Why this park
Our Reelfoot Lake tee shows a bald eagle perched on a broken cypress above the drowned forest at sunrise, drawn like an old park poster, and every part of it comes straight from the lake. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says 100 to 200 bald eagles normally spend the winter here. They come for the fish, and for coots and injured ducks among the flocks of waterfowl on the lake.
Nobody dug Reelfoot. The ground sank in the 1811–12 earthquakes, and water filled the low places. Stumps of the trees that drowned can still be seen in the lake, and bald cypress still stand in and around it. Reelfoot is Tennessee's largest natural lake, and the shirt is our picture of it.
The story
Between December 1811 and February 1812, the New Madrid earthquakes brought three great shocks. Along the Reelfoot fault, the U.S. Geological Survey says, the ground dropped by roughly 5 to 20 feet, and water filled the low ground. Some scholars think the quakes enlarged older oxbow lakes and cypress sloughs rather than making a lake from nothing; the Tennessee Encyclopedia says Reelfoot was either formed or enlarged that winter. Boatmen reported that the Mississippi ran backward for a time.
A popular legend ties the name to a chief called Reelfoot. The Tennessee Encyclopedia traces it instead to a clubfooted man, Bill Jones, known as Reelfoot Jones.
Long before 1908, fishermen were selling the lake's catch, and hunters shot its ducks for market. Local people treated it as public water. Then the West Tennessee Land Company bought up old claims to the lake bed and planned to drain part of it for cotton. Some local men turned to violence as night riders, burning docks and beating people. After dark on October 19, 1908, masked riders took two lawyers tied to the company from a hotel on the lake. They hanged one, Rankin, from a tree on the shore and shot him. The other, Taylor, escaped into the swamp.
Governor Malcolm Patterson came to the lake with the National Guard, and dozens of suspects were held. Six men were sentenced to death for Rankin's murder, but the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned the convictions in 1909. In 1913 the same court held that Reelfoot was a navigable lake, and in 1914 the state took title to it for public use.
In the mid-1920s the state bought land on the shore for the Reelfoot Lake Park and Fish and Game Preserve, the beginning of today's state park. In 1941 about a third of the area was leased to the federal government for Reelfoot National Wildlife Refuge, which looks after the lake's northern end for migrating birds.
When to go, and what to wear
Winter is eagle season. The refuge names mid-December to mid-March as the best time to see them, and across Tennessee their numbers peak from late January to mid-February. The park runs guided eagle tours in January and February. A January day at the lake averages a high near 44°F and a low near 27°F. Dress in layers: a long-sleeve tee, a warm sweatshirt, a windproof jacket, a hat and gloves. Bring binoculars.
Spring and fall are mild, with average highs around 70°F in April and October. April and May bring migrating shorebirds and warblers. Bluegill fishing peaks in May, the wettest month of the year, so pack a rain shell. Most ducks start arriving in October, and American white pelicans are common in the fall.
Summer is hot, with July highs averaging 87°F. In early summer herons and egrets fish the shallows, and a canoe or kayak early or late in the day is the way to see the marsh birds. For mosquitoes and ticks, the state health department advises repellent, long sleeves and long pants, so a light long-sleeve tee earns its place in summer too.
Know before you go
- The state park is small and spread out: its 280 acres lie in ten separate areas along about 22 miles of shoreline, around a lake many times its size.
- Construction closes parts of the park into early 2027: Eagle Basin's day-use area is closed, Blue Bank's closes at times for tornado repairs, and Long Park is closed east of its boat ramp until about mid-January while its pier is rebuilt.
- The park's visitor center is on State Route 21 East in Tiptonville, with a boardwalk along the lake's edge. The park's eagle tours leave from there.
- The lake is shallow, much of it 3 feet deep or less, with stump fields and beds of water plants that make boating slow going. If the lake is new to you, the park asks boaters to idle with the motor trimmed up and to wear a life jacket.
- Parts of Reelfoot National Wildlife Refuge are closed to all visitors from November 15 to March 15. The refuge also runs free eagle tours of its own in January and February, by reservation.
- Tour dates, hours and fees change from year to year. Check Reelfoot Lake State Park's page before you go, and book eagle tours ahead.
Sources: U.S. Geological Survey, Earthquake Hazards Program; Tennessee Encyclopedia, "Earthquakes, 1811–12," "Lake County," "Night Riders of Reelfoot Lake" and "Reelfoot Lake State Resort Park"; Tennessee Attorney General, Opinion No. 11-75 (2011), on State ex rel. Cates v. West Tennessee Land Co. (1913); The Herald and News (Newberry, S.C.), October 23, 1908; Bill Carey, The Claiborne Progress (2023); Robert C. Mainfort Jr. and Michael C. Moore, Tennessee Anthropologist (1991); Proceedings of the Southeastern Association of Game and Fish Commissioners (Nichols, 1954; Rawls, 1954); U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Reelfoot National Wildlife Refuge; Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency; Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation; NOAA, U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020; Tennessee Department of Health; Reelfoot Lake State Park, tnstateparks.com.
