A Day Away By Mike Steely
As I’ve shared before, my wife and I have visited most of Tennessee’s state parks as well as many parks in our surrounding states and several national parks. A new Tennessee park is now on our bucket list, and it looks very, very interesting.
Head of the Crow State Park was formerly called Cumberland State Park, which grew to more than 30,000 acres and was divided into three parks: Savage Gulf, Fiery Gizzard and Head of the Crow.
The new park is located in Franklin County and is named because it includes the stream that is the “head” of Crow Creek. The park contains large trees, rare wildlife, caves, arches and sinkholes. The park includes the large Sewanee Natural Bridge, Lost Cave and Buggytop Cave. It’s also the home of the rare Painted Tiger Snail.
The park has four unique areas, including the Sherwood Forest Natural Area, the Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lee Carter State Natural Area, the Natural Bridge State Park Area and the Hawkins Cove Natural Area.
Made possible through agreements with the University of the South, Mountain Goat Trail Alliance, Division of Forestry and Friends of the South Cumberland State Park, the new park has 4,358 acres. There are hiking trails with stairs, bluffs and caves, and areas for birding, hunting, and cave exploration with a ranger.
Getting to the new park from Knoxville may be easier by going south on I-75 to Chattanooga and taking Interstate 26 north to Monteagle. From there, turn south on Highway 41A to Sewanee. The visitors center is on the left near University Avenue.
You can find Head of the Crow State Park on the internet or call the visitor center at (615)762-5917. The park’s address is 17 Lake O’Donnell Road, Sewanee, Tn. 37375.
