Roane County, Tennessee

Multi-day Intermediate/Advanced Paddle 

Start: Polecat Ramp

End: Tom Fuller Memorial Park

Length: 27.75 miles per USACE river mile markers. Actual distance will vary depending on the visitor’s actual route. 

Experience: This multi-day Tennessee RiverLine experience explores the scenic landscapes and bustling towns of Roane County, TN. Along the route, visitors will witness the area’s natural beauty with towering limestone bluffs, rolling hills of forests and farmland, and river islands that are home to diverse wildlife. Eagles and osprey will survey your journey from overhead, and herons and egrets stand sentinel along the riverbanks as they scout Watts Bar’s fisheries, which offer some of the region’s best fishing for birds and boaters alike.  

Opportunities for overnight lodging and camping are abundant along this reach of the Tennessee RiverLine. Tent camping is allowed with reservations at Riley Creek Campground and the 652 Campsite next to Roane County Park Visitors may also camp on TVA undeveloped public land in accordance with TVA use policies. Kingston hotels and area short-term rental hosts offer alternative overnight experiences if you’d prefer a bed and a shower as part of your Tennessee RiverLine experience in Roane County. Next level accommodations are available at Roane County’s famed Whitestone Inn near river mile 574. Multiple marinas offer opportunities to rest and reprovision, and a number of additional access points provide for flexible itinerary design.

Extend your on-water journey by exploring this reach’s many coves, sloughs, and islands, including Thiefneck Island, which is among the river’s largest. A trip around Thiefneck will add 3.5 miles of memories to your journey. Travel 1.5 miles up the Clinch river and you’ll find yourself at the doorstep of Kingston, the county seat that was the capital of Tennessee for one day! You’ll also encounter farmstead structures in the river that predate the establishment of Watts Bar reservoir in 1942, and the iconic towering stacks of TVA’s Kingston fossil plant will be a point of reference for much of your journey. 

Use caution if crossing the Tennessee River’s main channel as you navigate the meandering course of the Tennessee RiverLine in Roane County. 

Don’t forget to visit Rockwood by car or traveling on their new greenway from Tom Fuller Park, and Harriman’s historic downtown will for sure be a tasty trip down memory lane.  

Outfitters: Frontier Outdoors
Restaurants: Maple Creek Bistro, Burger Station 120, Roane Street Grill, Blue Springs Crow’s Nest Restaurant

Things to Do: Downtown Kingston, Fort Southwest Point historic site, Roane County Park, Caney Creek Recreation Area, Cornstalk Heights Historic District, Princess Theatre, Superlative Vintage and Antiques, Harriman Heritage Museum

Fun Facts:

  • Home to 700 miles of shoreline on Watts Bar Lake

  • Roane County has 56,000 acres of recreation area

  • The county is the gateway to the Manhattan Project National Historical Park

  • Hosts more than 450 events and festivals each year

Land Declaration: This Tennessee RiverLine experiences traverses territory once home to Eastern Cherokee, Shawnee, and Yuchi peoples (source: https://native-land.ca/)

Ecoregion: Ridge and Valley This northeast-southwest trending, relatively low-lying, but diverse ecoregion is sandwiched between generally higher, more rugged mountainous regions with greater forest cover. As a result of extreme folding and faulting events, the region’s roughly parallel ridges and valleys have a variety of widths, heights, and geologic materials, including limestone, dolomite, shale, siltstone, sandstone, chert, mudstone, and marble. Springs and caves are relatively numerous. Present-day forests cover about 50% of the region. The ecoregion has a great diversity of aquatic habitats and species of fish. (source: USEPA)

Physiographic Region: The Valley and Ridge province is a set of northeast-southwest trending valleys and ridges that stretch from central Alabama to New York. These ridges and valleys are the result of folded Paleozoic sedimentary beds that were eventually eroded away. This means that, structurally, the folds are alternating anticlines and synclinces that run nearly parallel with each other. These long narrow folds are sometimes overturned, overthrust or are plunging folds. (source: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/geology/physiographic-provinces.htm)