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Copperhill Outdoor and Area Information Copperhill, Tennessee is a pretty and quaint small town near the convergence of the Tennesee, Georgia, and North Carolina state lines. It is perfectly situated for access to Tennessee's Cherokee, Georgia's Chattahoochee, and North Carolina's Nantahala National Forests, and all they have to offer.
There is a wealth of ourdoor recreation opportunities in the Copperhill area. For hiking, camping, and backpacking, there are Big Frog and Cohutta Wildernesses. The Benton MacKaye Trail passes through these wildernesses from it's beginning atop Springer Mountain in Georgia, as it meanders towards it's northern terminus on the eastern edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. For dayhiking and mountain biking the Tanasi trail system is nearby, accessible via the Ocoee Whitewater Center on the beautiful Ocoee River. Hiking and mountain biking is also available on the Chilhowee trail system, a bit further away. These trails are not all the Cherokee National Forest has to offer. There are many other great South Cherokee Trails to explore in the area. Copperhill is the home of the Ocoee River, with it's rapids and whitewater challenges. TriCities Business Association and The Polk County Chamber of Commerce list rafting operators, as well as other visitor information, for the area. _____________________________________________________________________
The Copperhill area, known as the Copper Basin, was once among the nations largest producer of copper. The history of copper extraction dates back to a time when Native Americans utilized this valuable ore. This industry was a great benefit for the local economy, but the enviroment paid a heavy price.
The result of copper smelting and sulfuric acid production denuded a huge area of land surrounding this area. The efforts to rehabilitate this damage ranks among this nation's largest enviromental rehabilitation projects, and the results have been remarkable. What was once a landscape that looked more like the surface of Mars than the foothills of the Appalachians, now is lush with vegetation, more typical of the southeastern wilderness landscape. Visitors today are hard pressed to find evidence of this past enviromental catastrophy.
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