Rock Island State Park

Rock Island State Park sits where the Collins and Rocky rivers meet the Caney Fork, at the head of Center Hill Lake. Below the Great Falls Dam the Caney Fork runs through a gorge of plunge and cascade falls that show themselves when the water is low and disappear when it rises, so what you see depends on the day. Twin Falls is a product of the dam: when the lake rose, the Collins River began seeping into caverns on the island's south shore and now spills out of one as a waterfall.

The river drew industry before it drew visitors, and floods kept ending the ventures. A mill that used the falls was swept away in 1882. In 1892 the Great Falls Cotton Mill went up on the bluffs, with a small company town called Falls City, and the flood of 1902 destroyed its wheelhouse and the company walked away. The Great Falls Dam followed, built in 1915 and 1916 and running by 1917. The Tennessee Valley Authority bought it in 1939. The mill and the dam are both on the National Register.

The lake turned the spot into a fishing resort by the 1930s, and the state park was established in 1969. Park staff also manage Big Bone Cave State Natural Area in Van Buren County, which holds archaeological evidence of prehistoric life and the saltpeter mining of the War of 1812 and the Civil War.