McDonald Farm set to become 70th Tennessee state park
McDonald Farm (Courtesy: Office of Mayor Weston Wamp)
SALE CREEK, Tenn. (WDEF)- Ever since Hamilton County acquired McDonald Farm in 2021, there have been a lot of discussions about how to best utilize that land in Sale Creek along the Hamilton-Rhea county border.
Initially, the county acquired the property to industrialize it.
However, many residents wished for the land to be conserved, and a study presented last year stated that the cost of putting in appropriate manufacturing infrastructure would cost up to $100 million.
Now, the state of Tennessee says that this piece of property is about to become at 70th State Park.
Hamilton County Commissioner Gene-O Shipley stated that, “More people around this county want to preserve this land and not destroy it…This decision protects our quality of life and ensures this land remains intact for future generations.”
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has allocated $45.3 million dollars into this year’s budget to create a state park at McDonald Farm.
The proposal would take over 1,300 acres currently owned by Hamilton County, 800 of those in Hamilton County, and 500 in Rhea County, and transfer that land to the state of Tennessee for the state park.
The state park would serve as the southern terminus of the Cumberland Trail.
The county would maintain 800 acres of this property.
250 acres of that would continue to be used as a county park and fairgrounds around the main farmstead on Coulterville Road.
McDonald Farm has been the site of the Hamilton County Fair since 2023.
Effectively, the existing county park and new state park would operate side by side.
This would the second state park created in Hamilton County in the past two years, as recently the North Chickamauga Creek Gorge State Park was dedicated.
Tennessee state senator Bo Watson said that investments like this are crucial that bring tourists to our area because, “In East Tennessee they come because of the land and all of the outdoor activities that we have here, and this will serve as a base camp for all of the activities occurring.”
This agreement comes after a previous proposal to undertake a land deed swap between McDonald Farm and Enterprise South Nature Park was pulled by Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp.
That plan would have opened up over 500 acres at Enterprise South to potential development in order to preserve over 1,300 acres at McDonald Farm.
The termination of that plan followed criticism of that plan’s potential impact on Enterprise South, and it was never formally introduced to the Hamilton County Commission or Chattanooga City Council.
Mayor Wamp says that this plan is far better.
The mayor explained, “The purpose of the land swap was to turn McDonald Farm into a state park. The reason that we pursued the first place was this. We were certainly not last year in any position to get ahead of a decision the governor was going to make, and that TDEC was making on our behalf. So we had to somewhat awkwardly keep our mouth shut and talk about our desire to preserve McDonald Farm, but not really be specific about what we were trying to accomplish and so they are related. Candidly, when we realized the scope of the state’s proposed investment, we felt like we could drop the concept of the swap because we thought the $45 million proposed investment more than justified the county contributing land to this vision, and it more than justified the county’s initial acquisition of the farm.”
Senator Bo Watson added that feedback from that plan demonstrated to the state the demand for such investment.
The senator said, “There’s one thing that we learned from that and for people who weighed in on that and thought they were being critical, they were actually being helpful. Because what it proved to us was that the people of Hamilton County want to see us invest in recreation. They want to see us invest in the recreational economy.”
Mayor Wamp adds that in addition to building a new visitor center and other state park facilities, he believes that private investment will come alongside to make Sale Creek an outdoor recreation hub.
The mayor said, “We would love the idea down the road to attract lodging investment from the private sector, etc.”
He said this would primarily happen across Coulterville Road from the existing farm and along Highway 27.
The mayor added there is land the county owns east of Highway 27 that could potentially be sold as well.
The state says that state parks have an average economic output of $11 million dollars and create on average 77 new jobs.
They will invest $1 million dollars a year to maintain operations at the park.
“Tennessee State Parks is dedicated to preserving, protecting, and sharing our natural resources with Tennesseans and visitors alike,” said TDEC Deputy Commissioner Brian Clifford. “We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with local leaders toward the goal of conserving a significant portion of McDonald Farm and adding it to Tennessee’s enduring legacy of conservation.”
Mayor Wamp says that his office plans to introduce this as a resolution for the Hamilton County Commission at their February 25 meeting, and for them to vote on a week later at their March 4 meeting.
