Qualla: Greenbo Lake State Resort Park

Greenbo Lake State Resort Park: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Two men sat in a boat in 1948, fishing somewhere in Greenup County, Kentucky. George Collins and Dr. Virgil Skaggs were members of the Greenup County Fish and Game Club, and the conversation turned to what every angler eventually wonders: why doesn't somebody just build a proper fishing lake here? They took the idea back to their club. The members agreed. Land was purchased, parcel by parcel, with funds cobbled together from Greenup and Boyd counties. The volunteers were not equipped to manage what they had built, so in 1954, under Governor Lawrence Wetherby, the project was deeded over to the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Today Greenbo Lake State Resort Park sprawls across 3,268 acres of woods and water - one of the more successful examples in American conservation of an idea that started on a fishing trip.

Greenbo Lake State Resort Park: The Jesse Stuart Lodge

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The fieldstone lodge that anchors the park is named for Jesse Hilton Stuart (1906-1984), the Greenup County native who became Kentucky's Poet Laureate and one of America's most prolific writers of rural fiction and poetry. Stuart wrote more than 2,000 poems and 460 short stories ...

Greenbo Lake State Resort Park: Two State Records

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Greenbo Lake covers 300 acres of impounded water - though older park literature sometimes lists it at 225 acres, the difference depending on pool level. What is not in dispute is the fishing. The lake has produced two state-record largemouth bass, a remarkable achievement for an ...

Greenbo Lake State Resort Park: Trails Through Stuart's Country

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Over 25 miles of trails wind through the Greenbo forest, ranging from easy nature walks to genuinely difficult ridge climbs. Some are open to mountain bikes and horses as well as hikers. The terrain is classic eastern Kentucky - oak and hickory ridges, hemlock-shaded coves, sands...

Greenbo Lake State Resort Park: Camping and the Pool

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The campground holds 63 utility sites and 35 primitive sites, with two dump stations and two central service buildings for showers and restrooms. A grocery store on site means you do not have to leave the park for basic supplies. The swimming pool features water slides for the ki...

Greenbo Lake State Resort Park: From Above

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The park sits west of Greenup on Kentucky State Route 1, in the rolling hills between the Ohio River and the deeper Eastern Coalfield. From the air, Greenbo Lake reads as a thin curved blue stripe surrounded by densely wooded ridges - one of the relatively few large bodies of wat...