WATERSHED

Stones River

Stones River watershed

About the Stones River watershed

Drainage Area

938 square miles

Notable Tributaries

  • West Fork Stones River
  • East Fork Stones River

COUNTY/STATE

  • Bedford County, TN
  • Cannon County. TN
  • Coffee County, TN
  • Davidson County, TN
  • Rutherford County, TN
  • Williamson County. TN
  • Wilson County, TN

Water in the Stones River watershed drains to the Stones River, named for long hunter Uriah Stone who explored the river in 1767. In 1968, the Army Corps of Engineers dammed the Stones, and J. Percy Priest Lake is the resulting reservoir.

Within the watershed, sections of Cripple Creek, Overall Creek, and the east, west, and middle forks of the Stones River are all found on the Nationwide Rivers Inventory. Both Cedars of Lebanon and Long Hunter state parks are found here, as well as Cedars of Lebanon State Forest and ten state natural areas – more designated natural areas than any other watershed in the entire Cumberland River basin. 

Its many cedar glades represent one of rarest habitat types in the southeastern United States and support a rich array of biodiversity. In Cedars of Lebanon State Park alone there are 350 species of plants and 29 are endemic to cedar glades. Every spring, endemic wildflowers, such as yellow sunnybells, blanket the shallow soils and wet, gravelly limestone of these glades.

Explore the Stones River watershed