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Aug 30, 2023

It’s been months since I posted to this blog. While most businesses have suffered since the outset of Covid, the Falls at Sewanee Creek is booming. Guests are finding it’s a perfect place to breath fresh air, safely distanced and inspired by nature. 

But, for me, No time left for blogging.


Meanwhile, Several big changes


 We finished and opened the Glamper (aka the Glamping Tent). It’s been an immediate hit. A serene location with a view overlooking Miller’s Falls and cascades in the canyon below.We added a couple more sites that have also become extremely popular.

The Trampease Tree Tent has been described as unique, creative, even whimsical.  I think it’s completely original, although inspired by pictures of tents from Pinterest like this one from Tentsile, suspended from trees and a platform tent with a sheltered living space and a camp table below. 

I like creating my own from repurposed materials and combining diverse ideas into something new. So, I incorporated the below-tent camping area into a trampoline suspended high in the trees.

I had previously built what I now call my first generation trampoline tent (Yurtle) on a trampoline with a satellite dish roof. 



So, I had some experience with trampoline tents. 

This time, I wanted to put a larger trampoline up in the trees. Trampease is gen-2.   Check out its page on this website.

 The latest creation is an Outdoor Kitchen.  This time, necessity was the mother of invention. We blocked most of our places for my sister’s large extended family reunion. Guess that makes her the Mother of Invention.

 We needed a place to gather, cook, eat and socialize around the campfire. So, I staked out a place in the primitive camping area between Yurtle, the Firepit and the outhouse. I used several large trees for corner posts and added one post on a corner where there was no tree to support the roof. Finished the roof structure in a couple of days. Next, I hooked up a water line from the house, added a commercial stainless sink, a water heater, propane barbecue and range with a griddle. 

I had already built a unique camping table with fold-down leaves around a pickup truck tool chest. The kitchen turned out to be the perfect place for it with its ample internal, sheltered storage for all the cooking gear, dishes and utensils needed outdoors. At that stage, the kitchen was a bit rough, with dirt floors, but served our purposes well. The reunion was a smashing success and the kitchen was the perfect place for the extended family to gather. 

 After it was all over, I hired a father-son team of local artisans to lay a stone floor in the kitchen. The ”finished” product is beautiful. We have hosted friends, other family, neighbors and guests there since it was completed in July. It seems though, that nothing I build is ever really finished, Some day, I want to build a stone pizza oven there, but that will have to wait for some other priorities.

I’m not the only one in our family with a creative bent for building stuff. It’s just in our DNA. 


Some of us gathered in the pool at the bottom of the falls to deepen it. We hauled large boulders out by hand and stacked them to create a dam. Physical, enjoyable work, as we waded in the cold water during the June heat. Nathan is an avid rappeler who loves using heavy ropes and pulleys to engineer moving heavy things. He hooked up his AWD Subaru at the top of the bluff to a pulley system hooked to trees and moved some truly monstrous multi-ton boulders at the bottom of the falls. He succeeded in yanking a couple of them out of the bottom with satisfying results. The effort ended with a snapped line and a promise to come back later and finish deepening the pool. 

 Nathan and Donovan also provided physical muscle to level a huge, flat boulder exactly under the main stream of the waterfall. A great time was had by all. In the ensuing summer months, many guests have enjoyed dipping in the pool or showering, soap-less in the waterfall. One of my personal favorite activities is relaxing on the bench at the top of the falls while listening for screams as new guests brave the initial shocking chill of falling water. 

 My most time-consuming summer project has been with software. With the added venues and chock-a-block reservations, we were losing control. It’s been a mind-numbing struggle to get Cloudbeds (a booking management platform) to play nicely with Airbnb, VRBO and Hipcamp. 

We recently went live with direct online booking from this website. Eliminating the middle-men reduces booking costs to our guests. 

Still working out the kinks, so please be patient with us. If, like me, you enjoy relaxing on a bench to listen for screams, you might sit on our front porch as I attempt to untangle software complexities.


