River Bluff old Civil War battle site hike on mlk day

 With the kids out for MLK day

I thought I'd take Gracie and invite some other buds and their kids (& grandkids) to come explore
the future river bluff trails up on Cherokee Bluff.  Legacy Parks has raised over 2.1 million to make sure this 70 acres gets preserved as a nature park with hiking, biking trails.  And in honor of Natalie Haslam will have a wildflower area called "Natalie's garden".   And it can be a good area to talk about the history of Knoxvillle.  As the battle of Armstrong hill and since most of East Tenn was not for Slavery, many were fighting alongside the union side.  The union held its ground and between this site and down at Fort Dickerson pushed the confederates back.   Historians explained to me that due to Union, downtown knoxville was preserved and not ruined.    Most of the mountain people were not wanting to fight for the confederates, and were more sympathetic to the Union cause to end slavery.

But back to the hike.  There is a gravel lot right across from the big (yukky) water tower on top of Cherokee Bluff.  The gravel road goes down hill 300 yards and then we hiked up and to the right (still on the gravel road) and after half mile come to the breath taking bluff views.   We made sure to tell out kids and dogs to view but also to be cautious as it is a high bluff over rocky area above tennessee river.   The Tennessee river i found out used to be called the Holston river.

After looking around and there are a few side trails and caves to look at, we went down to lower pond and headed out lower trail that will be site of lots of wildflowers and goes under the high bluff area.  A neat opening to a cave is there.  We let the kids look at the face of the cave as there is an impression where a 1863 is barely seen and it looks authentic? But I'm not sure.  After coming back to the pond you hike to the back side of the pond which leads to the other pond on this property.  After taking a few photos and looking at an old pump house we headed up a steep part of the gravel road and back to the parking area.  

It is only about a 2.5 mile hike but full of interesting nature, and historical sites.  If you want to find out more about this area or to see how you can donate to this cause of making this park a reality go to www.legacyparks.org