family descendants. The Wilderness Lake was completed in the spring of 1938 but the work continued slowly on the Tea House and gardens, the recreational lake, the roads and the cottages. The Tea House was completed in June 1940 and served three meals daily until December 1941. In the spring of 1941, the cottages were completed and the recreational lake was excavated and filled. That completed the work under the federal New Deal programs. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, Kentucky and the nation prepared for war. Camp Cromwell was converted into a Naval Cadet Aviation Training School during the war and supervised by Evansville College (presently the University of Evansville). After WWII, attention returned to John James Audubon State Park. Beginning in 1948 and lasting until 1955, a program of restoration and construction was carried out. Some of the projects completed were new museum lighting installation; picnic area, bathhouse and beach, landscaping, parking, lake dam and shelter construction. From 1960 to 1969 another $500,000 was invested in the park with construction of a camping area and nine-hole golf course. Additional land was acquired bringing the park to nearly 700 acres. New picnic shelters and employee housing were also constructed. The park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. In 1990 the state General Assembly allocated $2.5 million for a thorough renovation of the museum and the additional nature center to promote the study of nature. In the spring of 1992, the largest renovation in the museum's 54-year history began and in December 1993 the refurbished and expanded museum reopened. Audubon Museum The museum design is French heritage. The style also permitted the inclusion of small niches in the museum tower for nesting birds. Alice Tyler, widow of J. J. Audubon's great-grandson, Leonard Sanford Tyler, had been in contact with Susan Towles during the park's development. It was her wish that the large personal collection of Audubon material in her possession be placed on loan in the new Audubon Museum. Mrs. Tyler shipped her collection to Henderson in the spring of 1938 and the museum opened July 16, 1938. The Tyler collection was later purchased in 1994 through numerous donations made to the Friends of Audubon, as well as contributions from the Preston Foundation and the Kentucky State Parks. Today, the museum proudly displays one of the world's largest collections of original Audubon