The "Queen of Tennessee State Parks", Fall Creek Falls, in Spencer Tennessee is under threat of being "Privatized". Fall Creek Falls is the most visited of all of Tennessee's State Parks. It is 25,000 acres of timber,virgin forests, gorges and waterfalls.

A plan is currently underway to close the Inn and Conference Center and replace it with a "sterile" more modern facility. This would maximize the conference area but diminish capacity of the hotel for families that may wish to visit and enjoy our park.

Once the old facility is demolished and the new one is built and paid for with our public tax dollars;they intend to privatize the center to allow a private company to profit from it.

The Inn and Conference Center is one of the major employers in the area of Van Buren , Bledsoe and White counties. The park is the major employer for Van Buren county.

The Inn and Conference Center at Fall Creek Falls has become an integral part of the community. It is a place for first dates, a gathering place for families and a popular wedding venue. This year over 1300 reservations for Thanksgiving were made in a county of only 5000 people.

Requirements of the request for proposals call for the new inn to have 75-95 rooms that, according to projections in the request, could be rented for $151 per night.

Rooms in the current 145-room facility, rent for $76 per night.

Because of the public response to this petition, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has "Fast Tracked" the demolition of the facility before Christmas of 2017!

We do hereby petition the Governor of Tennessee and the Legislature of this great state to intercede and prohibit the demolition of the Fall Creek Falls Inn and Conference Center and the termination of the jobs of over 100 families from this economically stressed community.