Big improvements are afoot at Big Ridge State Park, and park superintendent Keith Montgomery said what park guests see now is just the beginning.

Montgomery has been superintendent for about three years now, and along with park staff he's been working to address a list of issues with infrastructure and aesthetics at the park. At the top of the list are safety concerns, followed by subjects of complaints from visitors.

"It's a menagerie of reasoning," said Montgomery.

All the improvements have been funded with state money, he said. While some comes from specific funds, like TDEC Sustainability Department funding for new water heaters, energy-efficient windows and new HVAC systems, most of the money has come from a change in the way the state handles park revenue.

"For many years, anything the state parks made in revenue just rolled back into the general fund," said Montgomery. "But with better budgeting and accounting in Nashville, now the parks keep it in the deferred maintenance fund. That's what paid for a lot of this stuff. We've been really lucky. We've gotten a good bit."

Last year, park staff were hard at work addressing issues that had been put off for lack of funding, including removing more than 300 dead ash trees, replacing timbers and gravel for camp pads, trail clearing and stabilization, buying new tables and chairs for the Group Camp and Rec Hall, removing chain link fencing behind the swim beach, and much more.

Projects underway for 2018 are numerous, including replacing fencing damaged by 2017 floods, replacing way-finding signage at the trailheads, putting a new surface on the boat dock, and installing a new exercise station along the lake.

A few high-profile and noticeable projects will be a huge relief to frequent Big Ridge visitors.

First off, Bathhouse 3 at the Big Ridge campground has been gutted and is in the process of a complete renovation.

"It was deplorable," said Montgomery. "It was the number one thing we got complaints on."

The Rec Hall also got a facelift, with the logs restored to a wood finish and non-log surfaces painted to match. Montgomery called the change "a world of difference."

But, perhaps the biggest project of all centers around the park's swim beach. Many years ago, the valve on the park's lake dam broke, leaving staff unable to lower the lake level to perform maintenance at the beach. Fixing the valve enabled a lot of maintenance, not just at the beach, but around the park.

Park staff have cleared the concrete bottom of the swim area of years of silt and pressure-washed the concrete. They're also repairing rock walls built by the Civilian Conservation Corps following the Great Depression. They rebuilt the swim platform with new wood, carpet and edging, and the swim area's pontoon platforms are being rehabbed, too.

With the lake level low, park staff have also been removing trash and treefall debris from the lakeside around the park, making lakeside areas safer for use.

Montgomery said "the reaction was just overwhelming" when park staff posted photos of the swim beach improvements on Facebook, but one question remained.

"What about the beach house?" he said.

The beach house, also built by CCC workers and with a distinctive stonework veranda, has been closed for many years. In fact, Montgomery said it was on the demolition list when he came to Big Ridge, but he asked that it be spared.

"It is one of the original structures of the park," he said. "Part of our mission is to preserve the cultural features of the park."

The beach house is also home to paintings by the park's former lifeguard staff, and Montgomery hopes to preserve those in some way, too.

"I'm hoping to turn it into something like a pavilion," he said. "But it would require capital funding, and that is a whole different pot of money that takes a number of years to push through."

Montgomery invited the community to visit Big Ridge State Park to see the changes themselves. He also encouraged folks to visit http://tnstateparks.com/parks/about/big-ridge and leave feedback for the park.

"We're making great headway, but we've still got a long way to go," he said. "We're just trying to address those projects that have been hanging around for a long time, and I'm trying to get it back to a higher quality."