Reelfoot Lake
LAKE

County Seat: Tiptonville

All of the lakes in Tennessee are man-made lakes that were formed by dams. All except one. Reelfoot Lake, which borders Lake and Obion counties, was formed by a series of earthquakes that occurred in 1811 and 1812. It must have been an amazing thing to see, because from what we can tell the Mississippi River actually flowed backwards at times, pouring water into an abyss formed by the quake. Today this body of water is known as the “Turtle Capital of the World” because there are so many turtles there.


Two of the Night Riders
Reelfoot Lake was also the setting of an infamous series of terrorist attacks in 1907 and 1908. Prior to that time, people who lived in this part of the state had fishing rights at Reelfoot Lake, and obviously many people depended on the lake for their livelihood. But in that era a company called the West Tennessee Land Company bought Reelfoot Lake's shoreline and declared that people couldn't fish the lake anymore. This infuriated locals so much that hundreds of them put on black sheets and conducted terrorist attacks against the company and people who represented it. In October 1908 these "night riders," as they were known, murdered a lawyer named Quenton Rankin and tried to kill a West Tennessee Land Company official named R.G. Taylor.

Taylor, father-in-law of a star Vanderbilt football player, managed to escape by wading through swamps and dodging bullets. A posse consisting of law enforcement officials from several states (and including dozens of former Vanderbilt football players) rounded up several suspects, six of which were later found guilty of murder (but none of whom actually did prison time). A few years later the state of Tennessee passed a law declaring Reelfoot Lake public domain (which means people can fish there, regardless of who owns the shoreline).

By the way, Lake County historian Abigail Hyde says that the night riders mostly came from a community called Samburg, in neighboring Obion County.


A few miles from Reelfoot Lake, here is the Lake County Courthouse in Tiptonville

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