The Trust For Public Lands Adds 19 Miles To The Cumberland Trail

SPEEDWELL, Tenn. – Along the crest of Cumberland Mountain is an overlook called McLean Rock, where on a clear day you can see all the way across the Tennessee Valley to the Smoky Mountains.

Standing at the edge of the 70-foot cliff, it’s easy to understand why in 1965 the founders of the Cumberland Trail chose this site to announce the formation of a long-distance footpath along the eastern escarpment of the Cumberland Plateau.

Today, more than four decades later, the Cumberland Trail is a reality. So far, about 170 miles of the trail are open to the public in discontinuous sections, mostly on Tennessee public lands such as state parks and wildlife management areas.[1]

With the help of the Trust for Public Land, the state of Tennessee will add another 19 miles to to that total. With the purchase of 1,388 acres in Claiborne and Campbell counties. TPL purchased the tract overlooking the Powell Valley for $2.08 million.The state will purchase the land from TPL with funding in place since 2003.

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a national, nonprofit, land conservation organization that conserves land for people to enjoy as parks, community gardens, historic sites, rural lands, and other natural places, ensuring livable communities for generations to come.[2]

The Cumberland Trail follows the line of ridges and gorges making up the eastern edge of the Cumberland Plateau through Tennessee.  Planned as a 300 mile long hiking trail running from the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park to the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park and Prentice Cooper Wildlife Management Area, the trail will run through 11 Tennessee counties.

Still a work-in-progress, approximately 170 mi (266 km) of hikeable trail are ready for hiking in the Cumberland Mountain segment above La Follette, Tennessee and Jacksboro, Tennessee and in the Cumberland Gap National Military Park; the Smoky Mountain segment in Campbell County, TN; the Frozen Head segment in Morgan County, TN; the Obed Wild and Scenic River segment in the Obed Wild and Scenic River and Catoosa Wildlife Management Area and the Grassy Cove segment on Black and Brady mountains in Cumberland County, TN; the Rock Creek segment in Hamilton County, TN; the Possum Creek segment in Hamilton County; the Soddy Creek segment in Hamilton County; the North Chickamauga segment in Hamilton County; and the Tennessee River Gorge segment in Prentice Cooper State Forest.[2]

Becoming the 53rd Tennessee State Park in 1998, the only linear park, named after for Justin P. Wilson, in honor of his work to help make the vision of the Cumberland Trail a reality. Justin Wilson served as the commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation in 1996 and deputy governor for policy for former Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist, the Justin P. Wilson Cumberland Trail State Park will contain a core corridor of trail.

[1] Making tracts: Land purchase to add 19 miles to Cumberland Trail» Knoxville News Sentinel.

[2] The Trust For Public Land

[3] Cumberland Trail – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.