The park encompasses 148 acres (60 ha) and features a monument commemorating the August 19, 1782 Battle of Blue Licks.

The Reverend James Smith provides this account in his 1795–97 diary: As you approach the Licks, at the distance of 4 or 5 miles from it, you begin to perceive the change.

[4]In 1782, British Captain William Caldwell led a force of Indians against the small Kentucky settlement of Bryan's Station.

The pioneers – Daniel Boone among them – were inclined to wait for reinforcements before pursuing the enemy, and although under the general leadership of Major John Todd, Major Hugh McGary of the Lincoln County contingent made a brash and fateful decision to pursue immediately (after an insult for being timid from Todd), engaging Caldwell at Blue Licks.

[5] By the mid-19th century, the Blue Licks area had become a health resort, due in large part to the nearby saltwater springs that had been used for "salt making" since the 1770s.

Today much of the glade has transitioned into forest, but the remnant areas are being maintained by controlled burns and removal of Eastern redcedar.

It houses a variety of artifacts, from a mastodon tooth found during an excavation of the site to relics from the American Civil War.