Frozen Head State Park

Frozen Head State Park covers some 24,000 acres of the Cumberland Mountains near Wartburg, around a 3,324-foot peak that is often icy in winter. It is among the largest state parks in Tennessee, and most of it is a natural area. The Emory River rises on the northern slopes of Bird Mountain. Emory Gap Falls is a 25-foot plunge and DeBord Falls drops 12 feet. A lookout at the summit gives a view across the Cumberland Mountains and the Flat Fork valley.

The land has a harder history than its scenery suggests. The state bought it in the 1890s for Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, hoping to use convict labor to mine coal. In 1933 Governor Hill McAlister set aside part of the prison's land as Morgan State Forest, and Civilian Conservation Corps crews worked there until 1941, building roads, trails and a bridge. Remnants of their camp remain. The Stonecipher Kelly Homeplace, a hall-and-parlor log house, shows how the area's early settlers lived. The state designated a natural area in 1974.

Since 1986 the park has hosted the Barkley Marathons, a 100-mile run over an unmarked course with a 60-hour limit, which very few runners have ever finished. A section of the Cumberland Trail crosses the park along Bird Mountain. The prison is nearby at Petros.