Cummins Falls State Park

Judy and I below the falls. It was a very long and hard hike to get to this spot.

 Judy and I enjoyed a great day hiking the trails around the newest of Tennessee's great State Parks. Cummins falls is the 54th and newest State Park in Tennessee.



Cummins Falls State Park is a 211 acre park located nine miles north of Cookeville on the Blackburn Fork State Scenic River. In the rolling hills of Jackson County where Putnam and Jackson counties meet, the stream gives way to a 75 foot drop.

 
It is known that buffalo wallowed in the river in a shallow basin about a quarter-mile east of the falls. Indians used this area to kill buffalo as they needed as indicated by the numerous arrowheads found at the site.

 
In the 1790s, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, Sergeant Blackburn, for whom the Blackburn Fork State Scenic River is named, was awarded this land in lieu of a pension.

Judy was only making like she was taking pictures. She was really resting!

This land was acquired by John Cummins in about 1825 on which he built the first of two water driven mills.  Because of a growing clientele, a second and larger mill was built in 1845 about a half mile or so before the falls.

Turkey Tail fungus. More of a winter color.

Local area residents came to the mill and the falls for commerce and recreation. The mill was washed away in a great flood of 1928, but by then cars and paved highways had made the trek to Cummins Falls more of a discretionary trip than a necessary one.

The mill was not rebuilt but this land stayed in the Cummins family for more than 180 years until a recent  effort of private individuals and public institutions worked together to purchase the land for resale to the State.

We had to cross the river twice. Thanks to water proof boots we remained relatively dry.