Standing Stone State Park

Standing Stone State Park takes its name from a large sandstone rock that once served as a boundary marker between Cherokee and Shawnee territories - it was used as a landmark for generations before European settlement and later moved to the Overton County Courthouse. The park itself sits in the highland rim country north of Livingston, a terrain of sandstone ridges, mixed hardwood forest, and clear streams that characterize this part of the Upper Cumberland.

The park's 69-acre lake is the centerpiece for many visitors - stocked with bass, bluegill, and catfish, it's a reliable fishing lake with a boat ramp for small motors and canoes. The park rents paddle boats and provides access to a swimming beach on the lake in summer. It's a peaceful, unhurried kind of lake recreation that feels deliberately low-key.

The surrounding 11,000+ acres of forest include both developed trails within the park proper and wilder backcountry in the adjacent Standing Stone State Forest. Equestrian trails make this a destination for riders from across the region. The campground has both electric hookup sites and primitive camping. On a summer weekend the park is pleasant and moderately busy; on a weekday in October you may have entire trail sections entirely to yourself.

Livingston, the Overton County seat, is about seven miles from the park and worth a stop for a meal or to poke around the county square. This corner of Tennessee - Overton, Fentress, and Pickett counties - is genuinely underexplored, and Standing Stone is the best base camp for seeing it.