Reelfoot Lake - The Name

The Name

Reelfoot Lake is said to be named for an Indian chief who had a deformed foot and was nicknamed "Reelfoot" by settlers in the early 1800s. A Chickasaw native American legend states that the name originated from a prince of a Chickasaw tribe inhabiting the present West Tennessee who was born with a deformed foot and walked with a rolling motion, so was nicknamed "Kolopin," meaning Reelfoot. When he became chief, Reelfoot determined to marry a Choctaw princess, but her father would not permit it. The Great Spirit warned Reelfoot that if he attempted to kidnap the maiden, his village and his people would be destroyed. Reelfoot disobeyed the Spirit, and seized the princess by force and carried her to Chickasaw territory, where he arranged a marriage ceremony. In the middle of the ceremony, the Great Spirit stamped his foot in anger, causing the earth to quake, and the Father of the Waters raised the Mississippi River over its banks, inundating Reelfoot's homeland. The water flowed into the imprint left by the Spirit's foot, forming a beautiful lake beneath which Reelfoot, his bride, and his people lie buried. Other origins are also cited, for example, in his 1911 story "Fishhead," Irvin S. Cobb claimed the lake " its name from a fancied resemblance in its outline to the splayed, reeled foot of a cornfield Negro." Though the legend is about the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes which inhabited the area, these tribes left around the early 1300s only using it as hunting grounds. By examining early maps of Tennessee, Map of the Southern States of America, 1795 we see where Reelfoot Lake is now the Red Foot River. In a later map after the lake is formed, Tennessee and Kentucky 1835 the body of water is called Wood Lake because of all the standing trees in the water. It is likely then, that over the next few years (even before 1835) map makers sepearated the 'd' in Red Foot and it became an 'e' and 'l', making it Reel Foot Tennessee 1827.