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​Broke Leg Falls, Menifee County Fiscal Court, 15.85 acres.

Once upon a time, music played late into the night. And there was dancing and dining. The restaurant fed tourists and locals alike and the nine cabins provided comfortable lodging for tourists. What were they coming to see? An outstanding natural feature located just ten miles south of Frenchburg called Broke Leg Falls. The main attraction was the 60' waterfall that dropped over the cliff into a narrow gorge below. At the time is cost a dime to gain entrance to see this natural wonder with an interesting name, broke leg creek and falls. How did it get this name? The folklore surrounding the name is that an ox was gored and broke a leg and then was swiftly carried by the water over the cliff into the gorge below. But then hard times came to the park and once the Bert T. Combs mountain parkway was completed in the 1960's the area lost its commercial appeal as tourists no longer travelled the windy roads and the state lost interest in roadside parks and put their resources into developing rest areas and amenities along the interstate highways and parkways throughout Kentucky.  Ultimately the infrastructure fell into disrepair.  While the stairs and railings descending into the gorge have been repaired and visitors can once again experience the falls, the area is still recovering naturally from tornado damage suffered in 2012.  

There are two sets of falls on the creek. The upper falls is more of a small cascade or series of cascades and the lower falls drops over the cliffline into a narrow hemlock dominated gorge with typical mixed mesophytic forest species like tulip poplar, white oak, northern red oak, sweet birch and several different magnolia species. ​The cliff faces have a diversity of mosses, liverworts, and ferns and more 279 species have been identified in the park.  Stream quality is rated good with 19 species of fish observed including one sensitive species, the redside dace. More than 18 amphibians, 3 reptiles, and 38 birds were observed. 


Access:

Open to the public from dawn to dusk daily. Parking is available at the gravel lot located adjacent to US 460, 10.8 miles south of Frenchburg.  Watch for a sharp turn and turn left onto the short paved road which leads to the parking lot.  The trail begins at the east side of the parking lot. Although the site suffered extreme damage from a tornado in March of 2012, there is a well-maintained walking trail that leads from the parking area across the creek, over the top of the waterfall to a series of concrete steps that lead the visitor down the gorge.

Access Type: Open to Public
County: Menifee
Region: Eastern Region
Size: 15.85
Owner: Menifee County Fiscal Court
Manager:

​Menifee County Fiscal Court under a KHLCF easement

Purchased with Assistance of:
Lat: 37.905909
Long: -83.487361
Image of Terrapin Creek

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