Rock Island State Park (Tennessee)
Encyclopedia
Rock Island State Park is a state park
in Warren County and White County
, Tennessee, located in the Southeastern United States. The park is named after the community of Rock Island, Tennessee
, which in turn received its name from an island on the Caney Fork upstream from the Collins River
confluence and Great Falls Dam. Rock Island State Park is centered around a peninsula
created by the confluence of these two rivers and extends downstream to the headwaters of Center Hill Lake
.
The park consists of 883 acres (3.6 km²) and is managed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation
.
and drops down to the Highland Rim
at Scott's Gulf
, where it enters White County. Just past Scott's Gulf, the river gains strength, absorbing Cane Creek and the Calfkiller River
as it winds along the base of the plateau. At the community of Walling, the river briefly turns southward and absorbs the Rocky River
before turning westward again. Two miles beyond its Rocky River confluence, the Caney Fork absorbs the Collins and enters the Great Falls Gorge. Beyond the gorge, the river enters the upper extremes of its Center Hill Lake
impoundment and begins winding its way northward toward its mouth along the Cumberland River
, near Carthage
.
The Collins River rises atop the Cumberland Plateau several miles south of Rock Island State Park at the head of a canyon known as Savage Gulf. The river winds its way northward through a section of the Highland Rim known as "the Barrens," and steadies as it enters the eastern section of McMinnville
. The river almost joins the Caney Fork at a point just opposite the Great Falls Dam power plant, but instead bends southward to create the peninsula where the present park is located.
Rock Island, the park's namesake, is an island located in the Caney Fork at 35.79502°N 85.60448°W, approximately 1 miles (1.6 km) upstream from the present site of Great Falls Dam. The community of Rock Island is located along Great Falls Lake east of the state park.
to the beginning of the 1920s tells the story of entrepreneur after entrepreneur attempting to harness the Caney Fork's alluring power potential only to be defeated by the river's volatile flash-flood tendencies. In his "Ode to the Caney Fork," local poet R.P. Hudson summed up this period:
The Bosson Mill, built around the time of the Civil War, was one of the first major mills to use the waterpower of the Great Falls Gorge. Water from the falls was used to power a grist mill
on the mill's first floor and a carding
factory on the second floor. Water was then diverted via flume to a sawmill downstream. The Bosson Mill, which was moderately profitable, was destroyed when the Caney Fork flooded in 1882.
In 1881, the completion of a railroad brought larger industries to the area. In the mid-1880s, entrepreneur Asa Faulkner purchased the Bosson Mill property with plans to build a large cotton mill. Faulkner and several partners raised $30,000 dollars in capital and chartered the Falls City Cotton Mill Company in 1892. The company built a wheelhouse to harness the power from Great Falls and divert it to the cotton mill, higher up on the bluffs. The company also developed a small town for the mill's workers which became known as "Falls City." Along with the spring castle that still stands, the town had its own post office and general store. In 1902, however, the company met the same fate as the Bosson Mill when the Caney Fork flooded again. The mill was high enough to escape harm, but its wheelhouse was completely wiped out. The flood also destroyed the company's tollbridge, which spanned the river just upstream. The company abandoned the mill shortly thereafter and the town died out.
In 1904, the Great Falls Power Company purchased the Great Falls property with plans to dam the Caney Fork and provide power to the Nashville
area. The company built several coffer dams, all of which were destroyed when the river flooded in 1914. The company, which often struggled with finances, finally began construction on the Great Falls Hydroelectric Plant in 1915, and the dam went into operation in 1917. The Tennessee Electric Power Company (TEPCo) purchased the Great Falls Power Company in 1922, and tripled the dam's operating capacity. The Good Friday Flood of 1929, in which the Caney Fork reached record volumes, destroyed the dam's substation and flooded its powerhouse, but the dam held. In 1939, the TEPCo Dam was purchased by the Tennessee Valley Authority
, which continues to operate it.
Rock Island State Park was established in 1969.
The Rock Island area was used for a considerable number of exterior shots and stunts in the 1994 Sylvester Stallone
film
, The Specialist
.
In recent years, Rock Island State Park has become popular with kayakers, who use the river for playboating
. Below Great Falls Dam is a series of rapids with a well-known, constant, retentive "hole" that allows playboaters to hone their whitewater kayaking
skills, riding the wave, spinning, rolling and performing other tricks.
Rock Island State Park also maintains the Big Bone Cave State Natural Area
, which is located a few miles to the east in Van Buren County.
State park
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the federated state level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational...
in Warren County and White County
White County, Tennessee
White County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2000, the population was 23,102. Its county seat is Sparta.-History:...
, Tennessee, located in the Southeastern United States. The park is named after the community of Rock Island, Tennessee
Rock Island, Tennessee
Rock Island is an unincorporated town in the northeastern-most portion of Warren County, Tennessee, United States. The town is named after an island on the Caney Fork just below the confluence of the Rocky River. Rock Island is home to the Great Falls Dam and Rock Island State Park.Many different...
