Your plan
The waterfall + lake day
Start early, earn a view, then cool down at the lake before dinner.
- Morning: Burgess Falls or Window Cliffs
- Afternoon: Puckett Point lake access
- Evening: Smithville dinner and a slow drive home
Independent local field guide · Center Hill Lake
Start with the day
you want.
The coves, back roads, waterfalls, meals, practical details, and local stories I share with friends and guests—after more than 20 years of returning to Tennessee.
Field notes, practical trip tools, and local context · Updated for 2026
A note from Tony
A destination resource first.
You do not have to be a guest to use Tony’s Guide. Pick the kind of day you want, follow what catches your attention, and come back whenever you need a new direction.
I created the guide after years of helping real guests plan better trips. That work also shaped The Little Lake House—the quiet, wooded home base behind the guide, about one minute from the water.
Interactive trip tool
Build your Center Hill Lake day.
Choose the pace. I’ll give you a useful starting plan—not a schedule you have to obey.
Pick a direction
What kind of day are you after?
The existing field-guide library remains available while this independent home grows. New work will publish here first.
Start here
First-time visitor
Seasons, essentials, and the easiest ways to make a good day without overplanning it.
Boats, coves & fishing
On the water
Marinas, ramps, fishing, paddling, swimming, and the quiet coves worth finding.
Trails, falls & overlooks
Waterfalls & outdoors
Easy roadside stops separated from the hikes that earn the view—so you arrive in the right shoes.
Eat, shop & meet the place
Food & local character
Where I send friends for dinner, groceries, local meat, a bottle, and the stops that give this place character.
People, places & memory
History & culture
The communities, crafts, Black history, and stories that were here long before a vacation map.
Make arrival easy
Practical planning
Packing, budgets, weather, connectivity, emergencies, and the small decisions that make a trip run smoothly.
The home behind the guide
Make the lake the adventure. Let the house be the easy part.
The Little Lake House is Tony’s two-bedroom home base in the woods—paved access, boat parking, a hot tub, fire pit, fiber internet, and the lake about one minute away.
2 bedrooms2 bathroomsHot tubBoat parking