Rides (#1 of Many)

A while back I wrote twelve installments about rides my Dad and I would take to the northwestern part of Henry County. We did venture into Jefferson County, too For us rides in that area were the most frequent. The second most frequent direction was rides to the southwestern part of the county. I will write about those in this series.

It is important to realize as I write these that I include them in what appears to be one long ride but was really often shorter rides that covered a smaller amount of territory. But, for the sake of trying to include all of the options I will write about rides to the southwestern part of the county as one long ride.

This usually started by either going southwest on the Oakland Mills Road or west on Highway 34 and then south on county Highway W55, also know as Franklin Avenue. Today we head south on Jefferson Street which becomes Oakland Mills road at the edge of town…south past Irish Ridge Road and Dad begins to talk about the abandoned rock quarry over the hill to the west near what is now Mt. Pleasant’s sewage treatment plant. I hunted rabbits back in that area when I was a teenager.

We continue over the hill and down towards Big Creek. There is another rock quarry near the road on the right. We have hunted for fossils in there a few times and I took several summer science students on trips there to chip fossils out of the rock. Crossing the bridge we can see remnants of the K-line railroad bridge that crossed the river there. The rest of the road to Oakland Mills pretty much follows right on top of the old railroad bed.

Off to the west of the bridge about a mile is the site of Mt. Pleasant’s original waterworks plant. There was a small dam there at one time and water was pumped from the reservoir to the town. We have been to the site many times on foot and in a canoe. I once caught a big catfish right where the old dam was. All that is left now are a few stone remnants of the structure in the bank of the creek. On one walk back in that back in that area I came across a small spring bubbling out of the ground.

Big Creek County Park is also back that way. It is as close to a natural area as you can get in Henry County because the only way you can get there is by walking or when the creek is high enough by canoe.

Going on down the road there is a large pond on the right hand side of the road. Shortly after the pond we have to make a decision. We can continue on Oakland Mills Road to Oakland Mills or turn left on the gravel Hickory Avenue. Hickory Avenue takes you to two different Skunk River Roads. One is dirt and is also known as 253rd Street. The other, gravel, is also known as 265th Street.

Let’s take Hickory Avenue.