Originally, this piece was written in February 2021 as a Facebook Post. Here it is today as a short and sweet blog post. Enjoy!
A warm day put Kentucky Historic Travels on the road again and for the first time in 2021! We headed to Tioga Falls, just south of West Point. Tioga Falls is situated in a historical area just off US-31W on lands belonging to Ft. Knox.
L & N Turnpike History
As you turn off Dixie Highway, you find yourself driving down a section of the Louisville & Nashville Turnpike. The Louisville & Nashville Turnpike was a macadamized stagecoach road, built between 1837 and 1849, that ran from Louisville, through West Point and Elizabethtown, to Nashville, TN. A trip from Louisville to Nashville via stagecoach took about 3 days. The road was named turnpike for the toll booths situated about every 5 miles.
Our Experience
Once you arrive in the parking lot, you are at the beginning of 2 site seeing areas. On your left is Bridges of the Past, another 2 mile stretch of the Louisville & Nashville Turnpike that is for walking only. Through your walk, you are able to see the historical bridges built for the turnpike. To your right, is the trail head for Tioga Falls, a 1.5 mile uphill hike.
I knew that the falls would be beautiful after the rains we had received recently. What I did not think about was how muddy the trails would be due to the snow we also received. About a third of the trail was a very muddy, mucky hike. As I anticipated, the falls were beautiful and well worth the hike, even though it was a muddy one.
We decided to save Bridges of the Past for our another trip. We will combine it with Fort Duffield, a civil war fort, located just down the road in West Point. Sometimes Tioga Falls and Bridges to the Past are closed by Ft. Knox for training purposes, so make sure to check on this before you decide to make a trip.
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