On a thirty-five-acre island on Dale Hollow Lake, another week of summer camp begins. Lines of children form underneath a flagpole outside their bunk houses.
It’s 7:45 am Central Standard Time, and the children stand at attention as the camp staff raises the American flag, followed by the state flag and the Kentucky State Police flags.
“The Star-Spangled Banner” plays from nearby speakers. Campers have a hand on their heart and quietly watch as the three flags flutter in the early morning breeze.
Welcome to Trooper Island on the Kentucky-Tennessee border.
Camp Director Scott Ferrell is a 21-year veteran of the Kentucky State Police. “The camp is for underprivileged kids, where it doesn't cost the family anything for the kids to come. It's run off of donations. It's a nonprofit, so it's solely based off of donations. We've been here for 61 years.”
In 1965, Ted Bassett, Director of the KSP, created the camp for children aged ten to twelve. Each KSP Post sponsors children, and the state troopers from that post volunteer for a week of camp.
The current KSP Commissioner, Colonel Phillip Burnett, Jr., is proud of Trooper Island and what it offers the children. “This is a crown jewel for the Kentucky State Police. Trooper Island is, but sometimes, unfortunately, the only interaction that a child may have with a trooper or law enforcement officer, period, would be in a negative light, something that they can't control. But here, they can just be a kid. They're not having to worry about the ills of the world. They can just be here and be a kid and see other kids having a good time.”
Commissioner Burnett knows what it’s like to experience a week at Trooper Island. He was twelve years old in 1985 when he came to camp for the first time. “My eyes were probably big as half dollars because I'd always been around lakes and different things. But Dale Hollow Lake is a different animal. It is a beautiful place. I got to meet and enjoy the camping experience with other children from Bell County who were in Knox County, other counties kind of close to where I was at.”
It’s a full-circle moment for Burnett, who went from camper to the KSP Commissioner. There’s a plaque on the cafeteria wall that lists sixty-eight campers who later joined the KSP, and eighteen who were civilian employees.
Trooper Island has come a long way from the 1960’s and 70’s when campers stayed in Army tents. Today, children sleep in air-conditioned bunk houses and enjoy a swimming pool, an archery range, kayaking, fishing off a sheltered dock, and access to a chapel.
Jeff Brown has worked at Trooper Island for the last twenty-nine years and has seen a lot of improvements in the facilities. “Our cafeteria went from an older building that was added on to for several years to the one that we have now, which is really impressive. We have a nurse’s facility. Our office area, where we're at now, all that was just a little small shack kind of an area. The bathroom facilities for the boys and the girls, that's improved tremendously. Lodges have been redone and rebuilt. So, a lot's happened.”
All of it without a cent of tax dollars. Trooper Island is a non-profit supported by donations, grants, various tournaments, and an annual car raffle.
To date, the KSP estimates forty thousand children have experienced Trooper Island.
Commissioner Burnett says it’s not only an opportunity for the children to have fun, but it also gives them a positive glimpse at the state troopers who volunteer.
During their week at camp, the children attend a blue light ceremony honoring fallen state troopers. It’s a solemn moment in the evening, and afterwards the campers have the opportunity to ask the troopers about their jobs.
10-year-old Easton Carey of Grant County is a first-year camper. “I got really nervous. I was like, I was excited, but I was also nervous at the same time. It's fun. I like it. I would probably come. I'll probably come back next year.”
Taylor Rawlings is thirteen and is now a Junior Counselor in her fourth year. “I have a lot of fun, and I make a lot of memories and a lot of friends that I still talk to now. So, it's just a lot of fun coming back.”
Camp Director Ferrell enjoys seeing the campers embrace the experience. “You see them coming in, and then by time they leave, it's we want to have a fun camp. That's what it's all about. It's for the kids to have fun. I always say that we try to give the kids a week away from reality, you know, where they don't have to worry about anything. All they got to worry about is playing and sleeping. So, to see them come in, they're a little backward at first, you know, kind of shy acting, and then by Friday, you their names, and they don't realize we're troopers at all because we go around in t-shirts and shorts.”
KSP Commissioner Burnett spent time with Ted Bassett, the founder of Trooper Island, before his death in January of 2025 at the age of 103. “He was a World War II veteran, and then to become director of Kentucky State Police, and to be able to start this from scratch, an island, and think about trying to get the infrastructure here, trying to get all this together for children to be able to come, that was a big feat in itself. But with his vision and hard work by others, they were able to get this to where it is today.”
Trooper Island is a place where kids can escape for a week of fun, and maybe someday join the ranks of the Kentucky State Police.
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