Thankfully, the struggles are all worthwhile. We are grateful to live in a wide-open place with waterfalls and hundreds of acres of trails that we can share with wonderful people, both old friends and new. We are hardly aware of the stresses of big cities and the ravages of pandemics and social unrest. Life is good at the Falls at Sewanee Creek in the South Cumberland Mountains.

By The Cox Family 03 Oct, 2023
A great place to hide from the everyday hustle and slow down to remember the magic of life! Christy Cox October 1-3, 2023
30 Aug, 2023
How a Tiny girl taught me to believe in Fairies A true Story by Grant-pa Stillwater First, let me introduce myself. I'm an old man. I’m an old man who didn't believe in fairies or much of anything else. You might call me a curmudgeon. So, you might ask, “what's a curmudgeon?” Well, it's just a big word for a grumpy old man. Thankfully, I do believe in little children. Little children are powerful. Little children have magical powers. They can even melt the heart of a curmudgeon. The story I have to tell you is true. One mid-summer evening I happened to have some visitors. It was a young Mommy, a young Daddy and their tiny 3-year-old girl. Such a delightful family.
30 Aug, 2023
“The Falls at Sewanee Creek has been crowned the #1 best Hipcamp to visit in Tennessee in 2023! Based on your 2022 bookings, reviews, and ratings, you've done an incredible job providing Hipcampers with a great experience.”
30 Aug, 2023
Everybody loves to create. Only a blessed few know how to create with steel. I love to connect people’s creative drive with some easy-to-learn welding skills. First, we go to my metal scrap pile, a collection of car parts, tanks, stainless utensils, pipes, sheet metal, washers, bearings, saw blades, chains and more. Then you mix, match, compare and visualize something uniquely, creatively you. Next we cut, bend and shape, followed by removing rust, paint and dirt for a clean, strong weld. Finally, it’s time to weld it all together. I give pointers on welding technique and safety. We don welding masks and gloves and it’s your turn. The whole process is satisfyingly explosive. Since I began offering Maker Sessions in Steel to our vacationing guests, I’ve been astounded at the scope of people who want to learn to weld. It’s not just men . Surprisingly, women and children make up the majority . Perhaps it’s the appeal of artistic creation that’s the bridge. Maybe it’s the confidence that comes from learning something that seemed outside of what children and women normally do. I don’t know. 
30 Aug, 2023
We enjoy all of our guests. Some leave us deeply moved, our hearts filled with joy and a sense of purpose. They create heartwarming, shared memories and friendships that will last forever. The Miller family (not related) are guests and friends like that, Click on THIS LINK to Jennifer Miller’s blog post.
30 Aug, 2023
Our guests, Queen and L.A. made this short documentary of their stay with us in our Eco-Container Cabin. They liked it. We like their video. Hope you will too. Help them build their youtube channel by subscribing, liking and sharing.
15 Mar, 2020
Observing exponential growth of panic over the past few weeks. Some silly (stockpiling toilet paper) some not so silly - just reasonable, measured caution. The travel industry is devastated. Cruising is dead in the water. Dining out is out of style. Concerts at the nearby Caverns venue are flat. Cancelled sans-refund. Anywhere groups of people gather is off limits. Fear and loathing. Yet, for now at least, our little slice of heaven with cabins, treehouses, Tents and campsites is buzzing with quiet activity. I wondered, why? Maybe a lot of people still think this is over-hyped. If so, that will end soon. I think there Is another reason. Especially in times like these, people need to get away for short periods and find a place of peace. While most travel and recreation oriented destinations involve crowds, ours is one of the few options that has none of that. Our cabins and campsites are sprinkled lightly throughout the woods. There is plenty of space for quiet, private contemplation - trails, waterfalls, look-out points, acres and acres to explore alone with nature - away from crowds. Beyond the natural advantages of a low population-density rural area in the woods, We are taking extra precautions to assure our guest’s safety. 