Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park, established in 1929 on the western shore of Kentucky Lake north of Eva, occupies rugged high ground above the Tennessee River, including Pilot Knob, one of West Tennessee’s highest points. Its name comes from Confederate General and Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest, whose forces used this landscape during the 1864 Battle of Johnsonville, placing artillery on the west bank and atop Pilot Knob to fire across the river. The area also holds far older significance, including the Archaic-period Eva site near Cypress Creek and an important pre-settlement river crossing. New Deal projects helped develop the park, whose name remains controversial.