year we learned that the school board agreed to close and combine some of our schools over the next several years.

Clark County’s land use is primarily Agriculture. The Bluegrass Region extends into the western part of the county and then the landscape changes into hills to the East and South towards the Kentucky River that further to our east make up the Appalachian Mountains. We raise livestock such as beef cattle, sheep, goats and horses. We also have crops such as hay, tobacco, and commercial vegetable farms. Much of the industrial and commercial areas of the county can be found on our map in and around Winchester.

We are the Clark County 4-H GPS Club [External Link] and we have visited many areas of Winchester and Clark County to complete our projects. We have not only learned to map but we have also learned how to use our GPS units. We have visited Geocache sites around the county [External Link] (Zip Code: 40391)and even planted our own at Lykins Park. We have taught kids at 4-H Camp how to use GPS units while finding treasures of various sizes and shapes. We are represented by youth from 9-12 years of age under the guidance of our 4-H Agent and Clark County GIS experts. The George Rogers Clark High School JROTC group (Juniors and Seniors) have been completing their community service project by mapping National Geodetic Survey (NGS) survey monuments placed years ago.

As one of our first projects, we visited the Soil Conservation Office to learn how they used GPS. We were able to make soil maps of our homes and learned how to read what the soil maps show us. We also learned how to make soil maps at home using terraserver® [External Link]. Clark County has a wide range of soil types due to its unique physical features described earlier.

We love to eat so we created a map showing the many family restaurants that can be found in Clark County. A majority of our restaurants can be found in Winchester. Restaurants can tell a lot about a community. We have many fast food restaurants and a few other restaurants. The city of Lexington, KY can be found in Fayette County bordering our community to the West. Lexington is where we travel to find for more restaurant choices, malls and other entertainment choices. Lexington is only minutes away.

As a community service project the George Rogers Clark High School Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) group mapped and located NGS Survey monuments in our county. These markers were mainly found next to major roads and railroads. Many of these markers were last located over 50 years ago. Many landmarks used previously to mark the location have changed or been removed. The landmarks used in the original documents were trees, fences, roads, and buildings. The JROTC group used GIS software and GPS units to locate the monuments for this project. This way was much easier than trying to find missing landmarks. After all the NGS monuments have been identified as found or lost, the group will report these to the NGS office. More about NGS Monuments can be found at the NGS website [External Link] or the Kentucky NGS Advisor's website [External Link].

One of our members completed a joint project when her Girl Scout Troop mapped “Camp Richard Clark”. The camp is located in the southeast corner of Clark County where the borders of Powel land Estill Counties meet Clark County. The Girl Scout Troop created the history trail as part of their silver award. Our 4-H member mapped the history trail that they created to be posted at the camp.

Clark County has many parks, camps, historical sites and recreational areas. We planted a geocache in one of our local parks. Sports are a large part of our community. Winchester has created a very unique area called “The Winchester Traveling Trail”. This trail was created by the local Rails to Trails group and we mapped the trail for them. The trail is located on an old farm in Winchester. The trail will stay in that area until it is required to relocate due to development of the land that is currently its home. The trail will then “travel” to a new location in Clark County.

We would like to thank ESRI, Clark County GIS [External Link] , Clark County Cooperative Extension Service (4-H)[External Link] , and our parent volunteers for the opportunity and help completing this project.

You can find out more information about Clark County and our sponsoring agencies by visiting the following web pages: