lake tansi village

Since 1964

The Building of Lake Harrison

Cosby Harrison was a dreamer and his dreams were centered on the Development of Cumberland County as a great resort area. He once told a reporter for the News-Sentinel: “There’s nothing like this great Plateau, but the Plateau’s future is people. Millions of them will come here when we have the facilities to house and entertain them. Americans are running out of places to go. I believe this area will become the nations’ major resort area.”

In the 1940s Harrison saw what he considered a chance to make one of his dreams come true — the dream of building a large lake on the plateau. The federal government had bought a large tract of land in Cumberland County for the development of homesteads for the mountain people. Not all this land was used for the project, and in the early 1950s much of it was put up for sale. Harrison bought a number of acres, on which he thought he could build a large lake as the basis for a resort area.
Article and photo courtesy of Crossville Chronicle.

In 1956, work began on the lake. The heavy forest had to be cleared for the lake area and the dam built. By 1959, the dam had been completed and the lake had begun to fill, fed by a small mountain stream and the natural rain fall. Then began the construction of facilities for the resort. By late 1960, a restaurant, 20 efficiency cabins (10 one-bedroom cottages and 10 two-bedroom cottages) and a pro shop had been completed with a nine-hole golf course was ready for use, and a boat dock with several enclosed slips.

On April 28, 1961, Lake Harrison was formally opened. Lake Harrison is sold and becomes Lake Tansi — 1963-’64

Cosby Harrison had enjoyed building Lake Harrison but he was not interested in running a resort. After three seasons, he was restless and ready to turn it over to someone else. While spending the winters in Florida, he approached a few developers, hoping to interest someone in buying the property. Once he stopped by Callaway Gardens in Georgia, to see if he could interest “BO” Callaway in buying the resort. Then one cold day in December 1963, when Crossville was the coldest spot in the United States, Harrison sat in the business office closing the books for the year, when suddenly a total stranger practically “slid” over the ice and snow into the office. He introduced himself as Fred Swaney from Alabama. He seemed overwhelmed by the beauty of the lake and immediately asked if by any chance the property could be purchased. Mr. Harrison had his buyer.

After several weeks of negotiations, Lake Harrison Resort was sold to Swaney and his partner, Henry Rogers. The name of the lake was immediately changed to Lake Tansi, an unfortunate misspelling of Tanasi, the Indian name for Tennessee. In the spring of 1964, the resort was opened under the new name, Lake Tansi Village.