Cumberland Mountain State Park is a state park in Cumberland County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The park consists of situated around Byrd Lake, a man-made lake created by the impoundment of Byrd Creek in the 1930s. The park is set amidst an environmental microcosm of the Cumberland Plateau and provides numerous recreational activities, including an 18-hole Bear Trace golf course. Cumberland Mountain State Park began as part of the greater Cumberland Homesteads Project, a New Deal-era initiative by the

Resettlement Administration The Resettlement Administration (RA) was a New Deal U.S. federal agency created May 1, 1935. It relocated struggling urban and rural families to communities planned by the federal government. On September 1, 1937, it was succeeded by the Farm S ...

that helped relocate poverty-stricken families on the Cumberland Plateau to small farms centered on what is now the Cumberland Homestead community. The families of Homestead built the park with help from the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

and the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

. The park was deeded to the state of

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

in 1938. Alvin C. York served as the park's superintendent until 1940, when he resigned to advise on the filming of '' Sergeant York''.

Geographical setting

Cumberland Mountain State Park is situated atop the Cumberland Plateau approximately halfway between the plateau's

Walden Ridge Walden Ridge (or Walden's Ridge) is a mountain ridge and escarpment located in Tennessee, in the United States. It marks the eastern edge of the Cumberland Plateau and is generally considered part of it. Walden Ridge is about long, running g ...

escarpment to the east and the plateau's western escarpment to the west. The southern fringe of the Crab Orchard Mountains rise just over to the east, and the northern tip of the

Sequatchie Valley Sequatchie Valley is a relatively long and narrow valley in the U.S. state of Tennessee and, in some definitions, Alabama. It is generally considered to be part of the Cumberland Plateau region of the Appalachian Mountains; it was probably formed ...

is located roughly to the south. The city of Crossville is located immediately north of the park. Byrd Creek, the park's major drainage, flows eastward from the hills to the west for approximately before veering north at its confluence with Coon Hollow Branch. The Byrd Creek Dam, which is located immediately north of this confluence, retains a reservoir that covers approximately . Beyond the dam, Byrd Creek absorbs Threemile Creek, which flows from the west, and continues eastward for another before emptying into Daddys Creek (a tributary of the

Obed River Obed River is a stream draining a part of the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. It, and particularly its tributaries, are important streams for whitewater enthusiasts. The Obed River rises in Cumberland County, Tennessee, just south of Crossvi ...

) near Crab Orchard. Cumberland Mountain State Park forms a semicircle around Byrd Creek and Threemile Creek, with Byrd Lake being the eastern or "closed" half of the circle. The park's main entrance is located along Tennessee State Route 419 (Pigeon Ridge Road) just west of Homestead. U.S. Route 127, which intersects SR 419 at Homestead, connects the area with Crossville and

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west Interstate Highway running through the south-central portion of the United States. At a length of , it is the third-longest Interstate Highway in the country, after I-90 and I-80. From west to ea ...

to the north and the Sequatchie Valley to the south.

Tennessee State Route 68 State Route 68 (SR 68) is a state highway in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Route description SR 68 begins in southeastern Tennessee, at an intersection with Georgia State Route 5 (SR 5) and SR 60 at the Tenn ...

, which also intersects US 127 at Homestead, connects the area to Spring City in the Tennessee Valley to the east.

History

In 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, the U.S. government established the Subsistence Homesteads Project to aide poverty-stricken families by relocating them to small farms. The government essentially provided low-interest loans that helped families acquire and clear land, build houses and outbuildings, and plant crops. Shortly after the project was established, several businessmen and political leaders from across Tennessee convened and drafted a proposal to have a homesteads project established in the Cumberland Plateau region, which had been particularly hard hit by the Depression when dozens of coal mines in the region were forced to close. The Division of Subsistence Homesteads accepted the proposal in January 1934, and established Cumberland Homesteads, Inc. to oversee the project. The new firm chose a tract south of Crossville for the location of the project's farms and communal structures. The Civil Works Administration hired several hundred Crossvillians to clear and prepare the land for the homesteads, helping to ease the Depression in Cumberland County. In 1935, 250 families were selected for the project from over 1,500 applicants. Part of the Cumberland Homesteads Project called for the construction of a recreational area near the center of the homesteads. Two New Deal agencies, the

