The Environmental Journal of Southern Appalachia
Tuesday, 26 April 2022 11:42

Ocoee Whitewater Center destroyed in huge fire

ocoee whitewater centerU.S. Forest Service

WKRN: Building a total loss after overnight fire

Investigators are on the site of Polk County’s Ocoee Whitewater Center after it burned down in the early morning hours of April 26. No injuries were reported, and the building was closed to the public because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Forest Service website. Several trails in the area were closed as authorities, including state arson investigators, probed the cause of the massive fire.

The center featured native stone and massive beams and overlooked the Class V rapids of the section of river used for whitewater events during the 1996 Olympics.

It later became a great place for spectators to watch commercial rafters hit such holes as Humungous, and was used as a regional visitors center, event venue and educational facility.

Some 300,000 people visited or paddled by the center every year. It was a center for educational programs and hiking, biking and watersports.

“Native gardens honoring Olympic athletes and Cherokee Indians invite you to stroll through the grounds. A historic trail, built by Cherokee Indians and used by 19th century miners to transport copper ore by mules and wagons follows the river upstream. Along the way you can see rock formations deposited more than 750 million years ago,” according to a Forest Service description of the facility.

“The Ocoee Whitewater Center was a unique site not just here on the Cherokee National Forest, but across the Forest Service. It is a difficult loss for us,” Mike Wright, acting forest supervisor for the Cherokee National Forest, told WKRN of Nashville.

This article has been corrected to note WKRN is a Nashville TV station.

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