Camp Nelson Heritage Park
The Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park currently includes the preservation of more than 400 acres of the origional 4,000 acres of Camp Nelson. Located within the acreage is the restored "White House" (officers quarters) where tours are available on a limited basis. The grounds also provide for an educational and recreational experience through a 1-1/2 mile trail which interprets the depot facility (buildings such as warehouses, hospitals, bakery, prison, stables, barracks, etc.) and the fortifications. One of the outbuildings and barn are being restored to provide for displays depicting camp life along with interpretation.

A Living History Weekend is held at the Park annually. The event includes re-enacters who perform infantry, artillery and cavalry drills, demonstrations and enlistments. Tours of the White House and fortifications are conducted. Visitors are encouraged to participate in an archeological dig during the event.

Contact the Camp Nelson Preservation Office at 859-881-9126 for further information on events and the site.

Oliver Perry Mansion at the
Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park
The Oliver Perry Mansion was built ca. 1846 after the marriage of Oliver Perry and Fannie Scott Perry. It has been restored and preserved as a house museum on the northern edge of the Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park.

The Mansion was commandeered from 1863 to 1865 by General Ambrose Burnside, of the Union Army, for use as Officers Quarters for the Camp Nelson Supply Depot and Training Post. It was referred to as the "White House" in the documents and journals of the Depot. During that period of time, over 4,000 acres of prime farmland were confiscated from several landowners. The largest landholder was Mary Scott, Fannie's mother. The Camp Nelson Heritage Park contains a portion of that land along with its forts and batteries. Interpretation of the Camp and its considerable influence on the war effort begins at the back lawn of the Mansion.

The Mansion, with its small formal herb garden and stone walk has been restored to represent the lifestyle of such a family as the Perry's in antebellum Kentucky, just as the Civil War began to have deep effects on the declaration of neutrality of the Commonwealth. President Lincoln wanted to establish a "toe hold" in Kentucky and this wish was accommodated in Jessamine County. Citizens were called upon to make the extreme sacrifice of all they possessed. Such citizens gave up their comfortable and gracious homes to billet officers and soldiers and for hospitals and headquarters not only in Jessamine County but throughout the state.

The two-story antebellum house has been beautifully restored and the handsome double porches offer an excellent view of the Civil War Camp site from the second floor. The elegant woodwork, staircase, and mantels are original.

Camp Nelson Civil War Historic Site
Camp Nelson was a Union Supply Depot, Recruitment Camp and Hospital Facility built in 1863 and dismantled in 1866. Camp Nelson was constructed under orders of Major General Ambrose Burnside, commander of the Army of the Ohio, and named after Major General William Nelson.

The supply depot was one of the largest in Kentucky and distributed military goods over the eastern half of Kentucky and East Tennessee. After March 1864, Camp Nelson became Kentucky's largest, and the nation's third largest, recruitment camp for African-American troops. It also contained a refugee camp for the families of these recruits.

Camp Nelson Cemetery
This cemetery was begun in 1863 as the main Camp Nelson Cemetery and contains the remains of 1,600 Camp Nelson soldiers, including some 600 African-Americans. In 1868 this cemetery was designated a National Cemetery and over 2,200 Civil War dead from several Kentucky Civil War battles including Perryville, Richmond and Covington were reburied here. The cemetery office which was built in 1875, serves as a visitors center. (A video highlighting the history of Camp Nelson is shown on request.)