Fort Donelson National Battlefield, Stewart County, Tennessee

(Click to enlarge pictures)

 

     It’s not exactly a nature trail per se, but like Stones River National Battlefield, Fort Donelson offers a nice three-plus mile hike around its environs that is a real treat. It starts and ends at the visitor center (which, by the way, has some of the nicest staff in the business) though you can link into it from various points in the park. Here Dan McDowell is getting a last drink before setting out.

 

     The trailhead is actually a little hard to find, but if you face away from the visitor center and kind of look toward the park entrance, you’ll see this sign.

 

     The first part of the trail sort of parallels the park road that you can alternately take for an auto tour of the premises, but trust me, it’s better by foot. Here is Dan approaching the spire placed by the Daughters of the Confederacy to memorialize the Confederate casualties of the battle.

 

     The D. O. C. does it right. This is a shot of the same memorial as above, showing the statue…

 

          

…and the inscriptions around its base. This is fairly common at the battlefields we’ve visited; the vast majority of the markers are Federal, but the more poignant ones are Confederate.

 

          All along the road are breastworks and plaques noting the positions of various units during the battle. At right, Dan stands next to one with a story: during a trip into a cave in Montgomery County, he and a friend found this very sign abandoned. They contacted the appropriate authorities, who put it back where it belonged…

 

     The trail eventually leaves the road and takes off into the woods adjoining the Cumberland River. It’s quite an attractive walk, even on an otherwise gray day.

 

          Seen along the trail: at left, holly (quite appropriate, as we were there during the holidays!) and right, ground cedar.

 

          After following the trail through the woods and along the river through several hollows where we found some fellows out wetting their lines, you reach the river batteries, which are pretty much in their original configurations. From here the Confederates assaulted the Union forces coming up the river. At right, a young man stands outside a little tunnel that once held ammunition.

 

          Further along is this emplacement. A lot of shot was flung at the advancing Union naval forces between this battle and nearby Fort Henry (on the Tennessee River, now part of Land Between the Lakes) and it repelled them briefly, but men on foot eventually won the battles, which culminated in the now-famous “Unconditional Surrender” in a hotel in nearby Dover.

 

     Yes! Apparently there really are eagles nesting nearby! We didn’t see any on this trip, though.

 

     Back into the woods, then, passing through some wonderful fall colors.

 

          Left: the stories this tall fellow could tell…right: the inevitable fungus-covered stump. No, it doesn’t take much to please me when I’m on the trail…

 

     True story: we hadn’t intended to visit Fort Donelson on this trip. Our real objective was Fort Henry, but when we got to Land Between the Lkaes we found our trip coincided with the day of the annual open deer hunt, and the place was literally swarming with guys in camo and blaze orange. Hiking was out of the question…lesson learned: check the web site when you plan a trip to LBL!

 

 

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