Many of you know for my daytime (read: paying) job, I sell billboard advertising (well....actually, I sell ideas) for Lamar Outdoor Advertising. One of the benefits of my position in sales is that I get to see many different places. Today was one of those days.
I was able to go up to Fentress County, TN (on the northern Cumberland Plateau) and visit the Pickett State Park.
(excerpted from TN Encyclopedia)
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 1471 organized at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, in 1933, before moving first to Putnam County and then settling in Pickett County in 1934. There, they constructed a dam and a twelve-acre lake, twenty-two miles of roads, telephone lines, trails, a lodge, picnic areas, cabins, and other facilities for the new Pickett Forest State Park (the area was also known as Pickett Forest Recreation Area). The CCC also built fire towers and ranger stations in the forested areas of Pickett. The National Park Service designed park buildings and structures to utilize native materials and fit in with the local landscape, providing for functionally and aesthetically related components that have remained easily accessible to park visitors.
A 1937 U.S. Department of Interior master plan for Pickett Forest State Park shows picnic areas, auto and trailer camps, groups of cabins, trails, comfort stations, and shelters, many of which still exist. Historic resources (ca. 1934-42) are constructed of rock faced coursed stone with wood trim. They are gable-roofed and one story in height. Many buildings have large, impressive stone fireplaces.
*Excellent Article from TN Encyclopedia*
*Pickett State Park-Wikipedia Site*
*Great Hikes in Tennessee article*
It is a very nice (and large-17,000 acres) Tennessee State Park under the State's Department of Environment and Conservation. Parts of this park was built under the Civilian Conservation Corps, including some of the oldest cabins...built in the 1930's under the direction of the CCC...these cabins are very rustic and made of stone.
Here is the contact information:
Pickett State Park
4605 Pickett Park HighwayJamestown , TN 38556-4141
Office: 931-879-5821
Cabin Reservations: 1-877-260-0010
Either call them for directions or get on Interstate 40 and Exit at #317 (Crossville) Hwy. 127 and head north to Highway 154 (which is just north of Jamestown, TN) and head down Hwy 154...you'll run right into it!
2 comments:
We're looking forward to seeing as many of these beautiful parks as we can! A client of mine vacations at a cabin in Oneida which I believe is not far from Jamestown.
Looks like the weather is just spectacular up there right about now; I'm jealous! Humidity has settled in here, daytime temps nearing 90. The kind of day where you MIGHT mow the grass if you really have to, but the weeds get a reprieve for another day! :)
That is cool...I may have to take a road trip with my sons there!
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