Located in the middle of nowhere in northern Georgia, Expedition: Bigfoot has achieved fame as being one of the foremost Bigfoot museums in the country. While it's small, they have tons of videos and recordings to listen to to prove the existence of the hairy one. I went with a hiking group and we had a fun time reading all the stories and listening to the Bigfoot calls. At only 9 dollars, it's also a reasonable roadside attraction that actually is trying to be a legit museum. The girls running the place were super nice too.
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Not to be confused with the actual Natchez Trace, Natchez Trace State Park was formed from some of the land that was used by travelers to avoid the danger of using the Natchez Trace. Think of it as a bypass. The park is associated with horse trails and has plenty of camping around Cub Lake. I took a hike with the park around Cub Lake and saw some of the plant life and improvements the park has made recently. As a park it's sort of in the middle of nowhere, but has a nice feel to it.
On a very large lake, Tims Ford State Park is known for camping and water activities. The park also has hiking and has done a lot of fixing up of their nature center and trails in the past few years. The campgrounds are older, but well kept. The hiking is nice and near the water with a lot of suspension bridges that the park has become known for.
One of the smallest state parks in Tennessee, the Bicentennial Mall is a timeline of Tennessee history in monument form. I went on a park tour with the state park programs and was given a run down of all the different moment meanings by a park ranger. Located right next to the Tennessee State Museum and the Farmer's Market, the park is always busy and most people cutting through it have a limited idea of what the items in the park mean. I would suggest going with a tour since that's the best way to get information about the park. Have a stop of lunch at the Farmer's Market too.
A small state park near the Kentucky border, Sgt. Alvin York State Park celebrates the life of WWI hero Alvin York, who singlehandedly captured over 100 German soldiers. The park has a recreation of a WWI trench and has preserved York's home and some of the buildings of the small town he grew up in. There is also the school he founded when he achieved fame after the war. The park likes to point out that the war was only a few years of York's life and he spent the next part of it advocating for education. The day I went, the park was having their Expo Day, which involves reenactors and a variety of special programs and displays. I made WWI dog tags as part of one of their special programs. They offer tours of the house three times a day and unfortunately the last one was at the same time as the program I signed up for. This park is out of the way but fascinating when it comes to WWI history, something not talked about much in Tennessee.
Not to be confused with David Crockett State Park, David Crockett Birthplace is next to the Nolichucky River in Limestone, TN. The park has a recreation of Crockett's birthplace and farm along with a campground. The Homestead Trail next to the river is very nice, with lots of wildflowers and a pretty view of the river. We participated in a park program of making kitchen pepper that involved the park historical interpreter in costume. It's a lovely little park.
I have been to Fort Loudoun before. Unfortunately that day it was raining and the whole hill was a mud slick. This time it was a beautiful day and I got to explore the fort better. Created as a treaty deal with the Cherokee Indians, the fort was home to British troops and Cherokee until a falling out led to the British soldiers being killed after surrendering the fort to the Cherokee during a siege. A peripheral player in the French and Indian War, the fort has been rebuilt and has a nice museum in the visitor center.
Near Knoxville and more on the new end of things, Seven Islands is a very nice park that crosses and meanders next to the French Broad River. The only bird preserve in Tennessee, the area is covered up with wildlife. We took a night hike and saw owls, bats, deer, and an ear splitting amount of spring peepers. The park also has firefly hikes in the summer and is known by the locals as an impressive viewing area.
Near the Mississippi border, Big Hill Pond is a lesser known state park that has a swamp with a boardwalk along with an observation tower. The park is looking to redo the whole boardwalk with something that will hold up better and they've already improved the visitor center. They are also looking to put electricity to their camping sites. There are several nice hikes around the lake and the park is used frequently by horseback riders.
Tennessee State Parks offer a huge variety of programs that are either cheap or free and if you don't take advantage of them you're missing out. I went on a wildflower hike at Harpeth River State Park and the ranger identified a lot of wildflowers and showed us an app that will also identify plants. We hiked to the tunnel and the bluffs. It was a great way to spend a morning.
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AuthorA librarian doing the travel. Archives
April 2024
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