A visit to Russell Cave

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In the heat of June, we decided to take a couple of days and go visit Russell Cave National Monument in Bridgeport, AL. This is someplace we have wanted to go but it was about an hour and a half drive and we knew the visit would be short. So we opted to find a campground nearby and spend a couple of nights to relax and enjoy.

Russell Cave is an archaeological site with one of the most complete records of prehistoric cultures in the Southeast. Thousands of years ago a portion of Russell Cave's entrance collapsed, creating a shelter that, for more than 10,000 years, was home to prehistoric peoples. Today it provides clues to the daily life of early North American inhabitants dating from 10,000 B.C. to 1650 A.D. People from the Paleo era through Woodland up to Mississipian all lived and stayed in the cave. It was going to be an interesting and educational trip.

We found a campsite at a TVA campground in Tennessee on Lake Nickajack. Nickajack is one of the lakes created by the TVA series of dams and is 50 years old. Nickajack is a word that may have come from the Cherokee. But the region of northern Alabama/south-central Tennessee almost seceded from the Confederacy and became a Free State during the Civil War. To quote from Wikipedia: Nickajack was made up of loosely defined regions where popular sentiment remained loyal to the Union and were decidedly anti-slavery. In the period prior to the war, there had been increasing talk of secession by the politicians representing wealthy plantation owners in the Black Belt. Hill country residents, however, were typically poor dirt-farmers and rarely slave owners. They believed such a war of secession would be "a war for the rich, fought by the poor," and they wanted to have nothing to do with it.

Anyway, that is Civil War era history and we were there to visit VERY ancient history. It was @1/2 drive back into the hills to the cave and we learned that only about 10,000 people a year stop by. The cave is close to I-24 and between Nashville and Chattanooga. They began excavating the cave in the 50's and National Geographic and Smithsonian got involved. Eventually it was turned over to the Federal Govt and JFK named it a National Monument in 1961. In digging, they found progressive aging of pottery, tools and weapons. Thus they were able to determine the different eras that had inhabited the area and what life might have been like.

We had a Park Naturalist/Guide give us a tour of the cave. It is a short walk on a nice boardwalk from the visitors center to the cave and then a loop just into the cave where they have explanations of the various eras, how they know, and what they found. The guide offered more in-depth comments and answered all our questions. (We were the only 2 on the hike; pretty nice to have a private tour!) After our walk, we came back to the center, looked at the exhibits inside and bought the necessary gifts, card and pins. Total time--about 2 hours, and well worth the walk back in time.

Then it was on to South Pittsburg, TN and the Lodge Factory outlet. This is one of the places where the cast iron cookware is actually made and though we didn't see the factory, we got some good deals on factory seconds. But it was hot out, so after a brief stop at an A&W/Long John Silver for lunch of milkshake, rootbeer float, and sandwiches, we headed back to the campground to relax.

The coach was hot, but A/C had kept it cool. How hot? The cat didn't even want to go out; he preferred to use the litter box in the RV. Oh, THAT'S hot. So after a nap, we changed and went to the beach for a cooling swim in the lake. We floated, relaxed and then headed back to the RV where I got out the grill and did some hot dogs, with chips, salad and sun tea. Yep, a nice relaxing time.

Next morning we had a big breakfast with bacon fried (outside), eggs and hash browns, then cleaned up and picked up the RV to leave. We got all packed, drove to the beach (a very short hop) and left the RV in the shade of some trees and went in for an early morning swim. Back at the RV we got dressed and headed on back home. It was only 80 miles from the campground home, but it was a pleasant diversion during the hot of early June.

We HIGHLY recommend if you are in the area, take an hour or so to visit Russell Cave and marvel at what our ancestors did and how they lived way back when.

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Photos

Campsite at Shellmound Campground
TVA campgrounds seem to be privately run on TVA land. They have to adhere to TVA specs on treatment of environment and offer certain level of service. But biggest complaint from us is they often have 80% of sites leased to long term campers, so visitors to the area have trouble getting a spot. We were lucky; there were two sites open.

Mouth of Russell Cave
The stream used to go through both side of the pillar, but flooding brought in silt and debris, so the right side began building up. This provided a dry area for natives to live, cook, and be protected from the elements.

Another view of the opening
The cave is actually almost 10 miles long and only portions have been examined. Tourist can walk into the cave and see the main living area. There are lots of areas still to be explored and dug for artifacts.

Inside the cave
While hot and muggy outside, the interior was cool, but damp. There is a boardwalk with interpretive signs to explain the different ages of early man and how archeologists can determine what came from which era. It is fascinating and amazing to realize that people were living here when there were still mastodons in the Tennessee Valley!

Swimming in Nickajack Lake
Nickajack Dam was completed in 1967. The resulting lake is large and lovely. On the hot days of June (Temps in the 90s) it felt really good. And because there are no life guards, we could go late evening, early morning when there are not a lot of people. The beach and boat launch sites are free and open to all. A great service offered by TVA.

Comments

[Deborah]

Always a great story and some terrific photos. I hope I can remain as active as the both of you!