Day trips from Nashville · Lake
Center Hill Lake
64 miles from downtown Nashville · about 1 hour 10 minutes
US Army Corps of Engineers, DeKalb and Putnam Counties, near Smithville, TN
Center Hill is the clear, deep, bluff-lined lake on the Caney Fork about an hour east of Nashville, with roughly twenty thousand acres of public land around it and nine commercial marinas. It is where Nashville goes when it wants water that looks like a postcard.
- Managing office
- 158 Resource Lane, Lancaster, TN
- Marinas
- Nine commercial
- Campgrounds
- Floating Mill, Long Branch, Ragland Bottom
Permits, fees and access
Corps campgrounds run roughly mid-April through early November. The Corps publishes surrounding public acreage but does not publish a surface acreage figure, so treat the numbers you see repeated online with some caution.
Swimming
Yes, at three sand beaches: Ragland Bottom Recreation Area, Floating Mill Day Use, and the Floating Mill Campground beach for campers. No pets at the beaches.
One thing to know first
The Corps warns that release schedules change without notice and that large volumes can be discharged at any time. Below the dam the Caney Fork rises fast and runs genuinely cold, which catches waders out.
Access rules, fees and closures verified August 15, 2026 against the agency that manages this place. They change, sometimes without notice. Check before you drive.
The neighborhoods closest to it
If this is the kind of Saturday you want a short drive from your front door, these are the parts of Middle Tennessee that put you nearest to it.
I keep this list because it is genuinely how people spend weekends here, and because almost every guide to it is out of date. If you are weighing a move to Middle Tennessee and want to know which part of it puts you closest to the things you actually like, ask me. No pitch.