Water from Lake Ronkonkoma Helped Make Delta River in Nashville

A quarter-mile artificial waterway called the Delta River is a key ingredient at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville.

What's interesting is that a piece of the Sachem community helped make that possible.

Water from more then 1,700 rivers and registered water bodies in the United States were poured into the waterway, including some from Lake Ronkonkoma.

According to a representative from the resort, they sent mini Jack Daniels bottles to the locations and had people fill them with the foreign water. Giant Jack Daniels jugs hung from the ceiling of the atrium and dropped the water into the river as part of the grand opening of the resorts expansion in July 1996.

"It’s so much a part of our history and our culture," said Jenny Barker, director of public relations for the Gaylord Opryland Resort.

They added the Delta Atrium, which is the largest area of the resort, hovering next to the Grand Ole Opry, the home of country music.

A majority of the river's water comes from the Cumberland River in Tennessee, which is ironic since that same river flooded the entire facility in May 2010. They reopened in November 2010 and through social media outreach regained many samples of water from the original registered locations.

The river runs indoors and the resort charges $9 a ride for guests on their Delta Flatboats. 

A monument listing all 1,700 bodies of water by their state location runs alongside part of the river. For the complete list, check out the PDF in the gallery above.