, which in turn received its name from an island on the Caney Fork upstream from the Collins River
Collins River
The Collins River is a tributary of the Caney Fork of the Cumberland River in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Via the Cumberland and Ohio rivers, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed....
confluence and Great Falls Dam. Rock Island State Park is centered around a peninsula
Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
created by the confluence of these two rivers and extends downstream to the headwaters of Center Hill Lake
Center Hill Lake
Center Hill Lake is a reservoir in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located in Middle Tennessee near Smithville. Created by means of a dam constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1948, the lake had a dual purpose: electricity production and flood control...
.
The park consists of 883 acres (3.6 km²) and is managed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation is a Cabinet-level agency within the government of the U.S. state of Tennessee, headed by the Tennessee Commissioner of Environment and Conservation....
.
Geographical setting
The Caney Fork winds its way westward from its source atop the Cumberland PlateauCumberland Plateau
The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and western West Virginia, part of Tennessee, and a small portion of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia . The terms "Allegheny Plateau" and the "Cumberland Plateau" both refer to the...
and drops down to the Highland Rim
Highland Rim
The Highland Rim is a geographic term for the area in Tennessee surrounding the Central Basin. Nashville is largely surrounded by higher terrain in all directions....
at Scott's Gulf
Scott's Gulf
Scott's Gulf is a canyon situated along the Caney Fork in White County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The canyon stretches for approximately as the Caney Fork drops from the top of the Cumberland Plateau down to the eastern Highland Rim...
, where it enters White County. Just past Scott's Gulf, the river gains strength, absorbing Cane Creek and the Calfkiller River
Calfkiller River
The Calfkiller River is a tributary of the Caney Fork of the Cumberland River in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Via the Caney Fork and the Cumberland and Ohio rivers, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed....
as it winds along the base of the plateau. At the community of Walling, the river briefly turns southward and absorbs the Rocky River
Rocky River (Tennessee)
The Rocky River is a tributary of the Caney Fork of the Cumberland River in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Via the Caney Fork and the Cumberland and Ohio rivers, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed....
before turning westward again. Two miles beyond its Rocky River confluence, the Caney Fork absorbs the Collins and enters the Great Falls Gorge. Beyond the gorge, the river enters the upper extremes of its Center Hill Lake
Center Hill Lake
Center Hill Lake is a reservoir in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located in Middle Tennessee near Smithville. Created by means of a dam constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1948, the lake had a dual purpose: electricity production and flood control...
impoundment and begins winding its way northward toward its mouth along the Cumberland River
Cumberland River
The Cumberland River is a waterway in the Southern United States. It is long. It starts in Harlan County in far southeastern Kentucky between Pine and Cumberland mountains, flows through southern Kentucky, crosses into northern Tennessee, and then curves back up into western Kentucky before...
, near Carthage
Carthage, Tennessee
Carthage is a town in Smith County, Tennessee, United States, and is part of the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,251 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Smith County, and perhaps best known as the hometown of former Vice President Al Gore, and his father,...
.
The Collins River rises atop the Cumberland Plateau several miles south of Rock Island State Park at the head of a canyon known as Savage Gulf. The river winds its way northward through a section of the Highland Rim known as "the Barrens," and steadies as it enters the eastern section of McMinnville
McMinnville, Tennessee
McMinnville is the largest city in and the county seat of Warren County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 13,605 at the 2010 census...
. The river almost joins the Caney Fork at a point just opposite the Great Falls Dam power plant, but instead bends southward to create the peninsula where the present park is located.
Rock Island, the park's namesake, is an island located in the Caney Fork at 35.79502°N 85.60448°W, approximately 1 miles (1.6 km) upstream from the present site of Great Falls Dam. The community of Rock Island is located along Great Falls Lake east of the state park.
Natural and historical features
- The Great Falls Gorge, located between northern Great Falls Dam and the dam's powerhouse. The gorge includes Great Falls, a series of plunge and cascade waterfalls that spill into the Caney Fork when the river's water levels are low. When water levels are high, the gorge completely fills up, submerging the waterfalls. A short trail leads from the parking lot to the base of the gorge.
- Twin Falls, a cascade waterfall that spills down from an underground cavern into the Caney Fork, just beyond the powerhouse. The waterfall was created by the Great Falls Dam, which caused the Collins River to rise. The rising waters began seeping into underground caverns on Rock Island's south shore and exiting at the falls on the north shore.
- The Great Falls Cotton Mill (also called the Falls City Cotton Mill), located on the bluffs above Great Falls. The mill was built in 1892 and operated until 1902. In 1982 it was added to the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
- The Spring castle, located adjacent to the cotton mill. The "castle," which is essentially a larger version of a spring houseSpring houseA spring house, or springhouse, is a small building used for refrigeration once commonly found in rural areas before the advent of electric refrigeration. It is usually a one-room building constructed over the source of a spring. The water of the spring maintains a constant cool temperature...
, was used by the cotton mill's workers for refrigeration. It was probably built in the 1890s.
