Preserving our past for our future

An archive of pictures, documents, and stories relating to Bays Mountain Park in Kingsport, Tennessee

Favorite Stories...

How Bays Mountain got its name

Early settlers on the mountain

That time that Ruby Nelms fell off the mountain!

How Hugh Hamblen lived to regret teaching his wife to read and write

Why 14-yr-old John Fincher had to return from Chattanooga alone

Life as a 1953 Fire Tower Lookout on Bays Mountain

Odell Harbour Depew, schoolteacher on Bays Mountain in 1915

Moonshine Stills

Building the Dam

Please Donate to BMPA History!

To support this site and other Bays Mountain history-related Features & Programs, please Donate to the BMPA History Committee. All proceeds go towards research and public programs!

Recent Updates

Sep 2022

  • The BMPA History Committee is investigating several fascinating topics like…

    Finding a +100 yr old trail using modern LIDAR laser technology combined with a 1916 survey map!

         also…
    Was the Bays Mountain Schoolhouse ever moved? After BMPA History volunteers confirmed finding the schoolhouse site, we now have reason to believe that earlier, the school once sat about 1/2 mile away. If so, why was it moved?

Aug 2022

  • The newly formed BMPA History Committee has implemented its first project! Visit the west end of the Dam to see a new history panel highlighting the Filter Plant Operators of the 1920s
  • Next project? A panel documenting the Bays Mountain Schoolhouse

Sun July 17