Blog: City Blog

Augusta Quarry is Reopening Soon: Nature Lovers, Beat the Summer Sizzle!

Check out the "new" and definitely much-improved Augusta Quarry – reopening soon, just in time to help nature lovers and outdoor adventurers beat the summer sizzle!

The new floating swim platforms and bathrooms are in. The smooth, easy-to-navigate walkway has been installed. The overlook – with its dramatic view across Augusta Quarry – has been improved and expanded.

After an $11 million total investment by the City and its partners, Augusta Quarry at Fort Dickerson Park will be reopening to the public in a matter of days. The most recent round of work had closed the quarry in March 2024.

Check out this video, highlighting the most recent park improvements:

Wes Soward, the City's Urban Wilderness Coordinator, says the quarry has transformed in just eight years from being a rough, inaccessible and uninviting back portion of a park to what it is now – a world-class family-friendly unique-to-Knoxville amenity.

"Augusta Quarry didn't even open to the public until 2017," he said. "Even then, it was a raw experience. You'd have to make your way down a rutted old gravel quarry road, and parking was severely limited, so it was challenging just to get to the water.

"Now, it's a safer environment and a lot more family-friendly. It's more accessible now, and much easier to get to and get in and out of the water. Plus, we now will have a vendor on site, so visitors can borrow life vests at no charge if they want them, or they can rent floats and paddleboards."

Other key new additions that families will enjoy when they visit Augusta Quarry:

• Three bathrooms

• A changing room

• A vendor pavilion

• A water bottle refilling station

• An outdoor shower

• A smooth path connecting a 38-vehicle parking lot with the overlook, trailheads, the new buildings and the water’s edge

• A floating "beach" platform at the end of the walkway, lining the quarry lake’s southwestern edge, with ladders to help swimmers get in and out of the water

• A circular floating swim platform, also with swimmers' ladders

• An expanded overlook

Soward praised the uniquely tailored plan created by the design team – Sanders Pace Architecture, Port Urbanism, JMT Engineering, and the Haines Structural Group – that accentuates the quarry’s rugged natural beauty and softly and subtly blends the buildings into the environment.

About 3.5 miles of trails crisscross Fort Dickerson Park – most of them on the Augusta Quarry side of the park, and all of them accessible from the quarry parking lot.

"One thing that makes Augusta Quarry so special is its history and location," Soward said. "It's an old quarry, so it still has a bit of an industrial feel to it if you look hard for it. But it's also less than a mile from the Henley Bridge, so you can escape to the peace and quiet of nature in a few minutes – and not even realize you're so close to downtown."

Aslan Foundation, the City's largest private funding partner, funded the design work for the Augusta Quarry improvements.

Southern Constructors Inc. served as the construction contractor for the most recent upgrades at the quarry.

Enjoy the small photo gallery below!

Not interested in swimming? Check out the newly improved overlook at Augusta Quarry.

Not a swimmer? Check out the amazing view from the newly improved overlook at Augusta Quarry. (That's the floating swim platform you see in the middle of the lake.)

Below: New Augusta Quarry amenities include three bathrooms, a changing room, a vendor pavilion, an outdoor shower, an improved overlook, floating docks, a smooth, more walkable pathway to the water, and a water bottle filling station.

New Augusta Quarry amenities include three bathrooms, a changing room, a vendor pavilion, an outdoor shower, an improved overlook, floating docks, a smooth, more walkable pathway to the water, and a water bottle filling station..

Check out the new Augusta Quarry bathrooms and changing room.

Posted by evreeland at 7:13 AM