Big Bear history

to swimming over on the sandy beach. On the Thursday night of each visit, Ruth’s grandson projects a movie onto the side of his camper for a large gathering of viewers. And one night is a theme night complete with decorations and costumes. They’ve had Hollywood night, Hawaiian night, dinosaurs, and more. This year, it’ll be Christmas in July.

Ruth’s experience with family and friends contains threads that are common to the stories of hundreds if not thousands of others whose highpoints of every year is time at Big Bear.

Humble Beginnings

On August 30, 1944, the gates of Kentucky Dam came to a close for the first time, halting the flow of the Tennessee River, creating a massive reservoir that would become Kentucky Lake. On May 16, 1948, there was a simple announcement in The Paducah Sun-Democrat that TVA would auction off land they had used for staging and access to the Tennessee River during construction of the dam.

Tract XGIR-125, 19.5 acres on the Big Bear Creek embayment near the site of old Birmingham,

Kentucky, went to William H. McFarland of Mt. Washington, Kentucky. This marked the beginning of transforming Kentucky Lake into a nationally recognized recreation area, forever changing the energy and aura of far western Kentucky.

The beginnings were simple. Big Bear Camp was just that—a camp. Fishing was the main attraction. One of the first advertisements boasted boats, motors, baits, and tackle. Everything the aspiring fisherman needed was there. All you had to do was take Highway 60 to 58 and then head to the lake. It was a “good road all the way.”

From that small marina and camp outpost, Big Bear grew. Fisherman cabins, additional lodging, and a small restaurant were added. The tiny cabins were lit with kerosene lanterns, and if you needed more kerosene, you had to get a refill from Mrs. McFarland who didn’t care for doing it after dark. She was not too keen on what might be in the woods at night. There were outdoor toilets and central shower houses. And the people came. They lined up to get bait, rent a boat (there were eventually 200 of them), and get out on the water to catch some fish. It wasn’t unusual to find a parking lot full of people at 3 AM wanting to check in and get their weekend started.

It was during this era that Mr. McFarland allowed the addition of the historic 1801 log cabin. It was owned by Tom Threlkeld, a Paducah attorney, who defended a bootlegger and was paid with the receipt of the cabin. Threlkeld used the cabin at Big Bear, and it went on to become an office and then part of the resort rentals.

McFarland ran the camp until 1958 when he sold it to Ollie and Virginia Houser.

The Housers took Big Bear up to1973 when they sold it to Dick, Anna, and Rick Meier. Dick had worked in finance in a business his father started in Evansville, Indiana. But life at a desk job was not appealing to Dick, and Big Bear provided him the perfect mix of manage ment and hands-on, outdoor work. When Rick got out of the service in 1976, he joined his parents to work at Big Bear. Rick, with his wife Janet Calde meyer, would eventually take over Big Bear in 1983.

KEEPING THE SPIRIT, MOVING INTO THE FUTURE

The 70s, 80s, and 90s were times of great change. Expectations in recreation opportunities increased tremendously. People still wanted to get away to the lake, but how they did it was shifting. When Rick and Janet took over Big Bear, there was the log cabin and 39 concrete block cottages.

“Rick had come of out the service and was pretty much a MacGyver,” says Janet. “He could fix anything.” Rick and Janet went to work modernizing Big Bear. “We built a new marina store, the first condos, and cottages. The two of us pretty much built everything back then. And we did a lot of it over the winters. When we did the marina, there was me with a baby in a snowsuit and heaters going.” Over time they replaced the concrete block cottages with condos and townhouses. They added a pool. The campground area had been there from the beginning, but Rick and Janet organized it into sites and added running water and electricity. They marked every milestone at Big Bear by the age of their two kids who grew up at the campground. “They learned to do everything we did,” adds Janet.

The couple transitioned the fishing camp into a true lake resort. “In the early days, it was mostly men coming in the spring and fall to fish,” says Janet. “Then, they started bringing their families in the summer to spend a week or so at Big Bear.” Not only were things changing in terms of accommodations, a Big Bear community emerged. People like Ruth Starr introduced others to the resort. It became tradition for families, and, eventually, multiple generations, to vacation at Big Bear. And those coming got to know one another, befriending others in the rentals or in the campground. Rick and Janet also added an area of condos for those who decided to live permanently at Big Bear.

“We have multiple communities now,” says Janet. “We have our boating community, our fishing community, our condo dwellers, and our campers, who are a force unto themselves. And you have the transient guests. They all keep coming back and telling others. We have people who have been coming for over fifty years, and we always see new folks who are just starting their Big Bear journeys. We are seeing a lot of people bringing their kids and grandkids, showing them where their most fond memories were made when they were children. And that starts the cycle all over again for a new generation. We’ve changed, but we haven’t changed. The feeling you get from being at Big Bear is still the same.”

“The problems of the world were solved around a campfire,” says Linda Glastetter who has been coming to Big Bear with her husband Leonard since 1970. “We started when my uncle came over here, and he invited us. All we had was a tent. We graduated to camping in the back of a pickup, and then we got a motorhome once our son came along. His first camping trip here was when he was just a couple of months old. And this became home to him. And it wasn’t long before we had a whole big group coming with us from Missouri. We’ve had so many good times and good memories here. For many of us, this is what life is all about.”

Indeed, Linda, like many others, has discovered at Big Bear the balm that truly satisfies the soul—a stripping away of life’s distractions, a communion with nature, and the pause needed to truly connect with those we love, crafting relationships that define who we are.