page_title: Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park
section_title: Geographical setting
hierarchical_section_title: Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park / Geographical setting
caption_attribution_description: The view looking south the summit of Pilot Knob at Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park in Benton County, Tennessee, in the United States. The Kentucky Lake impoundment of the Tennessee River is below. Pilot Knob is the highest point in West Tennessee.
context_page_description: Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park is a state park in Benton County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The park is situated on the western shore of the Kentucky Lake impoundment of the Tennessee River, just north of the community of Eva. Established in 1929, the park consists of 2,587 acres managed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
  The park is named after Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, who conducted operations in the area during the U.S. Civil War. The park encompasses part of Forrest's operational area during the 1864 Battle of Johnsonville, in which Forrest attacked and destroyed a Union supply depot and transfer station on the opposite bank of the river.
  Along with the battle site, features in the park include Pilot Knob, which at 656 feet is one of the highest points in West Tennessee, and the Tennessee River Folklife Center, which interprets life in the lower Tennessee Valley in the 19th and 20th centuries.
context_section_description: The Tennessee River enters the Benton County/Humphreys County area from the south, where it absorbs the Duck River and the Beech River, and proceeds northwestward for another 100 miles (160 km) before emptying into the Ohio River.  Kentucky Lake, created with the completion of Kentucky Dam in 1944, covers a 184-mile (296 km) stretch of the river between Kentucky Dam (near Paducah) and Pickwick Landing Dam, near the Tennessee-Alabama border to the south.  Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park is situated along the western bank of Kentucky Lake, approximately 80 miles (130 km) upstream from Kentucky Dam.
  Pilot Knob is the pinnacle of a ridge that extends approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) northwestwardly to the Harmon Creek valley, along the park's northwestern boundary.  Much of the park's topography consists of ridges and hollows that run roughly parallel to Pilot Knob Ridge.  The park's offices are located on the slopes of Pilot Knob, and the Tennessee River Folklife Center and hiking trailheads are located at its summit.
  State Route 191, which terminates atop Pilot Knob, connects the park to Interstate 40 and U.S. Route 70 to the south.
caption: The Tennessee River, looking south from Pilot Knob
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