Wartrace Creek Recreation Area (listed by the Corps as Wartrace Ck Rec Area, and known locally as Wartrace Park) is a day-use park run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Nashville District, on Cordell Hull Lake in Jackson County, Tennessee. It sits on a wooded point where the Wartrace Creek embayment meets the main body of the lake, the 12,000-acre reservoir the Corps created on the Cumberland River with Cordell Hull Dam near Carthage. The Corps lists the park at 3711 Gladdice Highway, about nine road miles west of Gainesboro.

Tennessee Highway 85 (Gladdice Highway) runs right past the park. Coming from Gainesboro, head west on 85, cross the highway bridge over the Wartrace Creek arm, and the entrance is on the left just past it. The Corps' own directions start from Carthage: four miles west on SR-25, north on SR-80, then east on 85 past the Gladdice community, with the park on the right. Inside, a paved road passes the group shelter and the fee booth, then runs out the point to paved parking, the playground, a volleyball court, restrooms and the boat ramp.

The swim beach is a strip of sand on the south side of the point, facing the open water of the Wartrace Creek arm, with a buoy line marking off the swimming area. As at most reservoir beaches, expect the sand to give way to a softer lake bottom a few steps out, with the water deepening past the shallows. The lake is warmest from July into early September. The Corps doesn't list a lifeguard here, so assume you're swimming on your own and keep an eye on kids.

Entry costs $5 per vehicle, collected at the booth when you drive into the day-use area. That fee covers the beach and the boat ramp. The group picnic shelter sits outside the fee area and is rented separately through Recreation.gov for daytime use only (dawn to dusk, up to 100 people). No overnight camping is allowed. Pets are not allowed anywhere in the day-use area because of health department rules for parks with swimming beaches, so leave the dog at home. The Corps doesn't post exact season dates for the booth online, so call the Cordell Hull Lake office at (615) 735-1034 before a trip early or late in the year.

The boat ramp is in the next cove east of the beach, only a short distance away, so expect boats, jet skis and anglers coming and going on summer weekends. Stay inside the buoys. Lake levels rise after heavy rain on the Cumberland, which can cover the sand, push debris into the swim area and muddy the water for a few days. Don't dive from shore, since the water inside the buoys is shallow and the bottom can't be seen.

Besides swimming, people come here for the shelter and playground, and to fish for white bass, largemouth bass, crappie and catfish from the bank or from boats launched at the ramp. The lake is good for kayaks and canoes too, since the Wartrace Creek arm is quieter than the main channel. For a hike, the Bearwaller Gap Trail starts at Defeated Creek Park, another Corps park farther downstream toward Carthage.