Our Adventures at Piney Campground in Land Between the Lakes on the Tennessee Side

Our adventures took us to the other side of the Land Between the Lakes (LBL) National Recreation Area on the Tennessee side.  This large land mass is partly in Kentucky and partly in Tennessee.  It is part of the U.S. Forest Service.  After we stayed at Energy Lake on the Kentucky side, we decided to travel to the Tennessee side! 

water siteOur water access from our site at Piney

We stayed in Piney Campground in Dover, Tennessee.  This campground is on Kentucky Lake, and it is a large campground!  Some sites are right on the water, and some are wooded.  Our site happened to be on the water.  Unfortunately, we did not have much shade at certain times of the day.  We decided to put up our screenhouse so we can have some shade to keep out of the sun. There are trees at the edge of our site where you could put your chairs and enjoy the view.  Overall, it was a great site!  We had easy water access where you can put your kayaks in right from the campsite. Many campers took advantage of that. 

Geese with boat at siteGeese on our site and pontoon boat at site next to ours
Geese water accessAnother view from our campsite showing the water access

The campground itself is beautiful with lots of wildlife. As you can see here, we had a few geese stop by for their meal. 

Most of the water sites have easy access to the water.  Some people brought their pontoon and motor boats and were able to tie them up right at their campsite!  You can spend a day on the water with family and friends and not have to drive to a boat launch!

We drove around the area and went through the Wrangler Campground in LBL.  This is for people with horses.  They have stalls to rent for your horse and very nice campsites.  There is also lots of dispersed camping in the LBL.

hummingbird feederHummingbird feeding at Visitor Center
hummingbird feedersHummingbird feeders outside the window of the visitor center

We did some exploring around the area.  One of the places we visited is the South Welcome Station in Dover, Tennessee.  It is on the Woodlands Trace National Scenic Byway that runs from Kentucky to Tennessee along the Land Between the Lakes.  There is a great gift shop and information center.  It has info on the wildlife in the area.  The neatest thing was that there were several hummingbird feeders outside the main window of the Visitor Center.  We were lucky enough to see some cute little hummingbirds feeding.

We went to the Homeplace 1850s Farm in Dover, Tennessee.  We went in to the visitor center and learned about the farm and its history.  It is a working farm and living history museum.  They had some interesting antique farm equipment and historical structures.  There are period interpreters that can answer questions while they perform their daily chores that were typical before the Civil War era.  It was fascinating to see.  There are also some neat critters that you can see that are part of the farm. 

We also took a tour of Fort Donelson.  This fort was a pivotal win for the Union Army during the Civil War. It was a driving tour and had some very interesting sites.  There is a visitor center there that includes park brochures and photos along with some history of the fort.

Our experience at Land Between Lakes in Tennessee was great!  There is so much to do!  For those that are water enthusiasts, these sites are great!  I highly recommend it!