Tennessee: Clifton marina to Pickwick State Park anchorage

Day: 106
NM Today: 42
NM Total: 2216
Locks Today: 1
Locks Total: 83

Though it was not our original plan for today, we traveled from 9:00 this morning until 5:00 this evening and covered 50 miles (42 nautical miles) of river.  Looking at the map below, we started at mile marker 158 in Clifton, Tennessee and ended our day's travel at mile marker 208 just past the Pickwick Lock and Dam at the Pickwick State Park anchorage next to the state park marina.

Tennessee River mile markers

Pickwick Dam is shown in the center of this map, and we are just south of there where the states of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama all touch.  The address for the state park marina is Tennessee, so for now we are still in Tennessee, but that will change in the next couple of days as we move on into Alabama.

Shortly after leaving Clifton, I picked up the guide book again to find the points of interest along the way.  Once again the guide book brought our attention to the landscape.  With the sun shining brightly and illuminating the rock ledges, it was quite pretty today.

Some signs of leaves changing color

 When we reached Indian Creek, I saw a number of dwellings on the side of the river so I pulled out my Google Maps to see what I was looking at - nothing!  No town for miles around.  I yanked open the guide book to find that I was looking at the Big River Plantation Resort which is in fact a camping development.

Big River Plantation Resort (camp ground)

Looking at the area it is hard to believe that at one time the area across from Indian Creek, at Swallow Bluff Landing, was one of the busiest landings on the river due to the shipment of cotton and lumber from here.

We struggled to figure out where the popular Swallow Bluff Landing
might have once been located.

 As we continued along the river, Clark managed to capture some interesting pictures of some houses.  Like the first one shown below that is resting on the edge of the ledge with part of the foundation already disconnected from the rest of the house.

Yikes!!  Look closely - part of the house has already
slid down towards the river

 Or this one built to straddle the gully leading down to the river.  I certainly hope their foundation is solid in flood times.

House straddling a gully on the side of the river

One house that Clark captured was mentioned in the guide book - Cherry Mansion.  This elaborate home was built in 1830 as a wedding gift for the daughter of a plantation owner.  

Cherry Mansion 

When the Confederate troops suddenly attacked at nearby Shiloh during the Civil War, General Grant was at this house eating breakfast.  As such, he stayed there and used the house as his headquarters during the bloody two-day battle.  A field hospital was established in the yard and hospital boats were moored below on the river.

As I was reading the history behind the house to Clark, we received a call on the VHF radio from Time Out who suggested that instead of stopping at the Wolf Island anchorage (coming up shortly) as planned, we continue on down and transit the Pickwick Lock today instead of tomorrow.  He had called the lockmaster, and although he received no promises for fast transit, it looked like we had a good shot to get through there with minimal delay today.  We decided to go for it.  That decision added almost four hours to our day's travel time, but it felt like a good choice to make.

We arrived at Pickwick Lock and found that the lock was busy with a barge locking downriver (we are traveling upriver).  The lockmaster told us that he had a short window where he could get us through if we all three boats were there (we were) while the barge was locking through.  Otherwise he said we would have a three-hour wait because a "double" barge was next in line.  We had arrived at the lock at 4:00; a three-hour wait would have put us through after sunset.  We were glad we got there in time to lock through before the double.

Tied to wall waiting for our turn through Pickwick Lock

As we waited for the horn to blast telling us to line up to lock through, I scanned the guide book and read that construction of the dam took ten years from 1934 to 1944.  506 families and 407 graves were relocated including the entire town of Unitia.  One family strongly resisted moving because they had kept a fire burning in their family home hearth for three generations and refused to let the flame be extinguished.  Finally the TVA accommodated the family by moving the burning fire along with the family.

When the lock and dam were finally completed, the name to be given this achievement was the subject of much debate.  The decision was made to name it Pickwick after a local post office where the post master had chosen the name from Charles Dickens' comedy "The Pickwick Papers".

We are anchored near the Pickwick State Park marina who is kind enough to provide free WiFi, so we are mooching off of that so I can do my blog entry.  After we anchored Clark dropped his kayak into the river for a look around and visit with other loopers in the area.  I dove into my blog to try to get it done before dinner.  I told Clark that if he didn't come back in time to turn on the propane (we're still having gas leak problems so we turn it off after use), I wouldn't feed him.  He came back at dusk, but it is now full dark and I haven't started to cook yet.  Problem is, that is my fault since I'm still blogging instead of cooking.

Time to publish and cook some food!