Brady had already put in a few miles on foot when I picked him up today, so he was pleased when I suggested we do an easy hike up the Guild Trail. It doesn't get any easier than walking up the gentle grade of an old railroad bed.
A half mile up the trail from the parking lot on Ochs Highway in St. Elmo, we came to "the big trestle," 220 feet long and 35 feet high. Lots of history here! Looking down at the gully full of brown kudzu, we could see the Chattam plant below, along with the old Zion church that's being renovated into (this is just my guess) a posh private residence. A raised hump down the gully marked the path of the original Incline railway, opened in 1887. Uphill, on the right side of the gully, was an old road that sucked Brady right off the graveled trail into the woods. According to the trusty trail guide, "this old road, probably constructed by land speculators around the turn of the century, leads about a half mile uphill to connect with Lower Cravens Terrace Road near Scenic Highway." Jeepers, the author sounded pretty sure about that theory. I think I based the idea on the fact that the road seemed to pass over the top of the broad gauge railroad (circa 1886), indicating that it was built later, but who knows at this point. In fact, I began to wonder if the road wasn't there simply to help with the construction and maintenance of the incline.
We followed the road up the hill and indeed it seemed to cross directly over the bed of the old incline, which unlike below was very distinct, a flat broad path bulldozing straight up the hill. I was photographing the incline when Brady yelled that he was on an old road leading off to the north. We followed this path to an intersection with Lower Cravens Terrace, just as the trusty trail guide had described. Maybe that guy did know what he was talking about, after all.
Brady was expressing a desire to walk on pavement, but I knew there were more old roads in the vicinity, so we continued downhill and to the north towards the bottom end of Lower Cravens Terrace. There was an old road, all right, a paved one (underneath the leaves). There's your pavement, I told Brady. Lower Cravens Terrace was in the past a rather "unique" neighborhood, and we found traces of this such as a city street lamp that had been attached to a tree instead of a pole. The road actually led downhill to the last house on Lower Cravens, lined on each side by wood waiting to be split, a hundred yards of wood, a lifetime supply for any wood stove. Just downhill from this area was our friend the Guild trail and the other trestle, not far from the Ruby Falls parking lot. This trestle is also very historical, for according to the trail guide, the remains of a road passing beneath are likely one build by Robert Cravens in the 1850's and the Old Federal Road, which dates back to 1805. We'd seen signs of surveying, mostly just flagging tape, all along the Guild Trail, but here the signs became particularly evident. Apparently the property lines correspond to some of the old roads. I found numerous stakes that read "N Row Cravens" and "S Row Jo Conn Guild" and the like.
The Cravens Road (and, I think, the Federal Road) passed underneath the trestle and then straight downhill a couple of hundred yards to Old Wauhatchie Pike, not far the barrier that marks the southern end of the Greenway. In fact, Brady and I had been down there just a couple of weeks before and had wondered about another old road, completely covered in English Ivy, that comes up to the area of that very same trestle. At one time the lower slope was a complete neighborhood covered with with homes and roads, now all covered with vines and leaves.
It wasn't until I got home and pulled out the trail guide again that I discovered that between the two trestles is another old road crossing the railbed. Says the trailbook: "Uphill, this road leads to the lower end of lower Cravens Terrace Road; below, it leads to Cravens Road off Old Wauhatchie Pike. This may be an alternate route constructed by Robert Cravens up the mountain to his home."
Sounds like Brady and I need to go back another time when we have more energy (but before the poison ivy covers the woods) and take another look!
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