Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park

I went out to Old Stone Fort to do some expoloring with a few friends of mine. This was the second time I have been out to Old Stone Fort in Manchester, TN. The last time I went was in the spring and the weather and season made it quite a different experience, though both were lovely!

I met George, Margie, and Corey on my first hike with Nashville Hiking Meetup. The four of us have remained hiking buddies and have gone on our own hiking excursions apart from the group. Now that I'm not required to work on Sundays (and my church has three services!), it's a little easier to plan hikes and outings.

Old Stone Fort is actually not a "fort" but an ancient Native American ceremonial ground, dating back 2,000 years. It is located on a promontory between the Duck and Little Duck Rivers. The rivers cut through the landscape on both sides of a large field, creating beautiful waterfalls. Along the edges of the field are mound walls, and the mounds at the entrance to the site were built to align with the summer solstice sunrise. There are surprisingly few actual artifacts that have been found in the area, but archaeologists believe that areas like this were ritually cleansed of items when the groups left the area.

It was a truly beautiful day to be out hiking. Fall is my favorite season, and the colors were absolutely stunning. The nice things about hiking with a smaller group is that you get to choose your own pace. You can stop and take some pictures. You can stop and take it all in. You don't feel like you hiked a trail and missed it (like I did on my last hike). I like to practice my photography (very amatuer), but sometimes the hiking group hikes so fast that you feel like you are holding everyone up when you stop to take a picture!

We did see some unfortunate things like litter (which I collected until my bag was full) and a dead, partly eaten deer. However, the pleasant sites far outweighed these. It was a great trip with great company!