This Geocache is part of an annual Geocache Challenge put on by the Heritage Program at Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area as part of our outreach to the public, to get people to explore their forest and their history, and to share the unique heritage of the families from Between the Rivers.
This Geocache is part of the “2020 Land Between the Lakes Heritage Geocache Challenge: Trigg County Bicentennial Celebration”. There are 6 geocaches placed in Trigg County in Land Between the Lakes related to the Trigg County Heritage of the area. If you locate each geocache, and collect a numbered aluminum tree tag from each cache, you can turn them in at the Golden Pond Visitor Center for one of 200 Challenge Coins created for this event.
The Geocache is a 6” x 6” orange watertight plastic box marked “Heritage Geocache” on the top. The geocache is placed at the top of a ridge, under a fallen pine tree.
The Geocache is not located at the Golden Pond Overlook because of a number of other Geocaches in the area. But please stop by the Overlook while you are on this trail and learn about the great history and people of Golden Pond.
The Golden Pond Overlook Geocache
The Golden Pond Overlook was created by a committee comprised of the former residents of Golden Pond, KY before 1965 and the Heritage department of the U.S. Forest Service. It was dedicated on Oct. 22, 2016.
The interpretive panels show but a small fraction of the lives and livelihoods of the community of Golden Pond before the residents were forced to move to make way for a National Recreation Area managed by TVA.
Residents date the beginnings of their community to De-cember 28, 1848, when the Golden Pond post office was established west of here with local merchant E. C. Spiceland as Postmaster. Although the precise location of the post office is unknown, some believe it may have been near the pond for which it was allegedly named. The pond, which you can still visit, is at the far end of the Golden Pond Visitor Center parking lot.
Eventually the Golden Pond post office was moved east as the community’s center naturally shifted. Twice de-stroyed by fire and rebuilt, Golden Pond prospered from the area’s rich valley soil, timber, and iron ore. The development of Kentucky Lake and later Lake Barkley, and the subsequent development of the Land Be-tween the Lakes Recreation Area displaced many.