Huntertown was once a thriving, close-knit African-American community where descendants of freed African-Americans lived in Woodford County, Kentucky. The UK Department of Landscape Architecture (UKLA) has been partnering with the Huntertown Community Interpretive Park (HCIP) Committee since 2020 to envision the former Huntertown site as a 38-acre public open space. UKLA revised the master plan during Phase 2 (2021-2022) to more appropriately reflect the community’s past footprints on the landscape. In the summer of 2022, the committee and the local government secured an environmental cleanup grant. This facilitated the removal of much of the concrete debris that was piled in the inner-wooded area. During the removal, much of the inner-wooded area was also cleared of vegetation and left bare. To support the overall master plan that has been in progress, UKLA continued the partnership with the committee and local government to newly vision the inner-wooded area, focusing on environmental education and restoration. Although this specific part of the entire park is relatively less significant in relation to the historical and cultural importance of the Huntertown community, the physical characteristics of the disrupted inner-wooded area reflect a reason Huntertown was moved out.

In the fall of 2022, as an extension to Phase 2 of the project (2021-2022), UKLA collaboratively developed plans and detailed designs that supported the vision for the inner-wooded area of HCIP. UKLA supported the HCIP Committee’s effort to enhance the site’s environmental quality while offering environmental education opportunities for youth in the community. UKLA partnered with the committee and youth from the local community through engagement activities and added another layer of future voices to reflect in the interpretive educational landscape. Undergraduate students in LA 324 researched the environmental characteristics of the specific area of the site. Students also sought ways to connect HCIP to the broader community through a greenway plan. UKLA students developed and led workshops to gain community voices and seek ideas for the future of the public landscape. Three student teams developed and presented their proposals to community members and professionals. The students engaged with community stakeholders during workshops, preliminary presentations, and a final presentation. During the final presentation, there was a sense of excitement from the HCIP Committee, city and county leaders, volunteers, and residents, seeing the need and potential to revisit a community-wide park system where the Huntertown Community Interpretive Park could be a vital anchor. 

For the short and intermediate terms, the UKLA design proposals are supporting the continued momentum of the community design project while also providing a foundation to support the placemaking efforts for Versailles-Woodford County residents and the broader central KY region.