Long Hunter State Park

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 Dam and Reservoir project. Four years later, it leased 2,400 acres to the state for the creation of Long Hunter State Park. Conservation is an important park mission, but Long Hunter contains large picnic, camping, and recreational areas, including trails, a boat dock, and a fishing pier. The park also carries out environmental education programs. Archaic Period Native Americans once hunted and gathered food within the park boundaries; an archaeological site yielded significant information about their activities before it was covered by the reservoir. The name “Long Hunter” is associated with prominent early white hunters such as Colonel James Smith, Uriah Stone (Stones River is named for him), James Knox, Michael Stoner, John Baker, and Kasper Mansker, who once hunted game in this area during the 1760s and early 1770s.