Historic Valve House at Radnor Lake State Natural Area (February 20th, 2016)

Geography students from Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) participated in ongoing research at Radnor Lake  State Natural Area (RLSNA).

On February 20th, geography students under the direction of Dr. Doug Heffington and with Ranger Sam King continued clean-up operations preparing for the reconstruction of the historic valve house.  The valve house recently fully collapsed after years of water and ice damage, specifically from the 2010 flood.

MTSU students have been engaged over the past month in cleaning and prepping the valve, stabilizing the valve box, improving drainage from the valve box and maintaining the connected drainage system which began on January 30th.

The field activities provide the students first-hand experience in gathering geographical, historical and archeological data dealing with the L & N  industrial complex at Radnor.  This historic archeological site (40DV635) dating to the early 1900s is the very reason for existence of Radnor Lake and its complete story has yet to be told. MTSU geography students will gather additional information to complete the story.

Special thanks to Friends of Radnor Lake for providing breakfast and lunch for this field day!

We appreciate these students from MTSU for coming out to work with the ranger staff the past month on Saturdays and continuing this partnership between Friends of Radnor Lake, Tennessee State Parks and MTSU Global Studies Program.