Nashville. Tenn. – If you have been driving along or over any of the great Tennessee’s lakes and rivers recently, you may notice boats, earthmovers, and teams of divers with chains and moving equipment.

These are the people behind the YouTube channel Adventures with Purpose.

What are they looking for down in the old waters that make Tennessee whiskey legendary and Tennessee mountains misty? They are looking for cars. And they aren’t just looking, they are pulling these old cars out of the waters for good.

Just last week, a few volunteers pulled four cars pour of one section of the Cumberland River near McGavock Pike on Thursday.

The group’s mission seems to split into 2 very important pieces: 1. provide answers to families whose loved ones go missing as a result of Nashville car accidents and 2. clean up the rivers and lakes across the country.

“They also hope to provide closure to families with loved ones who have gone missing. They came to Tennessee to help search for Bill Simmons, a Donelson man missing since June.”
And that they did.

The group did find traces of Simmons on Thursday but will have to return to Cumberland and search the waters where there are at least another dozen sunken cars, to search for more evidence.
The most cars Adventures with Purpose has ever seen in a single hole before was 17 in total.

The group sends down a diver who attaches chains to the cars which are then towed to the top and pulled out of the water.

Mayor John Cooper met with the group on Saturday morning, and former Metro Council Member Karen Bennett helped bring awareness to the group with a drive-through event.

As with all their search efforts, Adventures with Purpose invites the public to watch the events from a safe distance. Sharing on social media as well as live streaming is encouraged!