A series of spring-fed ponds or lakes gave Lakeside Park its name. The first settlement was established along the west side of the old Lexington Pike and by the lakes. This places two connections at the heart of the town’s history: the waterways that explain its name and the road along which the early settlement developed. If you want to understand a destination through its development, this connection offers a good starting point. Lakeside Park can thus be seen as a place whose name and beginnings as a settlement are both rooted in the local landscape.
The Old Lexington Pike and the Development of the Town
The Dixie Highway in Lakeside Park follows the historic road known as the old Lexington Pike. This links the earlier name to a specific route: here, Dixie Highway and Lexington Pike do not refer to two separate roads. This is a useful distinction when sorting out the town’s historical connections. The Five Mile House was also a tollhouse on the Lexington Pike in the 19th century, making the road a part of both the town’s development and its local business history.
Homes and Early Town History
The Dixie Highway Historic District is in Lakeside Park and is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It includes five large homes built after World War I. The homes are privately owned. The combination of a protected district, five buildings, and their construction period offers a particularly concrete way to understand the town’s history: it grounds the historical perspective in a specific type of residential architecture and a clearly defined era. Those interested in architecture can distinguish this part of the history from development along the old Pike.
Dry Creek Baptist Church on Buttermilk Pike was founded in the early 19th century. The building is a residence, not a public attraction. In addition, the John S. Perry family cemetery may be the oldest venerated site in Lakeside Park. Together, these connections extend beyond the history of roads and architecture to religious and family aspects of the town’s history.
The Five Mile House
In the 19th century, the Five Mile House was a tollhouse on the Lexington Pike. In 1910, it became a restaurant with a shady picnic area. This sequence connects the road corridor’s earlier use with its later use for dining and distinguishes the Five Mile House from the homes in the Historic District.
Barleycorn’s Lakeside Park location is also called the Five Mile House and has a spacious patio. If you plan to use the patio during your visit, check the business’s current information in advance.
Town History as a Guide to Choosing a Destination
These topics can help guide your choice of a hotel in Lakeside Park. Are you interested in the relationship between the waterways and the first settlement, the historic route of the Lexington Pike, or perhaps the architecture and the area’s early dining establishments? These questions can help you weigh the destination’s character according to your interests, rather than treating the places mentioned as interchangeable stops.
Discover more destinations: Fort Mitchell, Bromley, Park Hills, Covington, Fort Wright, Erlanger.
For the broader travel overview: Kenton.
