Faculty Publishings

MC faculty member writes the river

A man, a dog, a canoe and a 652-mile river—such was the scenario for Kim Trevathan’s first book Paddling the Tennessee River: A Voyage on Easy Water (University of Tennessee Press, 2001). One might think traversing the entire length of the Tennessee River with only a paddle and canine companion would have sated Trevathan’s desire to explore via canoe, but the effect was just the opposite. Rivers have captivated this MC writing instructor’s muse.

The Cumberland River, which winds its way through Trevathan’s native state of Kentucky, as well as his home state of Tennessee, was the artery traveled for his latest book, Coldhearted River: A Canoe Odyssey down the Cumberland  (University of Tennessee Press, 2006). This time, photographer Randy Russell joined Trevathan for the trek to help paddle and document the journey.

“I started thinking about the Cumberland a couple of years after the first book, partly because of taking one of my J-Term classes up to Cumberland Falls,” said Trevathan. “I think there’s a magical spirit around the place. It’s still like a trip home for me, a trip back to Western Kentucky.”

Longer than the Tennessee by a good 60 miles, the Cumberland adventure also presented almost 100 miles of undammed waters, something no longer in existence on the Tennessee. “The Cumberland was a little more mysterious than the Tennessee,” Trevathan noted.  “Part of that had to do with frequent fog, thick forests, high bluffs, and long sections where we saw no one, and part of it had to do with its volatile history, from Daniel Boone and James Robertson fighting the Shawnee and Cherokee to Civil War battles.”