Cave Run Lake is a crucial part of Morehead’s identity. Its man-made waters extend deep into the Daniel Boone National Forest. The lake’s unspoiled nature, in combination with the warm temperatures of summer, bring swells of tourists and adventurers every year.
“Our wives don’t know we’re here . . . We managed to escape to the lake,” says Andy Dunn, a local fisherman from Mount Sterling.
At the Scott Creek Marina on the lake, though, it’s the famine that follows the feast. As leaves turn a silvery golden brown and the surrounding mountains blow a chill into the warm summer waters, boaters retire and fishermen go for their final catches of the season. Hopes for an escape on the lake just one more time before the winter dwindle as the cold sets in. Finally, inevitably, boats come out of the water.
Remaining boating thoughts turn to new craft. “They switch boats around here faster than you can switch a baby’s diaper,” says Kenny McCluarg, a Scott Creek Marina night watchman.
Kenny, Andy and many others all have one thing in common: they breathe the same chilly October air while watching over, boating on or working at the lake late in the season. Cave Run is their common thread; it serves to bind them to the land and to the community.
