The stops
1Burgess Falls State Park
Sparta, Putnam County
The River Trail and the gravel service road make a loop of a mile and a half past four waterfalls on the Falling Water River, ending at the overlook of the last and biggest. The stairs to the foot of the falls are gone, so the overlook is as close as the park goes; the 1920s dam above fed a hydroelectric plant that Cookeville ran until the 1940s.
Walk down the River Trail and back up the gravel service road: the state calls the loop moderately strenuous, and most people choose the road for the climb out. Stay behind the rails; the rocks at the top of the falls are slick.
- Saturday
- 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. from November 1 to the second Sunday of March; to 6 p.m. until April 30; to 7 p.m. from May 1 to August 15; and to 6 p.m. until October 31.
- Admission
- Free. No Tennessee state park charges an entrance fee.
- Booking
- No booking. With the upper lot closed for the new visitor center, parking is the lower lot alone, and the state asks visitors to try another park when it is full.
Tennessee State ParksIn our state parks guide
2Brothers Tavern
Sparta, White County
Downtown Sparta's tavern, on the way from one park to the other, with a menu that leans Greek: gyros come up in most of the reviews it posts.
Lunch in Sparta, halfway between the parks.
- Saturday
- Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Tuesday to Thursday to 9; Sunday 11 to 3; closed Monday.
- Admission
- A sit-down restaurant; the menu leans Greek.
- Booking
- No booking
Official site931-256-8064
3Twin Falls Overlook, Rock Island State Park
Rock Island, White County
The park's tallest waterfall pours from the Collins River out of the limestone bluffs opposite, into the Caney Fork at the head of Center Hill Lake. The overlook has benches and a view and no trail down, and no one may swim or wade downstream of the TVA powerhouse.
The overlook is at the end of Powerhouse Road, a few steps from the lot.
- Saturday
- The state prints no hours for the overlook, and says most of its parks open a half hour before sunrise and close a half hour after sunset. The park office keeps 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Admission
- Free. No Tennessee state park charges an entrance fee.
- Booking
- No booking
Tennessee State ParksIn our state parks guide931-837-4770
4Great Falls and the Old Mill, Rock Island State Park
Rock Island, Warren County
The remains of Asa Faulkner's Falls City Cotton Mill, which ran from 1892 to 1902, stand on the bluff over the Great Falls, a 30-foot horseshoe of a waterfall whose flow depends on the dam upstream. The Tennessee Electric Power Company finished that dam in 1916; TVA bought it in 1939, and it is the only TVA dam outside the Tennessee River's watershed.
Look from the mill and the dam. The steep, wet trail down into the gorge from the Old Mill is open only when TVA is not releasing water.
- Saturday
- The Old Mill and Upstream trails and their lots close at 6 p.m. from March to November and at sundown in winter. The gorge below closes whenever TVA is spilling water or likely to.
- Admission
- Free. No Tennessee state park charges an entrance fee.
- Booking
- Check TVA's release schedule for Great Falls, posted by 6 p.m. the night before.
Tennessee State ParksIn our state parks guide
Before you go
Look up TVA's release schedule for Great Falls the night before, after 6. If water is due, the gorge closes and the overlooks are the visit; nobody swims or wades below the powerhouse, release or not.
Burgess Falls closes at 4 from November to the second Sunday of March, and Rock Island's mill trails at sundown in winter. The loop is through both by mid-afternoon all year.
The last stop outdoors, Great Falls and the Old Mill, Rock Island State Park, ends at 2:30 p.m.. The earliest sunset there on a Saturday this loop runs is 4:29 p.m., on November 28, so the day's walking is done in daylight every week of the year it runs.
How we know
The timetable is worked out from the route and the time at each stop, and checked against every stop's Saturday hours and the sunset for every Saturday in the twelve months after the hours were read. The drive times are a router's, with no traffic: leave room.
- Burgess Falls State Park. Tennessee State Parks, Burgess Falls; Tennessee State Parks, Burgess Falls trails; Tennessee State Parks, waterfall viewing; The park's 2025 strategic management plan. Hours: as posted, read October 20, 2026.
- Brothers Tavern. Brothers Tavern. Hours: as posted, read October 20, 2026.
- Twin Falls Overlook, Rock Island State Park. Tennessee State Parks, Rock Island; Tennessee State Parks, Rock Island trails; Tennessee State Parks, Rock Island safety. Hours: as posted, read October 20, 2026.
- Great Falls and the Old Mill, Rock Island State Park. Tennessee State Parks, Rock Island highlights; Tennessee State Parks, swimming at Rock Island; TVA, Great Falls; TVA, Great Falls lake levels. Hours: as posted, read October 20, 2026.
- Before you go. TVA, Great Falls lake levels and releases; Tennessee State Parks, Rock Island; Tennessee State Parks, Rock Island safety; Tennessee State Parks, Burgess Falls.
- The drive. Valhalla (valhalla1.openstreetmap.de) on OpenStreetMap, routed October 21, 2026.
- The photograph. Burgess Falls from the overlook, September 2020. Photo: Whippdog, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
All 8 loops
