Big water, big woods, small towns.
The Tennessee River runs the length of the county, Kentucky Lake spreads across 160,000 acres of it, and three state parks sit within half an hour. Some of the best outdoor country in Tennessee, and hardly anyone has noticed.
What is on your doorstep.
Kentucky Lake, eight miles away.
This stretch of the Tennessee is Kentucky Lake — 160,300 acres of water, 184 miles long, with 2,064 miles of shoreline. It is the largest reservoir in the eastern United States, and the river forms the entire eastern boundary of this county.
You do not need a marina membership to get on it. Three free public ramps sit within nine miles — Cherokee Heights, Woodland Shores and Brodies Landing — all concrete, all open twenty-four hours, no launch fee.
For fuel docks, slips and a restaurant, Perryville Marina is about twenty minutes, and Birdsong Resort & Marina at Camden has 150 slips, ethanol-free fuel, cabins and a campground.
Three state parks and a federal refuge.
You are buying nineteen acres. You are also moving next door to tens of thousands that belong to everybody.
Natchez Trace — 18 miles
An 8,268-acre state park sitting inside a recreation area of roughly 48,000 acres. Around 250 miles of horse trails, fifty-plus miles of multi-use trails, shooting and archery ranges, 32 cabins and four lakes — including Brown’s Creek, a Florida-strain trophy bass water and a Bill Dance signature lake.
Mousetail Landing — 21 miles
A state park right on the Tennessee River, with two boat ramps, the 7.5-mile Eagle Point Trail, a beach, bank fishing, paddle rentals and 46 campsites.
Tennessee Refuge — 19 miles
Over 51,000 federal acres along 65 miles of river with 23 boat ramps. Its Busseltown Unit is inside this county. Hunting by refuge permit, plus fishing, birding and paddling.
Nathan Bedford Forrest — 29 miles
2,700 acres on Pilot Knob, one of the highest points in West Tennessee, looking out over the lake. Cabins, disc golf, a river-folklife museum and Eva Beach.
Johnsonville — 31 miles
The battlefield where, in November 1864, Forrest shelled a Union fleet from across the river and the defenders burned their own boats. Most of it lies under the lake now. Museum and ranger programmes above the waterline.
Two things you will not find anywhere else.
At Birdsong, twenty-odd miles away, is the Tennessee River Freshwater Pearl Farm — the only freshwater pearl-culturing farm in America. It has a museum, runs tours, and has been in the same family since 1961.
And every April, Decatur County hosts the World’s Largest Raccoon Hunt — a no-kill event that has raised more than $4.5 million for St. Jude over forty-odd years. It tells you what kind of county this is.
The rest of the calendar
- The Big Squeeze, Parsons, the Friday before the Fourth — parade and a free concert, started as a veterans’ lemonade stand
- Decatur County Fair in August
- Tennessee River Agricultural Exposition in September
- Rivertime Players Toby Tent Show — surviving tent repertory theatre, September into October
- Carl Perkins Bass Classic in October
- Two separate Christmas parades, because one town each
Walk it, and you will know.
An hour on the ground tells you more than any photograph. The gate is gravel and the drive takes a truck, so come in whatever you drive.