Summer Shade is a small unincorporated community and census-designated place in Metcalfe County, Kentucky, United States. Originally the area was known as Sartain Precinct and later as Glover's Creek; W.M. Riggs, the postmaster, changed the name to Summer Shade in 1872. The rural-dominated area is home to the Kingsford Charcoal factory. This plant is the largest briquette factory in the world. The community is part of the Glasgow Micropolitan Statistical Area. State highway 90, connecting Glasgow to the Dale Hollow Lake area, runs through Summer Shade. There is one school in Summer Shade, the Summer Shade Elementary School that goes from grades K-6. Students in 7th and 8th grade public school attend the Metcalfe County Middle School in Edmonton. Students in 9th-12th grade public school attend the Metcalfe County High School in Edmonton. One of the foremost doctors in south-central Kentucky and the state during the twentieth century was Dr. C.C. Howard, who was born in Summer Shade.