Rock Island State Park (Tennessee)

Rock Island State Park is a state park in Warren County and White County, Tennessee, located in the Southeastern United States. The park is centered around Rock Island— which is actually a peninsula created by the confluence of the Caney Fork River and the Collins River— and the Great Falls Gorge, a rocky canyon immediately downstream from this confluence. [" [http://www.topoquest.com/map.asp?lat=35.80016&lon=-85.62867&size=m&u=4&datum=nad83&layer=DRG USGS Campaign Topographical Map] ." TopoQuest.com. Retrieved: 5 July 2008.]

The park consists of convert|883|acre|km2 and is managed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

Geographical setting

The Caney Fork River winds its way westward from its source atop the Cumberland Plateau 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, which parallels the northern bank of Rock Island. 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 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. At Rock Island, the river almost reaches the Caney Fork before abruptly bending southward and creating a U-shape around the peninsula before finally emptying into the Caney Fork just above the Great Falls Dam.

The town of Rock Island, historically located on the peninsula itself, is now located immediately to the east, spanning the Caney Fork between the Rocky River and Collins River confluences. This portion of the river is known as Great Falls Lake, an artificial lake created by the erection of the Great Falls Dam in 1915-1916.

Natural and historical features

*The Great Falls Gorge, located along Rock Island's northern shore between the 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 waterlevels 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 Places.

*The Spring castle, located adjacent to the cotton mill. The "castle," which is essentially a larger version of a spring house, was used by the cotton mill's workers for refrigeration. It was probably built in the 1890s.

*The Great Falls Dam, located along the Caney Fork near the park's TN-136 entrance. The dam was built 1915-1916.

History

Early history

Rock Island was situated at a ford along the Chickamauga Path, which spanned Middle Tennessee north-to-south, connecting the area with Kentucky and Alabama. This path later became the Old Kentucky Road, which roughly parallels the modern State Route 136. Another trail, known as the Black Fox Trail, passed east-to-west just south of Rock Island. [Arthur Crouch, "The Caney Fork of the Cumberland: The Story of a River, Its History, Features, Moods, People and Places with Particular Reference to Rock Island and the Area Above Great Falls" (Nashville, Tenn.: Crouch, 1973), 2-3.]

In 1793, in the latter part of the Chickamauga Wars, a skirmish was fought at Rock Island between a small contingent of soldiers pursuing several Chickamaugas, who had reportedly stolen horses. The Tennessee historian J.G.M. Ramsey reported:

(Lt. Snoddy) pursued them to a large camp near the Rock Island ford of the Cany Fork, where he took much spoils. Evening coming on, he withdrew from the camp, about a mile, to an eminence, where he halted his men, and they lay on their arms all night." [J.G.M. Ramsey, "The Annals of Tennessee" (Johnson City, Tennessee: Tennessee Overmountain Press, 1999), 606.]

The Chickamauga assaulted Snoddy's position the following day, but were beaten back.

Among the earliest settlers in Middle Tennessee settled at Rock Island in the late 1790s. They included William "Rock" Martin and Joseph Terry. In 1806, Terry's cabin held the first court for the newly-created White County. A tavern and ferry were also established at Rock Island around this time, and the town remained an important point along the Old Kentucky Road until the coming of the railroad in 1881. [Crouch, "The Caney Fork of the Cumberland River", 3-5.]

Industry and flooding

The history of the Caney Fork River from the end of the Civil War 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. [Crouch, "The Caney Fork of the Cumberland River", 2.]

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. [Crouch, "The Caney Fork of the Cumberland River", 39.]

In 1881, a railroad was constructed along the bluffs opposite Rock Island, causing the town of Rock Island to shift eastward to its present location between the Rocky River and Collins River. The railroad also brought larger industries to the area. [Crouch, "The Caney Fork of the Cumberland River", xi.] 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. [Crouch, "The Caney Fork of the Cumberland River", 42-43.]

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. [Crouch, "The Caney Fork of the Cumberland River", 53-55.] In 1939, the TEPCo Dam was purchased by the Tennessee Valley Authority, 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. [Carroll Van West, " [http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/imagegallery.php?EntryID=R045 Rock Island State Park] ." "The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture", 2002. Retrieved: 9 January 2008.] By the 1930s, Rock Island had grown into a small fishing resort. ["The WPA Guide to Tennessee" (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1986), 469. Originally compiled by the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Project Administration as "Tennessee: A Guide to the State", and published in 1939.] Rock Island State Park was established in 1969. [Van West, " [http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/imagegallery.php?EntryID=R045 Rock Island State Park] " (2002).]

The Rock Island area was used for a considerable number of exterior shots and stunts in the 1994 Sylvester Stallone film, "The Specialist".

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." Four hiking trails explore the Great Falls Gorge and the Collins River. The park is located just off U.S. Route 70S northeast of McMinnville. State Route 136 (Old McMinnville Highway) and State Route 287 (Great Falls Road) both pass through the park.

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.

References

External links

* [http://state.tn.us/environment/parks/RockIsland/ Rock Island State Park] — official website
* [http://www.tva.gov/sites/greatfalls.htm Great Falls Reservoir] — TVA site