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Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park – Manchester, Tennessee

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Getting on the road hubby and I decided we wanted to be more active. We talked and decided hiking and seeing the State and National Parks is one way we wanted to do this. So looking at what parks were near us.

Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park – Manchester, Tennessee

The Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park seems pretty cool, an old Native America site.

Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park – Manchester, Tennessee Sign

We headed down to the museum first to get a history of the area. The parking area is right on the river talk about beautiful views! (Hard to see around the trees)

Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park – Manchester, Tennessee River

The first plaque we came across shared how the river was used to power powder mills during the civil war!

Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park – Manchester, Tennessee Powder Mill

The museum had a ton of great artifacts that they have found on the site. They had a great display of arrowheads.

Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park – Manchester, Tennessee Arrow Heads

They had some other great stuff but I loved seeing the fish hook, it’s not much different than what we use today!

Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park – Manchester, Tennessee Fish Hook

They have engraved rattles which were neat to see too

Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park – Manchester, Tennessee Rattle

They also have pictures of the dig they did to find the artifacts in the museum.

Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park – Manchester, Tennessee Dig

This is a dugout canoe similar to ones the Native Americans would have used. This one had actually been used on the Duck River and tested out.

Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park – Manchester, Tennessee Canoe

Heading down the path the area on top of the museum is a great picnic area and look out spot over the Duck River.

Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park – Manchester, Tennessee Museum Top

Entering the path The National Register of Historic Places plaque is there, It was good to explain tot eh kids what it was.

Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park – Manchester, Tennessee Historical Marker

The start of the path there is sign number 1. The yellow bath is the 1 ¼ mile hike we did.

Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park – Manchester, Tennessee Sign 1

Sign 2 was at the base of the  grounds

Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park – Manchester, Tennessee Sign 2

The top there is huge open field. The flowers growing were very vibrant and colorful too!

Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park – Manchester, Tennessee Field

From here we missed a few signs because the tail was to narrow and close to the cliff to walk with our young kids so we walked the park ranger’s truck trail around that area. Sign 8 was the next one we found.

Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park – Manchester, Tennessee Sign 8

Sign 9 pointed out some waterfalls.

Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park – Manchester, Tennessee Sign 9

The waterfalls were hard to see, while it was fall the leaves hadn’t really started falling yet.

Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park – Manchester, Tennessee Waterfall

Sign 10 shared the uses of water in different cultures.

Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park – Manchester, Tennessee Sign 10

The path here was beautiful and tree covered!

Path Pic

Now does that look great? Can you tell we walked it backwards because I let hubby lead the way?! LOL!

All in all I think it would be a good walk for older kids but I think we missed so much not being able to walk on the cliff.

Of course on the way out we wanted to check out the info for the RV and camping sites. We had to cross this beautiful bridge to do so.

Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park – Manchester, Tennessee Bridge

We weren’t allowed back in to the RV sites and there wasn’t anyone on duty for info. What we did find out is there are 51 campsites with electric and water hookups, no sewer but there is a dump station. There Is also a nature trail around the camp area.

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    Friday 19th of February 2016

    […] 4. Old Stone Fort State Park – This is an old Native American Ceremonial ground. The museum has some great items from when they had an archeological dig. The hike around the grounds is about 1 1/4 mile and has some waterfalls to see too. […]