1. We greet each guest upon arrival to brief them on the things to do and places to eat both on and off the property. While doing so, we take special care to keep a prudent, safe distance that exceeds six feet of personal space and, for now, no handshakes. After the initial greeting, we give plenty of space - as much as you desire. 2. At the end of the stay, we ask our guests to place all linens in a large cloth bag (virus survival outside a host is shorter on cloth than hard surfaces like plastic), spray with an aerosol sanitizer and return it to the main house where it will be laundered with a special laundry sanitizer. We sanitize sheets, blankets, pillow-cases and towels with sanitizing solutions, hot water, and a hot dryer setting. Linens that are hard to wash (bedspreads and quilts) are dispensed with. We think your health is more important than a momentary pretty first impression of the bed. We can supply pillows, but encourage guests to bring their own. 3. We thoroughly sanitize all hard surfaces between guests. 4. For our own protection (and therefore yours too) we wait a couple of hours after guests depart to enter the space. Upon entry, we use an aerosol spray to cleanse the air. Again at departure. 5. After everything we can do, we encourage our guests to add an extra layer of vigilance. We supply an array of sanitizers (soaps, detergents, sanitizing aerosols, etc.) in each house. We encourage our guests to sanitize everything again with the supplied solutions and bring more of those you trust most. That’s both for their own peace of mind and just in case we missed something. None of these measures is inexpensive to pull off, either in labor or materials. Just essential. We care. So, we won’t be reducing our prices. On the contrary. You WILL get what you pay for and more. Then, RELAX and enjoy the beauty and serenity of nature in its most pristine state. Most of this happens quietly, behind the scenes, without a lot of fanfare. We think there is more than enough stress in this world without fanning the flames. So, when your world calls for self-imposed quarantine, there’s an away place that’s safe, secure and serene. Refuge can be very sweet.  Welcome to The Falls at Sewanee Creek.
02 Mar, 2020
Located at the top of fifty foot Miller’s Falls and with a view from the back deck of the Falls and magnificent cascades below, This ”epic” glamping experience is now available at the Falls at Sewanee Creek. Our first guests stayed over the weekend. Come join us to experience the serenity of nature at its best.
20 Feb, 2020
We don’t get a lot of snow on the South Cumberland Plateau, but when we do, it’s amazing. This past weekend, we got about four inches. We enjoyed an off-road ride on our Polaris Ranger to a hidden wonder with guests Marc and Heather Raymond. They are hyper-fit (iron-man) outdoor enthusiasts, so we risked exploring one of the remote lookout points on the property, despite the slippery conditions. It’s called the triple-castle rock due to the three pinnacles that project high into the Sewanee Gulf Canyon. There is a narrow catwalk that leads to the last of the three castles and the pictured overlook. We were rewarded with a rare and magnificent view of the snow covered canyon. Near the lookout, there is a private trail with multiple switchbacks traversing the 800 foot drop to the bottom of the canyon and rarely explored Sewanee Creek. Ford The creek to find an unnamed cave begging to be explored. You won’t find this hidden trail without a guide. It’s all right here on our private preserve, The Falls at Sewanee Creek.
09 Oct, 2019
Here’s a heads up. I’m almost done with my next addition to the Falls at Sewanee Creek. It’s a completely new section dedicated to primitive camping and glamping. The first glampsite will feature my “creatively unique” trademark. Things I build are usually out of repurposed objects that I find new and creative uses for. (Shipping Containers, Old Chicken house roof tin, Pallets, Buckets for Sinks, etc.) Always featuring the amazing natural setting on our land with an incredible waterfall. This time, I’m building a “YURT”. It’s smaller than most yurts - ten feet in diameter. The floor is about 3 feet from the ground, away from critters and bugs. It will have a 360 degree view of the woods, as it will be wrapped in clear windows, but heavy curtains will make it dark and completely private as desired. The roof will be fashioned from a ten foot diameter satellite dish. That gives it a hard shell, like a turtle. So, I’m calling it “YURTLE”. (Shades of Dr. Seuss, for those who recall Yurtle the Turtle)
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