and the

, arrived in the area in 1934 to build the recreational area's facilities.Helen Bullard Krechniak, ''Cumberland County, Tennessee, 1956–1986'' (Crossville, Tenn.: H.B. Krechniak, 1987), 57. Company 3464 of the CCC, under the direction of the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

, began the construction of Byrd Creek Dam in 1935 and completed it in 1938, effectively creating the Byrd Lake. The dam, like many of the Homestead structures, is constructed of a native

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

commonly called Crab Orchard Stone. At a height of and length of , the dam is the largest masonry project ever completed by the CCC. CCC Company 3464, assisted by Company 1471, continued to work at the park until 1941, building trails, picnic areas, cabins, a boathouse, a bathhouse, and other structures.South Cumberland Elementary School Library,
Cumberland Mountain State Park Bridge
" 24 January 2000. Retrieved: 25 September 2008. The Mill House Lodge, located near the dam, was originally built to house a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

that would serve the Cumberland Homesteaders. A group of local

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

were brought in to construct the mill, although opposition from local mills— who considered a federally subsidized mill unfair competition— forced Cumberland Homesteads to nix the project. The mill house had been completed, but the waterwheel and grinding mechanisms were never installed. The State of Tennessee acquired the park in 1938, and the park officially opened in 1940. Numerous new facilities were constructed at the park between 1948 and 1962, and a new visitor center and swimming pool were built in the 1980s. An 18-hole "Bear Trace" golf course— one of five Bear Traces designed for the State of Tennessee by golfer Jack Nicklaus— opened at Cumberland Mountain State Park in 1998. In 1988, many of the park's original buildings were listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

as part of the Cumberland Homesteads Historic District.

The park today

Cumberland Mountain State Park currently maintains 37 rustic cabins, each of which can accommodate 4 to 10 people, depending on size. The Mill House Lodge was renovated in 2020 and can accommodate 6 people. There are a total of 147 campsites at the park's campgrounds, and one backcountry campsite located along the Cumberland Overnight Trail. Recreational facilities include an olympic-sized swimming pool, picnic pavilions, playgrounds, four tennis courts, horseshoe pits, and shuffleboard, basketball, badminton, and volleyball courts. The Bear Trace golf course is a , par 72 course open year-round. Byrd Lake provides fishing and paddleboating opportunities. Several miles of hiking trails meander through the park, mostly following Byrd Creek and adjacent hills. The Pioneer Trail loops through the hemlock forest along the shores of Byrd Lake and Byrd Lake's headwaters. The Cumberland Plateau Trail is a self-guided interpretive trail that loops through a diverse forest stand downstream from the dam. The Byrd Creek Trail is a extension of the Cumberland Plateau Trail that loops around the banks of Byrd Creek. The Cumberland Overnight Trail is a extension of the Byrd Creek Trail that winds through the hills flanking Threemile Creek. The backcountry campsite is located in a cedar flat near the overnight trail's halfway point.

Cumberland Homesteads Tower Museum

The Cumberland Homesteads Tower Museum, located from the park, recalls the development of the Cumberland Homestead Community of the 1930s. The octagonal Cumberlands Tower was originally constructed by the CCC between 1937 and 1938 using Crab Orchard Stone to house the Cumberland Homesteads offices. The tower features a water tank and a 97-step stairway to the lookout platform at the top with views of the park. The base features a museum with exhibits about the history of the Homesteads project and its residents, and period displays. Visitors can also tour an original Homesteads house which has been furnished to appear as during the Depression.Cumberland Homesteads
, ''Tennessee History for Kids''. Retrieved: 13 February 2013.

References

External links