WE’VE BEEN LUCKY. Since departing Florida last month, we’ve been very lucky selecting wonderful parks where we can stay along our cross-country trek. It’s not always easy to determine in advance how a place really looks…websites employ very crafty photographers to make the most of what a park has to offer. But often when we arrive we can barely recognize the place compared to what we saw online. Not so, we’ve learned, at U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CoE) parks and recreation areas. In our experience a CoE park is a sure bet. And our spot at Defeated Creek is no exception. In fact it may be the nicest spot we’ve stayed, ever! We’ve extended a planned four-day stop to ten days.
A perfect spot.
DEFEATED CREEK CAMPGROUND. The park sits on the banks of Cordell Hull Lake on the Cumberland River System, just seven miles from Carthage, in the hills of Tennessee. A mix of shady maple, hickory, oak, beech and chestnut trees adorn the space. Our site is right smack dab on the lakefront and it’s surrounded with bright green grass…the spot looks more like a country club or a thoroughbred farm than a national recreation area! We’re sharing space with hundreds of whitetail deer, quail, squirrels, a Great Blue Heron who resides “at our doorstep” and a wide variety of other waterfowl. The historic town of Granville is just 25 miles from the campground, where bluegrass festivals, antique car and tractor shows and Civil War living history presentations are presented often during the summer. Nashville, with all it has to offer, is only about 40 miles distant.
This is the view out the window over my desk. It doesn’t get any better than this!
Our view from the patio area.
We literally have no “neighbors.”
This Great Blue Heron has been hanging around our campsite as if he wants to be adopted. I’m pretty sure Molly would vote against any such thing!
RECREATION. The 12,000-acre lake stretches 72 miles upstream and boasts over 380 miles of shoreline. Anglers fish for largemouth bass and rockfish. Boating, sailing, water skiing and jet skiing are popular activities on the water and a nearby boat ramp and marina provide easy lake access. The campground offers 155 sites, all with electricity and water and most with full hookups. A nice beach, secure swimming area and well-maintained tennis courts round out the amenities.
I’ve never seen another RV park like this anywhere in the country!
Our view in every direction!
“A table with a view.”
I sure wish we still had our Jet Skis. This lake is glassy almost all day long! The guy who has the motor home across the inlet skis during the day and pulls them up to his site overnight. See where he’s parked under the third tree on the right?
HISTORY. Defeated is an unincorporated community located near the town of Carthage, on the Cordell Hull Lake. The area is named for the events that took place in the late 18th century along the banks of Defeated Creek. John Peyton, one of the earliest settlers and explorers of the area, and his surveying party were camped along the creek when they were attacked by a band of Cherokee Indians and driven out of the area. Defeated, so to speak.
At least a hundred deer emerge from the woods at dusk every evening.
Cordell Hull Lake as seen from the overlook. Notice how green all the hills and valleys are…it seems to be this way all throughout the state of Tennessee. Beautiful.
It’s going to be tough leaving this park.
We’ve been treated to this view of the setting sun each evening since we arrived.
A WONDERFUL PARK. We’ve really enjoyed our stay at Deserted Creek. In addition to soaking up the beauty of the place, we met a nice couple who live not far from here. Ryan and Tammy are “serious farmers” and I’m going to introduce them to you in a separate post soon. As I’ve said over and over, our Adventure has certainly been about the places we’ve seen but of equal importance have been all the interesting folks we’ve met. You’re going to like these two…we sure do!
WHAT’S NEXT. Our next stop will be at another Corps of Engineers park in Kentucky. We’ve been way impressed with these parks so far and as long as we continue finding them along the way to the west coast we’re going to keep enjoying them. So, in short order you’re going to be fascinated when you learn about our friends’ farm and you’ll experience a slice of Kentucky that we didn’t see when we were in Bardstown, Kentucky back in may of 2015. And, we’ll see at least part of the Solar Eclipse on August 21st. Don’t go away…and if you haven’t already subscribed to my blog, do so today!
I’ll continue my story next time.
Wow! You guys really scored a top place to stay! It will be hard leaving, but then you never know what’s next!
Kitty, funny you mention that. Florence and I were just discussing whether we should move on as planned or see if we could extend here another week. We decided to leave in the morning. As you say, who knows what will be next?
Really glad you’re on the move and enjoying the roses. We’re doing it differently, but also enjoying the smells! Can’t wait until you are somewhere closer, so we can tilt a few, and reconnect after these 50 years!!!
Steve: It can’t possibly be 50 years since we shared that little apartment while we were at UCSB. You must have me confused with someone else. LOL. Can’t wait to reconnect. We can tell lies to one another all afternoon!
Nice. I’ve always loved staying at CoE campgrounds. Are you picking up Rt 66 in St Louis? Still planning on running 66? If so, when you cross AZ and make it to Oatman, gotta go to Oatman (although the road from Kingman to 95 may be a tad hairy for your rig). Anyway if you cut north past Vegas you could still get your train fix in Ely. I know you want to drive a steam engine, I know you do. And that would put you on your way to OR. Just saying.
Hey Jon. I’m not sure yet of our route. Going through Kingman and Ely would be repeating places we’ve seen but on the other hand driving a steam locomotive would be a thrill. I’ll keep you posted.