The Tennessee River Gorge is a 26miles canyon formed by the Tennessee River known locally as Cash Canyon. It is the fourth largest river gorge in the Eastern United States. The gorge is cut into the Cumberland Plateau as the river winds its way into Alabama from Tennessee. The Tennessee River Gorge was also known as Walden Gorge. Walden Ridge originally extended across the present path of the Tennessee River at the gorge to Sand Mountain.[1]
The Tennessee River Gorge is home to endangered species like the mountain skullcap.
Many archaeological sites have been discovered in the gorge that show that people have been dwelling in the canyon for at least 10,000 years.
Prior to the completion of Hales Bar Dam in 1913 and the subsequent raising of the water level, the stretch of the Tennessee River flowing through the gorge was notorious for its navigational hazards, whirlpools, eddies, shoals, and one huge rock. Beginning with Williams' Island and the sandbars on either side of it, these obstructions included Tumbling Shoals, the Holston Rock, the Kettle, the Suck Shoals, the Deadman's Eddy, the Pot, the Skillet, the Pan, and, finally, the ten-mile Narrows, ending with Hale's Bar.
As of 2018, 17,000 acres of land in the gorge out of 27,000 acres sought for preservation have been purchased or otherwise secured for conservation by the Tennessee River Gorge Trust, a non-profit conservation trust founded in 1981. The trust also does scientific studies, develops trails, and conducts education efforts.[2] [3] Prentice Cooper State Forest is on the northern edge of the gorge.