Chuck Sutherland

Throughout a caver's career, certain caves stand out as important, or defining to them. Unnamed Cave 61 is the cave that stands out for me (the cave does have a name, but in the convention of archaeological sites, we do not share its name). I was present when the discovery of its prehistoric art was first made. I initially brought cavers there on a lead by a neighbor. We believed that we were the first to have documented the cave, but later learned that it had been previously described, but the location was wrong. I corrected the error and merged the records within the Tennessee Cave Survey dataset. This cave I have come to think of as "mine" though I in no way own or have any particular claim to it. All that serves to preface my walkthrough of the cave, and its amazing contents. In this first image of the panel, one can see it naturally. It was photographed with painted light from a headlamp by a tripod mounted camera at close...

For my own records, and for anyone interested, these are the concerts I have attended. 1995 06 06 - White Zombie, Reverend Horton Heat, The Melvins at Starwood 1996/05/04 - Toadies, Brother Cain, The Nixons, God Lives Underwater, Lounge Flounders at Edge of the Cumberland 1996/07/09 - The Cure at Starwood 1997/03/29 - Bush at Nashville Arena 1997/04/04 - Descendants and Suicide Machine 1997/05/17 -Better Than Ezra, Sponge, The Verve Pipe, Tonic, Cowboy Mouth, The Honeyrods at Edge of the Cumberland 1997/08/12 - Rage Against the Machine, Wu-Tang Clan, and Atari Teenage Riot at Starwood Amphitheatre 1997/09/13 - BB King at Nashville Fairgrounds (?) 1998/08/07 - Dave Matthews Band at Starwood Amphitheatre 1999/02/23 - Sunny Day Real Estate, Heroic Doses, and MK Ultra at 328 Performance Hall 1999/11/05 - George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic at 328 Performance Hall 2000/09/14 - Buzzfest 2000 at Amsouth Amphitheatre Cowboy Mouth, Dynamite Hac...

Bee Rock is a spectacular, east-facing overlook and is managed as a city park in Monterey, Tennessee. Like it's counterpart, Meadow Creek Park, it is a great place for rock climbing. Because of its aspect, it's an excellent photographic destination for sunrises for most of the year. In the map above, sunrise angles are shown with geographic context related to Bee Rock. The two angles facing east represent the Summer and Winter solstices (north and south respectively). The green shaded area shows the "viewshed" from the observer's location.

In the late 1980s, the Town of Monterey embarked on a search for a new water source and eventually found a suitable 300-acre tract of land on the Clarkrange Highway, about five miles east on State Route 62. The property, previously a coal mining operation, was located near Meadow Creek and had a terrain that was ideal for a 100-acre lake created by a strategically placed dam on the stream. Despite having 200-plus acres of shoreline, the lake went largely unnoticed until 2015 when the town council realized its potential and authorized the development of a master plan to transform the property into a remarkable park and outdoor enthusiasts' paradise. Meadow Creek Park is still in its early stages, but it has already garnered attention from professional trail builders and volunteer groups with skills that align with the overall plan's objectives. The support of passionate individuals and influential businesses such as the Perdue Foundation and Signature Health has been crucial t...

The Winding Stairs is a unique waterfall located in a city park of the same name in Lafayette, Tennessee. It is a narrow and short limestone canyon formed in the upper Ordovician units of the Nashville Basin physiographic province, with the watershed being mostly within the lower Mississippian Fort Payne Limestone. The waterfall begins in the Ordovician units whose thinly bedded stratigraphy resemble stairs. The park has access for wheelchairs, and has easily accessible overlooks for children and elderly people to enjoy. The trail beyond the paved portion gets steep and rocky very quickly. Steep, rocky terrain with intermittant seeps makes springtime at Winding Stairs an excellent time to find plenty of beautiful wildflowers.