Timberland Park - Trip Report
Timberland Park is a Williamson County, TN park near Franklin, TN at milepost 437.2, so right at the start of the Natchez Trace Parkway, following the Double Arch Bridge at Birdsong Hollow. There are a lot of fantastic trails in this park, and we sadly didn’t have time to do nearly as many as we would have liked. We had debated where to spend the night and opted for Jackson, MS, which meant that we had to move reasonably quickly.
The first things we noticed were the port-a-potties, which was welcome at this point. They also had a big swing, which was a great place to sit and contemplate the woods. They also had a mailbox all decorated for Santa, which the kids really enjoyed seeing.
We started the Nancy Conway Trail, but couldn't finish it due to time constraints, sadly. After about half a mile, we turned around. Then we stopped by the park office on the other side of the parking lot, which was basically closed. There were rangers inside, but they had moved a table outside on which they placed most of the information you would want including a nice brochure about the history of the park.
This park was privately owned logging land, and the trails are mostly old logging roads. The nearby town of Franklin is full of homes and businesses built from lumber that came from Timberland Park. The Maxson family sold 80 acres (72 of which is now the park) to the State of Tennessee in 1975 so they could build a folk arts center, but that never happened. Instead, the state decided to auction off the property in 1996 after declaring it "surplus."
In order to retain the area for public use, the Williamson County Chamber of Commerce and Parks and Recreation departments lobbied hard and worked with the state and the Natchez Trace Parkway and the Federal Highway Administration for over a year, finally acquiring the deed in 1999.
The park office that we didn't go in at Timberland Park is, according to the brochure, actually a "2000 square foot sulf-sustaining Interpretive Center" that "uses solar panels and stores energy in batteries for electricity, rain water collection for irrigation, propane for the fireplace and a septic system for waster." It houses artifacts and educational displays and definitely will be worth a visit when we are doing more indoors.
Just behind the interpretive center is the .18 mile ADA Judith Gribsby-Hayes Trail, which would be great for families with strollers, so we walked that before getting back on the Natchez Trace National Parkway.
