Johnsonville State Historic Park Wins Excellence in Customer Engagement Award

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) has honored Johnsonville State Historic Park with the Excellence in Customer Engagement Award among the 56 Tennessee State Parks. The award is part of the annual Tennessee State Parks Awards for Excellence.

“Customer engagement is one of the most important aspects of what our parks do,” said TDEC Commissioner David Salyers. “Johnsonville State Historic Park has earned recognition for its performance in this category, and we are proud to honor the park with this award.”

The category is for parks that have demonstrated excellence in marketing, community outreach, social media, customer service, gift shops, and any other efforts that serve customers’ needs.

Following the Humphreys County flood in 2021, rangers and maintenance staff at the park provided support, sharing public service announcements, temporarily housing flood refugees, returning property found in Trace Creek, and hosting the Humphreys County Department of Children’s Services for 60 days.

The park partnered with the Love Big Shop Small campaign to present interpretive programming to support tourism and tax revenue. It promoted Love Big Shop Small Business Saturday, the Waverly Christmas Promenade, and programming with a fee at the Loretta Lynn Ranch.

Johnsonville State Historic Park is a day-use park named for former President Andrew Johnson who was also the Union military governor of Tennessee during the Civil War. The 1,075-acre park commemorates the site of the Johnsonville Depot, the Battle of Johnsonville, and the historic townsite of Johnsonville that existed from 1864-1944 prior to the formation of Kentucky Lake.

TDEC also announced awards for the best parks in the following categories:

Sgt. Alvin C. York State Park for Innovation; Henry Horton State Park for Interpretation; and Dunbar Cave State Park and Edgar Evins State Park in a tie for best Resource Management.

Radnor Lake State Park was named Park of the Year as well as the award in Sustainability.