Help Yourself to a Scottsboro Driving Tour
Scottsboro North: (0 mi) Exit from Lewis Country Store on the West side and turn right on Old Hickory Blvd. heading north.
(~.1mi N) On the right you’ll see Zack’s cows, burros, and donkeys.
(~.2mi N) Sulphur Creek Farm is next on the right with vegetable gardens in preparation for a community supported agriculture (CSA) farm. Sulphur Creek Farm is the largest garden of the CSA farm sites and will be the produce pick-up site for CSA members. A large shed is planned for storage, meetings, and occasional music celebrations.
(~.3mi N) You will pass Pecan Valley Rd. on your left and immediately after is Scottsboro Baptist Church.
(3-4mi N) Continue down Old Hickory Blvd past Bull Run Rd. where you will see country living, open fields and forests until you reach the Beaman Park Nature Center on your left. You’ll find parking at Beaman Nature Center with trail maps, bathrooms, and great displays. Beaman Park is a wonderful natural area characterized by hills, valleys, and streams with wonderful shaded (sometimes steep) hiking trails. If you don’t have time for a hike today, come back another day!
(~4-5 mi S) Turn right on Old Hickory Blvd as you leave Beaman Nature Center. Return to the intersection of OHB and Hwy 12, but get in the Rt lane to go straight on OHB. Scottsboro South.
(~ 2 mi S) Go south Straight across Hwy 12 on Old Hickory Blvd., and proceed South past old Hydes Ferry Pike; turn at the bottom of a hill onto Old Cleeces Ferry Rd.
(~.2 mi S) Go ~ 0.2 mile down Cleeces Ferry Rd past the Whooping Crane Garden. In addition to being a part of the CSA farm sites, this was the home of a pair of rare Whooping Cranes in the winter of 2008 and 2009.
(~0.2 mi S) Continue down Cleeces Ferry Rd ~.2 mi where you will see an old farm with a red roof. This is the old West Family Farmhouse (on historic register) where you’re welcome to stop for water, a snack, and sit a spell. The West farm is the site of Ellen’s Mellons and Berries and will be another site contributing to the local CSA.
(~0.3 mi S) Turn left onto Cleeces Ferry Rd and continue past the Sod Farm until it merges with Old Hickory Blvd. where you go straight on OHB.
(~ .7 mi S) Continue south on OHB past the first entrance to Bells Bend Park until you reach the entrance to the Bells Bend Nature Center. Park again and get literature if you have time. The Nature Center has a great discovery program for kids and adult alike and there are about 5 miles of trails through the low rolling hills and floodplain of the bend.
(~0.2 mi S) Turn right if you have time as you leave Bell’s Bend Nature Center and see more farms and open spaces as you head on down to the river (Watch Out!!); the road ends at the river where Cleeces Ferry used to be. Now it’s a boat ramp.
This concludes your driving tour. Go on back to the Lewis Country Store for lunch!
Come anytime to get away from the frenzy of city life, and enjoy nature in both our wonderful parks from Beaman Park on the north to Bells Bend on the south.
Keep it country!
