Recreation

With sixty-six acres situated along the scenic Nolichucky River valley in Greene County, the David Crockett Birthplace State Park features a reproduction of the log cabin where Crockett was born near the confluence of the Big Limestone Creek and the…

David Crockett State Park, located outside of Lawrenceburg on over one thousand acres of land, includes the original sites of a gristmill, distillery, and powder mill once owned by Davy Crockett, the legendary frontiersman, antebellum politician, and martyred hero of…

Located outside of Clarksville, the Dunbar Cave State Natural Area contains 110 acres centered around a historic cave that has been a source of legend and recreation since the early history of Montgomery County. Prehistoric peoples used the cave for…

Headquartered in DeKalb County along Center Hill Lake, Edgar Evins State Park contains about 6,000 acres. The park is named in honor of state senator and Smithville civic capitalist James Edgar Evins, who was also the father of noted U.S.…

Tennessee's second largest park is Fall Creek Falls State Park, which covers a total of 19,684 acres. The park is located between Spencer and Pikeville along the border of Van Buren and Bledsoe Counties. Located near the upper Cane Creek…

Tennessee boasts 649,000 acres of productive fishing waters--the finest anywhere. Twenty-nine major reservoirs, nineteen thousand miles of warm and cold water streams, and thousands of smaller lakes and ponds provide unlimited fishing opportunity and variety year-round. Fish stories told in…

Each year, hundreds of festivals throughout Tennessee celebrate the state’s diverse culture. Festivals provide economic opportunities and offer a venue for people to express the distinctive character of their town or city. Many Tennessee festivals are based on food, reflecting…

Located in Morgan County, Frozen Head State Natural Area is one of Tennessee's largest state parks, with over eleven thousand acres of beautiful, rugged land. Surrounded by the environmental scars of coal mining, Frozen Head represents the last major property…

One of the crown jewels of the national park system, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park--the largest wilderness area east of the Mississippi River--covers over 500,000 acres of scenic beauty. The area includes highland meadows, waterfalls, clear mountain streams, several…

Located in Grundy County, Grundy Lakes and Grundy Forest are part of the South Cumberland State Recreation Area. Grundy Lakes began as an environmentally devastated mining property, part of a complex of 130 coke ovens established and operated by the…

Located on the east bank of Chickamauga Lake, Harrison Bay State Park is north of Chattanooga. In 1938 the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) began development of what it named Harrison Island Park as a recreation demonstration area for whites; to…

This park's facilities focus on a twenty-three-mile stretch of the Hiwassee River, the first river in the state's Scenic River program. There are campgrounds and multiple boat-launching ramps. The Cherokee National Forest of the United States Forest Service manages the…

Silena Moore Holman served as president of the Tennessee chapter of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union during the period of its greatest influence on state politics. During her tenure as state president, the organization grew from 200 to over 4,000…

Located near Corryton, House Mountain State Park is a small park of approximately five hundred acres that provides access to a remarkable view of the surrounding countryside and mountains from the 2,100-foot-high House Mountain, the highest point in Knox County.…

Tennessee's early white settlers found bountiful supplies of wildlife, including deer, bear, elk, bison, and wild turkey; however, continued westward expansion rapidly depleted these populations. The last two reports of bison were recorded near Nashville in 1795; the last known…

Congress established this federal recreation area located along the Tennessee-Kentucky border in northwest Middle Tennessee in 1964. Land Between the Lakes (LBL) is a 170,000-acre peninsula between the Tennessee Valley Authority-created Kentucky Lake (1944) and the U.S. Corps of Engineers-created…

Long Hunter State Park is located along thirty miles of shoreline of Percy Priest Lake in Davidson and Rutherford Counties. In 1968 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers acquired the property for park development as part of its Percy Priest…

The game of marbles is an ancient and universal pastime, with Roman, French, and British roots. In Tennessee, Indian burials of the Mississippian culture have yielded clay and stone spheres speculatively interpreted as game pieces. Archaeologists also discovered marbles at…

Charles Harrison Mason founded the Church of God in Christ (COGIC). In doing so he preserved and cultivated the religious culture of his ancestors as well as fighting for religious freedom of expression and an integrated church. He was the…

Containing 13,467 acres, Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park near Memphis is the most visited state park in Tennessee. Initially known as Shelby Forest State Park, it began as a New Deal recreation demonstration area of the National Park Service during the…