30/10/2024
Radnor Lake has No Fishing - When I was a child, I didn't appreciate Radnor Lake as much as I should have. My parents would sometimes find an excuse to drive us down Otter Creek Road. I spent the whole time worried my safe-driving dad would accidentally swerve into the lake.
Once I could drive, I never drove down this stretch of Otter Creek Road. Nobody can as it's now closed to cars. I'm guessing it's been that way for three decades. Road maintenance has been quite problematic for the road quite close to the water. Plus, it's better to enjoy the sights and sounds by foot.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radnor_Lake_State_Natural_Area
Radnor Lake State Natural Area, also known as Radnor Lake State Park, is a popular state natural area and state park in Oak Hill, Tennessee within Nashville. The 1,368 acre nature preserve lies just outside Nashville. Five miles of unpaved trails wander through the woods surrounding the lake. Otter Creek Road runs through the middle of the park and is now closed to traffic. Visitors to Radnor Lake enjoy wildlife native to Middle Tennessee, including river otters, beavers, mink, muskrat, bobcat, coyote and the white-tailed deer.
Radnor Lake was created by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company in 1914, and was initially used for watering steam locomotives and supplying the watering pens for shipped livestock. Afterwards, it became a local sportsman's club for L & N executives and guests. Efforts to preserve the Radnor Lake area began in 1923 when the executive vice president of L&N Railroad declared the site a "Wildlife Sanctuary" at the request of the Tennessee Ornithological Society. Executives with the railroad and their friends (The Sportsman's Club) used the sanctuary for fishing, but a reverence for the beauty of the area was present even then among L&N families and neighbors who lived in the surrounding hills. In 1962, the property was sold to be developed but initial work proved to be problematic and public pressure influenced the state to purchase the property in 1973 and create the State's first Natural Area.
When I was a child, I didn't appreciate Radnor Lake as much as I should have. My parents would sometimes find an excuse to drive us down Otter Creek Road. I spent the whole time worried my safe-driving dad would accidentally swerve into the lake. Once I could drive, I never drove down this stretch o...