Land Between the Lakes in Dover Tennessee

We arrived at Piney Campground on 27 April 2024. We were done setting up around 5pm due to a late start that morning waiting on the rain to stop. The Land Between the Lakes describes it as: Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area (LBL) is a 170,000-acre outdoorsmen's paradise between Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley in western Kentucky and Tennessee.

This natural playground not only features vast forests, open lands and streams. Adventurers will also discover attractions, camping, trails, wildlife and historical exhibits and much more. Families enjoy the diverse educational and recreational facilities such as the Woodlands Nature Station and the Homeplace 1850s. Situated on a large peninsula surrounded by the nation's largest body of water between the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico, you can enjoy a weekend of fishing, boating, dining and soaking in the sun as you relax at Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley.

We definitely enjoyed some of the great features of LBL. We went on nice hikes 4 days in a row, checked out some historical sites, saw wildlife and just enjoyed the beauty of the area. We only scratched the surface of all there is to see and do here as far as hiking trails, fishing spots and water activities.

On Sunday the 28th, we attended mass at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Paris Tennessee. After missing mass last weekend because of a website being out of date, we called to verify mass times and made it to the 10am mass. We were blessed with the Bishop saying the homily because there were about 15 high school students making their confirmation. It was a nice mass that felt really good!

We got our laundry done while we were in Paris. That's about 20 miles from our campground and we didn't really have any other options close by. We went for a walk around the huge campground after dinner that day.

Holy Cross Catholic Church Paris Tennessee 28 April 2024

We had to see the Eiffel Tower while in Paris...

On Monday we drove out to Cadiz Kentucky (about 30 miles north) to hike the Hematite Lake trail. It's a 2.5 mile loop that is rated as easy and I would agree. After lunch, we headed back and stopped at the Woodlands Nature Station. It's an interesting place that rescues wild animals, rehabilitates them and keeps them there to live out their lives. We saw a couple of coyotes, turkeys, a bobcat, hawks, owls and turtles. They have a red wolf, which is near extinction, but it wouldn't come out of its den to be seen. Anita was fascinated by the coyotes and the bobcat, never having seen them up close before.

29 April 2024

Hematite Lake Trail 29 April 2024

Prothonotary warbler seen from Hematite Trail 29 April 2024

It is named for its plumage which resembles the yellow robes once worn by papal clerks in the Roman Catholic Church. We also didn't know that Cardinals are named after the Roman Catholic Bishops because their red color reminds of the robe of catholic bishops.

We saw deer from the Hematite Trail 29 April 2024

Hematite Trail 29 April 2024

Beavers' handiwork

Tree is about 30 feet tall and fortunately at some point fell alongside the trail and not across it.

Zebra and Tiger Swallowtails at Hematite Trail 29 April 2024

Hematite Trail 29 April 2024

The trail crosses a dam. It was fun walking on the pilings in the water!

On Tuesday we decided to see Fort Donelson National Battlefield. We did a 2.1 mile hike there, had lunch and then drove to sites described on an audio driving tour. Fort Donelson is historically significant because on February 16, 1862 General Buckner (Confederate) surrendered Fort Donelson to General Grant (Union). This was the beginning of the Union Army's victory of the whole war in 1865. We remember reading in our history classes about friends and relatives fighting on opposite sides in the Civil War. We were surprised to read at Fort Donelson that Buckner and Grant had been classmates and friends at West Point.

30 April 2024

Fort Donelson 30 April 2024

Fort Donelson 30 April 2024

Fort Donelson 30 April 2024

The Dover Hotel was known as The Surrender House. The NPS says: An estimated 13,000 Confederate soldiers went through The Surrender House and were loaded into transports to begin their journey to Northern prisoner-of-war camps. Neither the Union nor Confederate governments were prepared to care for the large influx of prisoners. The prisoners from Fort Donelson were incarcerated in hastily converted and ill-prepared sites in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and as far away as Boston, Massachusetts, "and they suffered greatly from the harsh weather." In September 1862 most of the prisoners were exchanged.

Surrender Hotel at Dover TN near Fort Donelson 30 April 2024

Cumberland Lake at Fort Donelson 30 April 2024

Lots of Summer Tanager birds here

Cumberland Lake

Fort Donelson 30 April 2024

Fort Donelson 30 April 2024

Fort Donelson 30 April 2024

Fort Donelson 30 April 2024

On 1 May we decided to do part of the Central Hardwoods Scenic Trail. On our way to the trailhead, we stopped to see the giant furnace we'd passed in our travels. The furnaces were used to make iron-ore. The Internet explains: Using the natural resources available in the Between the Rivers woodlands, large furnaces were constructed by wealthy investors in the 1840s and 50s. In some cases, these furnaces were manned by as many as 200 workers, including African-American slaves prior to the Civil War. These workers lived in communities built up around the furnace and produced a type of ore called "pig iron." The ore was easily shipped to factories using the region's rivers, which served as valuable and affordable shipping tools for the iron ore industry to transport their goods.

The area that we now know as the Land Between the Lakes was once home to eight iron furnaces. After the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) established Lake Barkley, some of these old iron furnaces were immersed under the lake waters and as far as we know their remnants could still be found there today. Two such furnaces include Mammoth Furnace and Fulton Furnace. Other furnaces simply deteriorated and in one case only a historic marker is left to designate the former spot where the Laura Furnace once stood.