Scott’s Gulf is an eighteen-mile canyon along Tennessee’s Caney Fork River, where steep relief, limestone geology, and karst drainage create a rugged landscape of forests, caves, rapids, waterfalls, springs, and sink features. Protected state lands include the Bridgestone/Firestone Centennial Wilderness and Virgin Falls State Natural Area. Its best-known feature, Virgin Falls, emerges from an underground stream, drops 110 feet, and disappears underground again. Settlement began in the late 18th century and expanded after the Cherokee cession in 1805, with mills, nearby communities, a resort hotel, and later coal and rail development. Because much of the gulf avoided heavy development, it remains valued for wilderness, scenery, and hiking.