Burnside, KY

Burnside is a Pulaski County home-rule city at the edge of Lake Cumberland, where the Cumberland River and its South Fork once met in the original townsite. That town was moved to higher ground in the early 1950s when Wolf Creek Dam impounded the river and created the lake. At full pool in 1954, most of Old Burnside disappeared beneath the water, leaving streets, foundations, and portions of the railroad visible only when lake levels fall. New Burnside grew uphill, while the old town remains part of the lake’s submerged history.

Today Burnside’s daily map is built around the reservoir. Burnside Marina serves boaters on Lake Cumberland, and General Burnside Island State Park provides an eighteen-hole golf course surrounded by water. The city also has a lending library branch, local services, and roads leading toward Somerset and the rest of Pulaski County. The result is an unusual place to live: the town center on shore, the old town below the lake, and recreation spread across coves, marinas, and an island course. Burnside’s present-day life is still shaped by the engineering project that changed its location.