The Caney Fork winds its way westward from its source atop the Cumberland Plateau and drops down to the Highland Rim at Scott's Gulf, where it enters White County.

Two miles beyond its Rocky River confluence, the Caney Fork absorbs the Collins and enters the Great Falls Gorge.

The Collins River rises atop the Cumberland Plateau several miles south of Rock Island State Park at the head of a canyon known as Savage Gulf.

The river almost joins the Caney Fork at a point just opposite the Great Falls Dam power plant, but instead bends southward to create the peninsula where the present park is located.

The company built a wheelhouse to harness the power from Great Falls and divert it to the cotton mill, higher up on the bluffs.

The company, which often struggled with finances, finally began construction on the Great Falls Hydroelectric Plant in 1915, and the dam went into operation in 1917.

[7] The Rock Island area was used for a considerable number of exterior shots and stunts in the 1994 Sylvester Stallone film, The Specialist.

The park's Center Hill Lake section contains a natural sand beach and a popular fishing area known as the "Blue Hole."

Below Great Falls Dam is a series of rapids with a well-known, constant, retentive "hole" that allows playboaters to hone their whitewater kayaking skills, riding the wave, spinning, rolling and performing other tricks.