Lamar Alexander Rocky Fork State Park lies in the Unaka Mountains of East Tennessee near the North Carolina line and protects part of the Rocky Fork watershed within a larger conservation landscape tied to Cherokee National Forest. Its steep ridges, narrow valleys, cold streams, and access to the Appalachian Trail make it both a recreation area and an important ecological preserve. The land also reflects a long human history, from Indigenous occupation and Cherokee communities to late eighteenth-century conflict, including the 1789 Battle of Flint Creek. Protected through phased acquisitions from 2008 to 2012, the park was designated in 2012, opened in 2015, and renamed in 2019 for Lamar Alexander.