Why this park
In a bend of the French Broad River near Kodak, in the far east of Knox County, Seven Islands covers 416 acres, with the river on three sides. It is the one Tennessee state park set aside for birds, and the park's page counts more than 220 species recorded here.
What makes the place worth drawing is farmland remade for birds: old pastures turned to native grasses and wildflowers, more than 130 acres of them planted for pollinators, with old barns, the river below and, from the Upland Trail, the Great Smoky Mountains on the skyline. At the center of it is a native quail. "The Northern bobwhite is the species we aim to please," the park's manager told The Tennessee Magazine in 2023.
The story
The park's page says Cherokee and Yuchi people lived along this river and that research into their history here is under way. The name, the page adds, comes from the Seven Islands community across the water. The islands themselves, Blue Ridge Country wrote in 2015, rise from three shoals, and how many show depends on the river's height.
By the late 1800s the land was farmed for corn, peas and tobacco, the same article says. The Bluebird Barn, the Maple Leaf Barns and the Green House, a former tenant house, date from the early 1900s. Before the refuge it was a cattle farm of nonnative forage grass and eroded stream beds, Smoky Mountain Living reported.
In 2002 a nonprofit land trust, the Seven Islands Foundation, joined Knox County's parks department to acquire the land as a wildlife refuge. Legacy Parks Foundation credits Pete and Linda Claussen, who bought land here and gave it to the county. The refuge's first manager began trading fescue for native grasses and planted 10,000 trees along the waterways. Legacy Parks later added 30 acres across the river and managed the refuge in its last years under the county.
Governor Bill Haslam announced at Legacy Parks' 2013 luncheon that the state would take the refuge on, and on July 1, 2014, it opened as Tennessee's 56th state park and its first birding park. Staff burn roughly a third of the park each year to hold back brush, The Tennessee Magazine reported. A pedestrian bridge to Newman's Island opened on November 8, 2019, and the park was named Tennessee's State Park of the Year for 2023. In November 2025 Legacy Parks announced a $7.7 million state grant for a 400-foot footbridge across the river to new parkland, including 90 acres Pete Claussen is giving the state, with work planned to start in 2026.
When to go, and what to wear
Any season is good for birds here, the Tennessee Ornithological Society's Knoxville chapter says. It counts more than 200 species since 2002, more than 75 of them nesting in or near the park. Mornings are best, the park's page says. The weather figures are NOAA's 1991–2020 normals for Sevierville, about five miles east.
Spring and fall bring migrating warblers, best seen on Warbler Ridge, the chapter says. April averages a high near 72°F and a low near 45°F, and March is the second-wettest month, so pack a rain shell.
In summer, yellow-breasted chats, indigo buntings and common yellowthroats sing in the fields, and wildflowers bloom from June to September. July averages a high near 90°F and a low near 67°F, and the paved greenway runs between open fields, so go early with a hat and water. The CDC says ticks live in grassy and brushy places and are most active from April to September. Keep to the middle of the trail, and wear long pants on the grass paths.
Fall is the driest season, and October averages a high near 74°F and a low near 47°F. Winter brings hundreds of sparrows, the park says, and northern harriers. January averages a high near 49°F and a low near 27°F, and December is the wettest month, so dress in layers, with a hat and gloves.
Off the pavement, trails are mostly mowed grass and dirt with roots, and the Hickory Ridge and Upland trails climb steeply in places. Wear shoes that grip, and bring binoculars.
Know before you go
- The park is open from sunrise to sunset. Bicycles may use only the paved trails and the bridge.
- The French Broad can run swift. The park says to wear a life jacket on or near the river and to check the release schedule for TVA's Douglas Dam before you go out. No swimming or diving under the bridge, where the water is very shallow, and no fishing from it.
- The accessible paddling launch is on Kelly Lane: turn off on the left by the main park sign, just before the big parking lot. To fish, anyone 13 or older needs a Tennessee fishing license, issued by TWRA.
- The paved Bobwhite Accessible Trail runs 0.9 mile one way and crosses the 0.15-mile bridge to the island. The park lends an all-terrain wheelchair free; reserve it ahead.
- Hours, fees and closures change, so check Seven Islands State Birding Park's page before you go.
Sources: Knoxville Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society, "Seven Islands State Birding Park," "Birding Hotspots and Locations" (2020) and the park's bird checklist (2020); Legacy Parks Foundation, "Legacy Luncheon Sees Record Crowd To Hear Governor Haslam" (2013), "Seven Islands To Become State's First Birding Park" (2014), "Seven Islands Wins State Award of Excellence" and "Seven Islands State Birding Park" (2025); Trish Milburn, "One of a Kind," The Tennessee Magazine (October 2023); Charli Kerns, "Flying High at Tennessee's Birding Park," Smoky Mountain Living (April 2016); John Hartigan, "Tennessee Creates State Park with Birding Theme," Blue Ridge Country (January 2015); Sandra Clark, "$7.7 million grant will enhance Seven Islands State Birding Park & more," Knox TN Today (November 14, 2025); Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, "Seven Islands State Birding Park," tnvacation.com; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Preventing Tick Bites"; NOAA, U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020, Sevierville station; Wikipedia; Seven Islands State Birding Park, tnstateparks.com.