- The Great Falls DamGreat Falls DamGreat Falls Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Caney Fork, straddling the county line between White County and Warren County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the only dam outside the Tennessee River watershed owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The dam impounds the Great...
, located along the Caney Fork near the park's TN-136 entrance. The dam was built 1915-1916.
History
Industry and flooding
The history of the Caney Fork from the end of the Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
to the beginning of the 1920s tells the story of entrepreneur after entrepreneur attempting to harness the Caney Fork's alluring power potential only to be defeated by the river's volatile flash-flood tendencies. In his "Ode to the Caney Fork," local poet R.P. Hudson summed up this period:
Playful river, ever laughing,
Pleading river, always calling,
Rushing river, now unwieldly,
Wild, deep river, oft defiant.
The Bosson Mill, built around the time of the Civil War, was one of the first major mills to use the waterpower of the Great Falls Gorge. Water from the falls was used to power a grist mill
Gristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...
on the mill's first floor and a carding
Carding
Carding is a mechanical process that breaks up locks and unorganised clumps of fibre and then aligns the individual fibres so that they are more or less parallel with each other. The word is derived from the Latin carduus meaning teasel, as dried vegetable teasels were first used to comb the raw wool...
factory on the second floor. Water was then diverted via flume to a sawmill downstream. The Bosson Mill, which was moderately profitable, was destroyed when the Caney Fork flooded in 1882.
In 1881, the completion of a railroad brought larger industries to the area. In the mid-1880s, entrepreneur Asa Faulkner purchased the Bosson Mill property with plans to build a large cotton mill. Faulkner and several partners raised $30,000 dollars in capital and chartered the Falls City Cotton Mill Company in 1892. The company built a wheelhouse to harness the power from Great Falls and divert it to the cotton mill, higher up on the bluffs. The company also developed a small town for the mill's workers which became known as "Falls City." Along with the spring castle that still stands, the town had its own post office and general store. In 1902, however, the company met the same fate as the Bosson Mill when the Caney Fork flooded again. The mill was high enough to escape harm, but its wheelhouse was completely wiped out. The flood also destroyed the company's tollbridge, which spanned the river just upstream. The company abandoned the mill shortly thereafter and the town died out.
In 1904, the Great Falls Power Company purchased the Great Falls property with plans to dam the Caney Fork and provide power to the Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
area. The company built several coffer dams, all of which were destroyed when the river flooded in 1914. The company, which often struggled with finances, finally began construction on the Great Falls Hydroelectric Plant in 1915, and the dam went into operation in 1917. The Tennessee Electric Power Company (TEPCo) purchased the Great Falls Power Company in 1922, and tripled the dam's operating capacity. The Good Friday Flood of 1929, in which the Caney Fork reached record volumes, destroyed the dam's substation and flooded its powerhouse, but the dam held. In 1939, the TEPCo Dam was purchased by the Tennessee Valley Authority
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
, which continues to operate it.
The state park
The creation of a lake by the Great Falls Dam brought numerous recreational opportunities to Rock Island. The Webb Hotel arrived in the area in 1920, and several rustic cabins were built later in the decade. By the 1930s, Rock Island had grown into a small fishing resort.Rock Island State Park was established in 1969.
The Rock Island area was used for a considerable number of exterior shots and stunts in the 1994 Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone
Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, The Specialist
The Specialist
The Specialist is a 1994 American action film from Warner Bros. Pictures. It is directed by Luis Llosa, produced by Jerry Weintraub, and written by Alexandra Seros...
.
The park today
Rock Island State Park currently maintains 10 cabins, 60 campsites, and a boat ramp. The park's Center Hill Lake section contains a natural sand beach and a popular fishing area known as the "Blue Hole." Hiking trails include two trails that access the north and south banks of the Great Falls Gorge, and a 3 miles (4.8 km) trail that runs along the Collins River. Deer, woodpeckers, and wildflowers are commons sites along the park's trails.In recent years, Rock Island State Park has become popular with kayakers, who use the river for playboating
Playboating
Playboating is a discipline of whitewater kayaking or canoeing where the paddler performs various technical moves in one place , as opposed to downriver whitewater canoeing or kayaking where the objective is to travel the length of a section of river...
. Below Great Falls Dam is a series of rapids with a well-known, constant, retentive "hole" that allows playboaters to hone their whitewater kayaking
Whitewater kayaking
Whitewater kayaking is the sport of paddling a kayak on a moving body of water, typically a whitewater river. Whitewater kayaking can range from simple, carefree gently moving water, to demanding, dangerous whitewater. River rapids are graded like ski runs according to the difficulty, danger or...
skills, riding the wave, spinning, rolling and performing other tricks.
Rock Island State Park also maintains the Big Bone Cave State Natural Area
Big Bone Cave
Big Bone Cave is a cave located in Van Buren County, Tennessee in the community of Bone Cave. It is notable both for its history and current recreational use. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a State Natural Area managed by Rock Island State Park . It is named for...
, which is located a few miles to the east in Van Buren County.
External links
- Rock Island State Park — official website
- Great Falls Reservoir — TVA site