Tennessee River

Book excerpt: While there are books romanticizing the mighty Mississippi River, or capturing the beauty of the Chattahoochee or documenting the Ohio, no such book exists on the Tennessee River--until now with "Tennessee River: Sparkling Gem of the South." Photographer/pilot Ron Lowery has completed over a decade of aerial photography of the Tennessee River--spanning four states and covering all 652 miles of it from the river's humble origins in the Appalachian Mountains to its merger with the Ohio River in Paducah, Kentucky, at Mile Marker 1. Using an unusual open-cockpit plane that he built, Lowery captures the path of the river, its estuaries and tributaries, the cityscapes and landscapes that all tell the important story of this "sparkling gem of the South" in a 144-page, coffee-table book of stunning photographs. From thousands of feet in the air he has witnessed the artistry of the curvy, glistening river below. Floating above the tree tops, he's soared beside eagles and watched as deer quenched their thirst at the river's edge. "I felt compelled to do this book because so many people seem to take the river for granted. Although most people near the Tennessee River have their favorite fishing, boating, swimming and camping areas, few people see and understand the river's vastness and beauty," says Lowery. "I believe that even though you can experience and photograph the river from the ground or in a boat, it's an aerial perspective that reveals the river's true soul Ron Lowery is the author of Chasing Lewis & Clark Across America: A 21st Century Aviation Adventure, a book that is also about rivers. Few people have been as touched by the Tennessee River's beauty as much as Lowery. For the past 30 years he's not only lived on the river near Chattanooga, but using a special open cockpit airplane that he built, has flown hundreds of miles along the river and its tributaries.