Lilley Cornett Woods
Map of Kentucky
Location	Whitesburg, Kentucky
Coordinates	37°05′16″N 82°59′33″W / 37.0879°N 82.9925°W / 37.0879; -82.9925[1]
Area	659 acres (267 ha)[1]
Established	1969[1]
Governing body	Eastern Kentucky University[1]
U.S. National Natural Landmark
Designated	1971

Lilley Cornett Woods is a 659-acre forested land parcel within Letcher County, Kentucky. Of the overall parcel, 252 acres are classified as old growth forest and listed as a National Natural Landmark (NNL). The overall parcel is owned by the State of Kentucky, and the NNL is protected by the parcel's operator, Eastern Kentucky University.^[1][2]

The Lilley Cornett Woods are a surviving example of the forest growth of the Cumberland Mountains. Dominant large trees include beech, hickory, white oak, and chestnut oak.^[2] Eastern Kentucky University, which operates the Appalachian Ecological Research Station within the parcel, reports that the parcel contains 72 woody plant species and 468 other plant species.^[1] This diversity affirms the old-growth status of the central wooded area within the parcel. Prior to 1969, the old-growth area was disturbed by (i) longtime livestock-forestry interactions typical of Appalachian human ecology,^[1] and (ii) 20th-century salvage logging of the blight-struck, dead and dying American chestnuts that used to live in the old-growth woods.^[2]

Surviving large trees in the old-growth section of the Lilley Cornett Woods include a white oak that has been tree-ring-dated to 1669, more than 350 years before the present.^[1] The Woods are named in honor of the parcel's longtime owner and guardian, a private citizen who is reported to have refused all offers from loggers. As a surviving old-growth woodland, the Woods were celebrated by local environmental advocate Harry M. Caudill.^[2] The state of Kentucky purchased the old-growth section of the land parcel from Cornett's heirs in 1969.^[1]

The Lilley Cornett Woods are managed with minimal additional human disturbance for scientific purposes. Researchers have a bunkhouse/laboratory station to maintain their research projects.^[2] Non-scientist access to the old-growth segment of the Woods is by guided tour only. A self-guided 0.5-mile loop trail invites unsupervised access to a verge section of the Woods adjacent to the old growth.^[2] The Woods were named as a National Natural Landmark in 1971. They were initiated into the Old-Growth Forest Network in 2023.^[1]