LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- “I tied off my boat on this big rock, and by the time I parked my car and trailer, my boat was way out on Norris Lake,” said Tom Tye. Launching from the area called Graveyard Point at Well Springs is a favorite spot for Tye, a fisherman, but it’s even more so now with the new launch; courtesy dock.

TOP PHOTO: Tom Tye points to where the big rock used to be.

Left to right- Mayor Jack Lynch, former commissioner Robert Higgenbotham, commissioners Johnny Bruce, Dewayne Baird, Zachery Marlow and Rusty Orick attended Monday’s dedication.
The new launch was at no cost to Campbell County.

Tye, who lives in La Follette, was among the people at Monday afternoon’s dedication of the new boat launch at Graveyard Point at Well Springs. “The courtesy dock has been a long time coming,” said former county commissioner Robert Higgenbotham. Higgenbotham began working on getting this Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) approved launch years ago; 2021 is when he brought it before the commission.

Earlier on Monday afternoon, trustees with the sheriff’s office mowed, weed eated, and blew the clippings away for Monday’s event.

“It’s a TWRA-Campbell County partnership, and it’s for everybody. This makes our second ADA approved launch in Campbell County with the other at the Oak Grove Access to Norris Lake,” said third district commissioner Rusty Orick.

This is one of the most popular launch sites on Norris Lake in Campbell County.

Oh, and about the time when Tye’s boat drifted away, there was a happy ending. “It just so happened that there were swimmers close by, and they grabbed the rope and brought my boat over to me,” said Tye.

This is the place Tom Tye loves to fish, and he’s not the only one.

(WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-07/28/2026-6AM-PHOTOS COURTESY OF WLAF’S CHARLIE HUTSON)

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