Nashville exists  because of the Cumberland River. Nashville is a river city.  But the river is overlooked in the modern Nashville.  It is a backdrop, if it is even noticed at all.

In the early 1990s the Cumberland was a profoundly polluted waterway and Vic Scoggin decided to do something about it.

Vic, a factory mechanic and Navy veteran, grew up on Nashvilles creeks and the river. When he learned of the river’s pollution he tried to get people to talk about it. He said he was having trouble getting anyone to listen so he decided to do something visible and he took a leave of absence from his factory job and swam the entire length of the Cumberland River.

Vic’s unlikely activism helped change not only the course of Nashville history, his effort led to the creation of one of America’s most important environmental compacts, The Cumberland River Compact.

This is Vic’s story… a little part of it.