Outdoors Did You Know?

There are over 150 documented waterfalls within a 44-mile radius of downtown Cookeville
COOKEVILLE AND THE UPPER CUMBERLAND ARE HOME TO WONDERFUL PARKS AND NATURAL AREAS.

Large Parks and Natural Areas

♦ Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area
125,000 acres · 85 miles from Cookeville
Miles of scenic gorges and sandstone bluffs. Features an abandoned coal mining town that was part of the Stearns Coal and Lumber Co. from 1937 to 1962.

♦ Burgess Falls State Natural Area
200 acres · 11 miles from Cookeville
Features sheer bluffs, narrow ridges, mixed forest and a native butterfly garden. Four waterfalls along one-and-a-half-mile trail, the tallest at 136 feet.

♦ Cummins Falls State Park
211 acres · 9 miles from Cookeville
Home to Tennessee’s eighth - largest waterfall at 75 feet. Fish for bluegill and bass in this wooded natural refuge, which Travel and Leisure magazine named one of the 10 best swimming holes in the U.S.

♦ Edgar Evins State Park
6,000 acres · 26 miles from Cookeville
Features unique species of wildlife and mixed hardwood forests near the shores of Center Hill Lake. An observation tower at the Visitor Center offers a spectacular view of the lake and surrounding hillsides.

♦ Fall Creek Falls State Park
20,000 acres ·43 miles from Cookeville
Miles of waterfalls, streams, gorges and recreation facilities. The park is one of the most popular in the Southeast. At 256 feet, Fall Creek Falls is the highest waterfall in the eastern United States.

♦ Rock Island State Park
883 acres · 36 miles from Cookeville
Dominated by the Great Falls of the Caney Fork River- a limestone gorge that provides scenic overlooks, waterfalls and pools. Features a 19th century textile mill and one of the state’s early hydroelectric plants.

♦ Standing Stone State Park
11,000 acres · 24 miles from Cookeville
Sits on the Cumberland Plateau and takes its name from an 8-foot-tall rock that was reportedly used as a boundary between two Indian nations. It now stands in Monterey’s Whitaker Park.

♦ Virgin Falls Trail
1,157 acres · 36 miles from Cookeville
Noted for its unique geological features, including the 110-foot Virgin Falls, other waterfalls, caves and sinkholes. The Caney Fork Overlook provides a view of Scott’s Gulf and the Caney Fork River 900 feet below.