ON THE TRAIL AGAIN

Ron and I hiked the east end of the North Boundary Trail (approx. 3.2 mile round trip), a Greenway in the Oak Ridge, Tennessee area, near where K-25 Plant sits. The gravel road runs about 7 miles from the west end of the City of Oak Ridge, just below the old war era guard station, to just below the old Wheat Community.

This area was settled in the 1700s, and in 1846 was first called the Bald Hill Community. However, it was changed to Wheat in 1880, after the community’s first postmaster Frank Wheat. Early residents included family names such as Henry, Inman, and Welcher.

In about 1840, a Gallaher purchased the area and it was later called the Gallaher-Stone Plantation.

These families buried their families and their slaves (unmarked) in family plots all over the area that became the Reservation known as Oak Ridge. The homes and farms in this area ceased exist in 1942 when the U. S. Government began their “secret” project to build the first atomic bomb that eventually ended World War II.

Today, all these graveyards are numbered and documented using GPS positioning, and open to only the families that once lived in the area. However, if you walk this particular Greenway, you can visit at least 3 of them.

Today we visited 62 (Slivey family) and 63 (Rather family) sites.

Along the trek we discovered a new wildflower with lovely “violet like” blooms called Moth Mullein - the flowers grow from and around a single stalk. If you look closely, you can see why it’s call “moth”…the bloom has the appearance of a moth.

We also stopped and listened to the mating chatter of the 17 YEAR CICADAS that are out in force this year!

This is a very peaceful walk…and sometimes, when the weather and lighting is just right, it can be down right spooky!

Naturally, Ron and I ended up at the Smoky Mountain Brewery for burgers and pale ale later!