User:Tandy4896/McConnell Springs

(User:Tandy4896/McConnellSpringsPark)
McConnell Springs Park is an example of karst topography. This type of landscape is the result of water dissolving soluble rock, such as limestone, thus creating sinkholes, underground streams, caves, and springs. The most significant environmental feature is a complex system of sinking springs. McConnell Springs is the only known site in Fayette County that has a series of artesian springs that come to the surface, go underground, reappear, flow on the surface and go back underground only to surface again a third of a mile away. Karst landscapes were beneficial to the settlers of Lexington and are continuing to provide water to the community and the surrounding ecosystem. About 20% of the United States is underlain with karst landscapes, and 40% of all drinking water comes from karst aquifers. McConnell Springs is a national historic site that is recognized for the naming place of Lexington, Kentucky. The park is also a non-profit organization in partnership with the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Division of Parks and Recreation. The mission statement of this organization is to restore and preserve McConnell Springs as a: national historic site, educational resource for culture and environment, and passive recreational park. The site became an unused, dilapidated area, used mainly for an industrial dumping space. In the early 1990's, the community of Lexington decided to restore McConnell Springs as a historic site and nature education center, leading to the formation on the Friends of McConnell Springs Organization. Debris were removed from the site, and the land was placed into the city park system to be preserved. The Kentucky American Water Nature Center was constructed, and the park was opened to the public in 1994.

Wikimedia Foundation. (2021, June 24). Lexington Limestone. Wikipedia. Retrieved November 16, 2021

U.S. Department of the Interior. (n.d.). ''[https://www.nps.gov/subjects/caves/karst-landscapes.htm. Karst landscapes]''. National Parks Service. Retrieved November 16, 2021

[https://mcconnellsprings.org/mission/. Misson. Welcome to McConnell Springs.] (n.d.). Retrieved November 5, 2021

[https://mcconnellsprings.org/history-friends-park-frontier/. Community creation of the Park & Friends.] Welcome to McConnell Springs. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2021,

Additional sources:

''by Nancy O’Malley - [https://mcconnellsprings.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/McConnellSprings_in_Historical_Perspective.pdf. McConnell Springs Park]''[https://mcconnellsprings.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/McConnellSprings_in_Historical_Perspective.pdf. .] (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2021,