Noteworthy Site in TAG: McNabb Mines, Shake Rag, Marion County, Tennessee
Activities: Hiking, Nature Appreciation, History
Easy to Moderate
In the early 1880s, David McNabb came down the Tennessee River from upper East Tennessee and established a coal mining operation at the southern end of Walden’s Ridge, deep within the Tennessee River Gorge. The mines were fairly extensive, and included mines and tipples, an incline, coke ovens a company store and worker housing. The small community of Shakerag, which featured a two-story hotel and a church, grew up around the mines, but was abandoned after they permanently shut down in 1905. Today, the site is located on 457 acres in the Prentice Cooper State Forest, and the stone ruins of a number of the mine and community buildings and the trace of the incline plane can be seen from Mullins Cove Road that winds through the north side of the Tennessee River Gorge.
For more detailed information about the mines you can download the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for the site at
