Pickwick Landing Dam is a hydro-electric dam on the Tennessee River in Hardin County, in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located nearly 207 miles (333 km) above the mouth of the Tennessee River, a few miles north of the point where the states of Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi meet.
The dam is one of 9 dams on the Tennessee River owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the 1930s as part of a New Deal-era initiative to create a continuous navigation channel between the river's mouth and Knoxville, and bring economic development to the area. The dam impounds the 43,100-acre (17,400 ha) Pickwick Lake and its tailwaters are part of Kentucky Lake.
Pickwick Landing Dam is named for a community situated near the dam site at the time of construction. The community had been named after the title character in the Charles Dickens novel, The Pickwick Papers.
Pickwick Landing offers many activities for River Cruise passengers and tourists. Pickwick Lake is famous for smallmouth bass and Tennessee River Catfish. Fish that are known to bite year round are crappie, bluegill, white bass, stripes and sauger. Some of the biggest fishing tournaments are located here.
Pickwick Landing State Park offers a beautiful and challenging golf course surrounded by trees and water is found on eight holes. Pickwick Landing also offers three public swimming beaches. Altogether, there are about two miles of public swimming beach at Pickwick.
River Cruise Seasons vary by river. Lower Mississippi cruises operate year round, while cruises on the Coastal Waterway, the St Lawrence and the Columbia don't operate in the winter and their schedules may be set to enjoy Fall Colours or historical events. The weather varies according to the region, river and season. Fall cruises to view the autumn colours will be cooler while summer cruises on the lower Mississippi will be warm to hot.
Population: 3,274 (2007)
Language: English
Currency: American (US) Dollar
Time Zone: UTC/GMT -5 hours