Tucked in the far southwestern corner of Virginia with Kentucky to the North and Tennessee to the South lies Powell’s Valley and Wilderness Road State Park. This park is a piece of a much larger trail, Wilderness Road, which stretches 120 miles through Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky. 

One of a few horses that came to greet us while we visited Historic Martin's Station

July 8th Wilderness Road State Park

The trail was created in 1775 by early explorer Daniel Boone who intended to make a path for settlement. The park itself covers 8.49-miles of Wilderness Road and even provides bikes to rent out and explore.

The Wilderness Road itself

The Wilderness Road itself is an easy, shady gravel trail perfect for biking, jogging, or walking your favorite 4-legged friend. There is also the short 0.77 mile Indian Ridge Trail which cuts through the woods and has tree identification markers along its path.

This Virginia State Park also has a large scale re-creation of an original camp, Historic Martin’s Station, that was established just a couple of towns away in Rose Hill and a number of buildings handcrafted by the Rangers and interpreters which painted a very clear picture of what life here was like in the late 1700’s. 

A couple of buildings in the Martin's Station re-creation at Wilderness Road State Park

The authenticity of the re-creation was very impressive, as the entire construction was done as close as possible to how it would have been for the time period, from gathering materials up the hill using horse and ox drawn carriages, to shaping and fitting the logs by hand. 

Even in the high heat, every detail of the site was described to us by Mordecai Hord, one of half a dozen people dressed in period clothing there to help reenact the feel of Martin's Station as close as possible. All the while, mountains in the distance painted a beautiful background picture.

"Mordecai Hord" gave us all the details on the history of Martin's Station and the importance of Wilderness Road in the 1700's

If you would like to go on your own adventure to Wilderness Road State Park and would like more information about this park, click here, and click here to visit Martin's Station page, and to visit the Friends of Wilderness Road State Park here. 

Guest Bloggers Peter Radlowski and Sarah Sumoski plan to tackle all 36 Virginia State Parks in 2016 and they invite you to come along on the adventure with them.