Unit 2 Annotations

"History of E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park." Kentucky State Parks, n.d. Web. 19 Jun 2011.

Tom Sawyer Park is just one of the unique parks that are found in Kentucky. It is located in the northeastern part of Jefferson County and is about 550 acres big. There are many activities to do there such as running, playing ball, swimming, and much more. It was named after former Jefferson County executive judge Erbon Powers Sawyer (1915-1969). The park was purchased in June 1969 by the Commonwealth of Kentucky from the Kentucky Department of Mental Health and the park was first opened in 1974. The Kentucky Department of Mental Health still had a part of the park, "a portion of the property had once been used for farmland for the mental health hospital." They used it as farmland and even today some of the remains are still there, such as, cemeteries and barns. There was once a barn there that was usable, but then a fire happened last year and the barn plus other parts of the park got burned down. The barn, however, didn't and it's still there. The park has a great history behind it as to where it all began. Not many people think about the history of places when they visit it. It's important to learn about the places that you grew up around. Many people think of Tom Sawyer Park as just a park and don't actually think about how it started. I never really thought much of the history when it comes to certain places because it doesn't seem that interesting to me. Tom Sawyer is important to certain people who helped keep the park open and it should be important to many others who enjoy spending their time there.

"Foundation History." Tom Sawyer State Park foundation, n.d. Web. 19 Jun 2011.

Tom Sawyer State Park foundation began on May 19, 1982 as a way to raise money to keep the park open. There was a series of revenue shorts which caused there to be a significant amount of reductions within the state budgets. Tom Sawyer, specifically, was affected the most. They thought it would be best to not keep it open all year long and "the initial decision from the state was to close E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park between Labor Day and Memorial Day and remove all staff members from its premises with the exception of the park manager and a maintenance person." There were some people who were not okay and two women went and spoke to the state officials to see why there wasn't any way the park could stay open. They suggested seasonal openings; however, the state officials didn't find that to be a great idea. The two women began a rally to keep the park open and about 400 people showed up. The state officials then agreed to open the park and cut the number of employees. The park may seem more important to certain people because they help kept it open all year long instead of just certain days. The foundation that was formed helped keep the park open so people could come and use it. It's a smart idea to do a foundation to help raise money for a place that has meaning and is important and could be a great part of our state for something to do. The foundation worked and they were able to raise enough money that they needed to keep the park open because everyone else wanted to keep the park open as well.