Why this park
Edgar Evins State Park covers 6,338 acres of steep, wooded hillside in DeKalb County on Center Hill Lake, a short way above Center Hill Dam. On slopes this steep, the main campground's sites are wooden decks, braced with concrete and steel and raised off the hillside.
What makes the place worth drawing is the view from the observation tower on top of the visitor center: the lake, the wooded ridges around it, and the dam. From up there you also look straight into the treetops. The park's birding page says the cerulean warbler, uncommon in most of Tennessee, nests commonly in the park's hardwood forest, and the tower is the best place to see it.
The story
Before the lake, this was farm country along the Caney Fork River. The park says even these steep hillsides were plowed, and after a light snow the old furrows still show. DeKalb County's history pages describe the Wolf Creek community here, with Baptist and Methodist churches, a school for Black children, and a small school called Center Hill, on land now in the park, which the county says gave the dam its name. The park points to old homesites that remain, among them the Hoggard home, reached by the Millennium Trail, and that of Lon Christian, a Black sharecropper in Hoggard Hollow.
Congress authorized the dam under the 1938 Flood Control Act, and the Corps of Engineers began it in 1942. In July 1946 the Putnam County Herald reported that a War Production Board order had stopped the work from March 1943 until early that year, and that families in the reservoir's path were planning last reunions on the land their forebears had settled. The Corps finished the dam for flood control in 1948, and its powerhouse has run since 1951. Families had to leave, and homes, churches, schools and cemeteries were removed ahead of the rising water.
The park is named for James Edgar Evins, a Smithville businessman born in 1883 who served in the state Senate. He died in 1954. His son, Joe L. Evins, won a House seat in 1946 and held it for 30 years, then the longest unbroken House tenure of any Tennessean, the Tennessee Encyclopedia says. The park's page credits the congressman with pressing for a state park here in his father's honor.
The encyclopedia dates the park's creation to 1968: the state built and runs its facilities on land it leases from the Corps. The park's page dates its establishment to August 2, 1975. In 2016 the Herald-Citizen of Cookeville reported that the state had bought 168 acres by the entrance; most of the park, the paper noted, is Corps land.
When to go, and what to wear
The figures here are NOAA's 1991–2020 normals for its station at the park's marina. Spring brings wildflowers: the park recommends the Highland Rim Trail behind the visitor center, and shooting star blooms on the Millennium Trail. April averages a high near 71°F and a low near 47°F, and February and March each bring more than 5 inches of rain, so wear layers and pack a rain shell.
Summer is lake season, with July highs near 89°F and lows near 68°F. No stretch of shore is set aside for swimming, and the rocks can be slick and muddy, so swim in water shoes and a life jacket; the park lends life jackets at Boat Ramps 1 and 2. On the open water, wear a light tee and a hat.
October is the driest month, with about 3.5 inches of rain, highs near 72°F and lows near 50°F. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency lists the park as a wildlife management area open to hunting in the statewide seasons, so wear a bright color on the trails in deer season.
January averages a high near 48°F and a low near 29°F, and December is the wettest month, with nearly 6 inches. Wear a warm jacket, a hat and gloves at the tower and the boat ramps, where the park lists bald eagles, common loons and wintering waterfowl.
Wear shoes that grip: the Evins Ridge Trail is rocky, and the Millennium Trail climbs steeply. The park lists copperheads and timber rattlesnakes, so watch where you step.
Know before you go
- The Merritt Ridge Trail, the park's longest at 5.35 miles, is closed because storm damage left parts of it impassable. The park gives no date for reopening; its other six trails are open.
- The campsite decks take rigs up to 33 feet, and a few take 40. Some of the lower sites can flood in late winter and early spring, when the lake rises.
- Edgar Evins Marina, inside the park, is privately run and open all year, with boat rentals and fuel. Fishing takes a Tennessee license, and trout fishing in the Caney Fork below the dam takes a trout license too.
- Cell service is weak around the campground and the cabins. For Wi-Fi, go to the camp store or the Interpretive Center.
- Hours, fees and closures change, so check Edgar Evins State Park's page before you go.
Sources: Tennessee Encyclopedia, "Edgar Evins State Park" and "Joseph Landon Evins" (Carroll Van West); DeKalb County, Tennessee, "The Wolf Creek Community"; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Nashville District, Center Hill Lake "Project History" (2017), and Leon Roberts, "Center Hill historical marker dedicated" (2015); Putnam County Herald (July 25 and December 22, 1946), the Herald-Citizen (Lindsay McReynolds, "Edgar Evins expands," 2016) and WJLE (Dwayne Page, 2016), as reprinted on ajlambert.com; Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, "Edgar Evins State Park" wildlife management area; NOAA, U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020, Lancaster Edgar Evins Marina station; Wikipedia; Edgar Evins State Park, tnstateparks.com.
