Future charted for Hill's Island, a gem in the Cumberland


              Kathleen Williams, Executive Director of Tennessee Parks and Greenway Foundation, takes a break by one of the trees on Hill Island on Monday, Feb. 9, 2015 near Madison, Tenn.  The foundation, which was waylaid for awhile on several other large-scale conservation efforts, has now rekindled its plans for Hill's Island, which it received as a gift from Adventist Health System in 2006.   (AP Photo/The Tennessean, John Partipilo)  NO SALES
Kathleen Williams, Executive Director of Tennessee Parks and Greenway Foundation, takes a break by one of the trees on Hill Island on Monday, Feb. 9, 2015 near Madison, Tenn. The foundation, which was waylaid for awhile on several other large-scale conservation efforts, has now rekindled its plans for Hill's Island, which it received as a gift from Adventist Health System in 2006. (AP Photo/The Tennessean, John Partipilo) NO SALES

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Kathleen Williams walks the sandy beach on Hill's Island and envisions children building driftwood forts, combing the riprap stones for crayfish and getting in touch with the wilder side of Davidson County.

The wooded, 20-acre island - within sight of the Old Hickory Bridge in the Cumberland River, east of Madison - can only be reached by boat.

As Williams sees it, that journey is a bonus. Groups of schoolchildren would travel the waterway to get there, learning about the river, its series of dams and the founding of Nashville along the way.

"You get out here and kids, and people, will feel what Davidson County was really like when it was founded," said Williams, executive director of the Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation (TennGreen). "You just can't get that in town."

"Kids would have a ball out here," she said.

The foundation, which was waylaid for awhile on several other large-scale conservation efforts, has now rekindled its plans for Hill's Island, which it received as a gift from Adventist Health System in 2006.

A new vision report created in the past two months proposes an outdoor classroom and an open invite for scientists to examine the fertile grounds. Kayakers who already frequent the "sleepy channel" between the island and the Madison mainland could represent just a sliver of the recreational possibilities.

But there are significant challenges ahead. The island is four miles from the nearest boat ramp. Costs and logistical hurdles remain, and while a December workshop in Nashville generated enthusiasm, it didn't capture just one preference for the island's future.

Environmentalists, city and parks officials, scientists and fans of water recreation haggled for most of the morning meeting over how to protect the island while putting it to an educational use.

"We want it natural and we want it wild," Williams said.

She also wants to allow visitors, although they would require permission, but with the foundation "always ready to say yes," she said.

From the boat ramp downstream of the Old Hickory Dam, it's less than five miles to Hill's Island.

To get there in 15 minutes on a recent voyage, whipping winds over the open water gave the 43-degree air a chilly bite for Williams, two biologists with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and two journalists.

Houses line the riverbank in some stretches. And just after crossing underneath the Old Hickory Bridge, as the northern tip of the island appears, a towering red-brick Madison apartment building looms over trees on the mainland.

But putter a little closer, alongside the island, and those developments disappear.

A great blue heron circled and landed within a curl of land and protruding stones.

"You feel like you're in the middle of the wilderness, but you're only one mile from Gallatin Road," Williams said.

On a muddy bank, it was less than a minute before TWRA Chief of Biodiversity Bill Reeves pointed to raccoon paw prints. A few more steps and he found a brown, 8-inch bone with bright flashes of white where a varmint gnawed it.

"It's almost primordial," Reeves said. "It feels like you're walking back in time."

Visitors have photographed owls and a bald eagle around the island, and deer - evidenced by scat - must have crossed to the island via the 30-foot channel that divides it from the mainland.

"There's tons of driftwood and debris, but that makes for great fort building," Williams said.

Reeves pointed to sycamore, cottonwood, white oak and hackberry trees.

There's also litter, evidence of years of campfires, fishing and partying and invasive privet.

In February, the privet is as green as anything else.

"It would be more dense if the river didn't clear it out periodically," Reeves said. "You could have teams working on privet for the next 20 years."

The privet got a head start. But the island hasn't always been a passive curiosity.

By 1880, a map pinpointed Hill's Island by name, and an even deeper history has come into shape thanks in part to the pursuit of Davidson County's official historian, Carol Bucy.

She said frequent land trading in the county's early history created a paper trail.

"They came here to buy low and sell high," Bucy said.

The foundation's report about the island recounts occupation by Native Americans and then ownership by the prominent Donelson family by the 1780s.

Another story described an African-born slave known as "Guinea George" cultivating the island with his wife and children, and potentially other slaves living there under the possession of Henry R.W. Hill, the island's namesake.

In the 1950s, the flow of the river began to change with the creation of U.S. Army Corps of Engineer dams. The corps also has permission to flood it - just one of the considerations that surfaced at the Dec. 11 island symposium.

About 40 enthusiasts learned of the island's potential that December day in a conference room at The Bridge Building, overlooking the Cumberland River in downtown Nashville.

Some pushed for an archaeological dig. Others asked about camping and treehouses. And several mulled the best way to get to the island.

Kayakers have been able to get permission from nearby landowners to get into the water a short distance from Hill's Island. But official access from Peeler Park or the Old Hickory docks would demand 10 miles of paddling, round trip.

"That's a long day, even for experienced paddlers" said Michael King, of Paddle Ventures Unlimited.

Williams, with the foundation, recently traveled The Everglades in Florida on a $300,000 educational boat, prompting her to explore similar, cheaper options to get groups to the island.

In the meantime, the foundation continues to look for a long-term property manager - such as Metro Parks - and increased awareness to draw in key players to boost the plan.

Still, some balked at the ideas that could impact the island's wild nature - albeit a nature that sees frequent changes, including because of flooding.

For someone like Reeves, the TWRA biologist, the evolution of the place adds another layer to its drawing power.

"Because it gets inundated," he said, "it'll always change."

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Information from: The Tennessean, http://www.tennessean.com

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