A loamy carpet of moss coats a boulder in the Tennessee Aquarium's Appalachian Cove Forest. Grey stone peeks from beneath, where a thin trickle of water seeps past a lazily grazing snail to form a spout running down wet rock to the forest floor.

Above, a yellow-brown leaf releases its hold from the canopy of a Striped Maple and falls gently to a wooden bridge that traverses this section of forest. But this woodland isn’t cradling the slope of an Appalachian foothill or valley. It’s under the iconic glass peaked roof of the Aquarium’s River Journey building.

Written and photographed for the Tennessee Aquarium's Riverwatch publication, this story explores the history and ecology of a truly unique environment that introduces visitors to the origin of fresh water in East Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains.