When I joined the staff of The Tennessee Magazine as field editor in 2005, we were in the middle of a series of features covering Tennessee State Parks. Some of my first assignments were to spotlight these natural, historical and recreational wonders, and my first photo to appear on the cover of the magazine accompanied my feature of Big Ridge State Park in November 2005.
A similar series was restarted in January 2020, and with another visit to Big Ridge this month, we place a check next to the 60th and final park for us to feature since we revived the series nearly six years ago. Along the way, we also visited a few state historic sites and natural areas.
Thinking back over all the spotlights we’ve published about our state parks brought back memories from early in my life.
There was a family trip to the old lodge at Fall Creek Falls. My mom grew up in nearby Pikeville and loved going back to the park. I don’t remember exactly how old I was, but I must have been little because the obnoxious Canada geese were monsters!
As I got a little older, there were many other trips to parks across the state. We went eaglespotting at Reelfoot. I hiked around Radnor Lake with Cub Scouts. My dad took me on an impromptu photo safari at Henry Horton as I was beginning to learn about photography. A couple of weeks before I married my wife, I met a group of my best friends for a weekend at Edgar Evins, where we learned that the sun is fierce even on cloudy early May days on the lake. Remember your sunscreen!
I hope our features have inspired readers to make similar memories in Tennessee’s state parks. We’ll finish out the year with special park-related stories. You can find our archive of parks features at tnmagazine.org/category/features/state-parks. And be sure to visittnstateparks.com to plan your next outings in these extraordinary places preserved for everyone to enjoy.
Thanks for reading. Now get exploring!
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