News
February 2025
Wednesday, February 12th, 2025
Construction progress at Augusta Quarry featured on Inside of Knoxville
Summer Dreamin’: A Sneak Peek at Augusta Quarry
February 12, 2025
On a recent sunny and warmish afternoon, I ventured out from the pile of blankets beneath which I’ve been hibernating to hike around Fort Dickerson Park. This 90-acre outpost of South Knoxville’s Urban Wilderness, hiding in plain sight just beyond the Henley Bridge, has a little something for everybody: four miles of multi-use trails, picnic shelters, panoramic downtown views, a freaking Civil War fort complete with cannons …
… and its glittering, sapphire crown jewel: Augusta Quarry.
The quarry, which was abandoned in the ’70s, is on the homestretch of a years-long, $5.4 million improvement project, the full vision of which is now coming into focus.
Phase I, which included a new $1.77 million entrance and accessibility improvements, was completed in 2019. Phase II – a $3.6 million investment – began in March 2024. Originally projected to be complete by the end of last year, you know how these things go, and Southern Constructors Inc. crews continue working in earnest for a grand reopening in “coming months,” according to the latest City update.
The improvements look true to the original renderings by Sanders Pace Architecture. The structures are tall and angular, paneled by corten steel that’s perforated at the top. Their rusty patina matches the new-ish pavilion at Baker Creek, and here it plays off the color of the quarry walls while also paying homage to the quarry’s industrial past. It’s hard to tell just looking at them which half-done structure will be what, but the “comfort station” is ultimately supposed to include changing rooms, restrooms, coin operated lockers, a vendor kiosk, outdoor rinse station, picnic area, water fountain with bottle filler, and pet station.
Out on the water, a lengthy dock addresses the issue of beach overcrowding. Alternatively, quarry-goers can post up on the U-shaped floating dock or one of the intimate “quarry rooms” fastened around the perimeter. When the quarry was open previously, folks set sail across the quarry in an awe-inspiring array of inflatables as well as paddle boards and kayaks; it will be nice for them to soon have a choice of places where they can dock up and kick back.
In addition to infrastructure improvements and fun new stuff on the water, I want to shout-out the landscape design, which includes significant native plantings. I remember being impressed by the choices surrounding the parking lot last year. There are still a bunch of trees and shrubs sitting around in bags — I spotted bottlebrush buckeye, stag horn sumac, arrow wood viburnum, and more — waiting to go in-ground.
Many will appreciate the project’s effort to keep in good karma with the natural world. During my hike I caught my breath as two blue herons soared overhead, then a red tailed hawk, and took a moment to admire an old married duck couple paddling their way across the water’s dark, glassy surface. Whatever the benefit we humans derive from Augusta Quarry and its environs, it’s important to remember and respect who was here first.
As Eleanor Scott wrote in a 2015 Knox Mercury story, the quarry, once an “irreparable open wound” of Knoxville’s industrial past, has become a place of resilience and renewal. “Floating alone in the center, supported by the green void, fixes something vital,” she reflected. “A relic of Knoxville’s industrial age, the 350-foot-deep quarry is a vast man-made scar in the Earth … Now, migrating birds rest on the water, snakes make their homes under the slabs of limestone. Deer come down to drink, and a transient misfit makes his home beside the water, carving a shelter out of the rock. There is no clearer example of humans’ compulsion to consume and destroy and Mother Nature’s persistent creeping power to heal.”
As much as nature has reclaimed the quarry, so have humans—drawn to its eerie beauty and cold, deep waters long before it was sanctioned as a public space. For years it was a hidden oasis that felt like it belonged to anyone willing to take the risk. Augusta Quarry has come a long way since law-(un)abiding locals like me were bushwhacking our way in on hot summer days and carefree nights over 20 years ago. (To my credit, I only got escorted out in the back of a paddywagon once.) I romanticize the era a little but feel gratitude that we got out unscathed a lot more. I didn’t fully comprehend the danger of my college boyfriend jumping off the 80-foot cliffs until his brother broke his collarbone, and we started hearing about other accidents with significantly more tragic outcomes.
Over the years drownings have happened in this quarry with an uncomfortable frequency, largely a result of cliff-jumping and sometimes involving alcohol. For some years a friendly-but-stern unhoused fellow named “Shroomer” appointed himself the quarry’s unofficial lifeguard. He took the responsibility seriously, calling out folks who seemed on the verge of making a poor decision. The City may have missed an opportunity by displacing, rather than hiring, him.
You can’t stop human nature. If there’s a gorgeous, crystal-clear body of water just a stone’s throw from the city-center of a sweltering Southern metropolis, humans are gonna find that water and do the backstroke in it. You might as well accept it and make it as safe as possible.
Swimming was decriminalized in 2013 under Madeline Rogero’s administration following a citizen-led effort that included a petition and letter-writing campaign. While it was still “swim at your own risk,” there was an effort to self-police dangerous activities through “don’t be dumb, bro” peer pressure and homemade signs discouraging jumping. A couple years later, after a particularly tragic spring, the City fenced off the most dangerous overlook.
Since giving up its half-hearted fight against trespassing, the City has steadily been pushing the throttle forward on a vision for the quarry as an asset for public recreation. To be clear, none of this was a new idea. As early as 1993, then-Mayor Victor Ashe envisioned the quarry as “Knoxville’s largest public swimming pool.” The 2006 South Waterfront Vision Plan painted a rather ambitious picture of “an outdoor center … with kayak ramp access to the quarry lake, climbing on quarry walls, and a new whitewater course with recirculating water from the pit.” We’ll just put a pin in “urban whitewater rafting” for now, I suppose.
Much gratitude is owed to the Aslan Foundation for its major funding and contributions to Fort Dickerson Park and Augusta Quarry, as well as nearby High Ground Park, which likewise holds a tremendous amount of Civil War era historical value. The value of preservation, foresight and those willing to invest in it cannot be overstated.
I can’t wait to see the end result. Lately, between the South Waterfront’s long-awaited rail to trail project, a pedestrian bridge on the horizon, and the Sevier Avenue streetscape project, South Knox connectivity has started feeling less like a wall-mounted exercise in red string and thumbtacks and more like, “Oh wow, this is actually finally happening.”
A couple summers ago, before construction had begun but during a period when Augusta Quarry was technically closed for utility work, I went trespass-swimming once more for old times’ sake with my 4-year-old son. (Gotta start ‘em on anarchy young.) We waded in and floated in the stillness, just the two of us, the quarry walls rising high and silent around us.
Someday, he’ll come here on his own terms—not by scampering across railroad tracks through some dodgy gap in a concrete barrier, but by walking right through the front gate. Just a kid in the water, in a place that’s meant to be for everyone.
Know before you go: The Augusta Avenue entrance, along with access to the Quarry Lake, is closed. The historic Civil War earthworks, as well as the Harold Lambert Overlook, remain open via the 3000 Fort Dickerson Rd. entrance. From there you can hike or mountain bike around the quarry — click here to view a trail map. Learn more about Fort Dickerson Park and Augusta Quarry here.
Winter-season tip for quarry-swimmers: Get your fix at the Sauna House mobile sauna pop-up at Ijams Nature Center. Two wood-fired saunas are positioned on the edge of Mead’s Quarry; you can incorporate a cold-plunge into your cycle or just cozy up on heated benches around the fire. Bookings are available Friday thru Sunday through the end of March; click here to learn more and reserve.
