Bull Skull Hollow log cabin, moved to this site from a nearby location
Last week, in lieu of an official spring break, our whole family went on a field trip to nearby Bull Skull Hollow. We had considered a road trip to a botanical garden about an hour away, but when we saw this event on the Fresh Air Family website, we decided that we couldn’t beat this deal–close by and FREE! Although the walk hike was a little more than we expected (neither Steady Eddie nor I believed the outing could really last until 5 p.m., as the website indicated), I consider this locale a hidden gem of northwest Alabama and the Tennessee River valley.
You can read the history of Bull Skull Hollow on the website, so rather than give you all the details, I’ll just share my pictures.
Desiccated soup? This cracked me up. 🙂
A fossil of some sort--an egg, maybe?
You can read more about the village here on the website. We really enjoyed walking around the village and enjoying all the antiques Mr. Hicks collected to share with the community.
Our hike mostly followed a creek, and it was rocky and hilly and just a little bit strenuous.
mouse ear coreopsis leaf--Do you see the mouse and and its ears?
Raccoon tracks, perhaps? Perfect to go along with our reading of Rascal!
dwarf crested iris
fiddlehead--I love these!
lots o' mayapples
mayapple blossom--You have to get down low to see these!
It was a lovely day. Our guide was an amateur botanist, the perfect mixture of knowledge and humility; he would encourage anyone to correct him if he mis-identified any of the specimens we saw, yet he rarely came across anything he couldn’t at least guess at. The girls made friends of most of our fellow hikers; at one point, they were holding hands with one of the ladies on the trip, a spry great-grandmother who loves wildflowers and nature, telling her all their secrets. It was such a good day–days like this are ones that make me love homeschooling. Huge thanks go out to Steady Eddie for this day, too. He took off work, not knowing that he would spend the day carrying the DLM in a pack and in his arms. The hike lasted lasted over three hours, and did I mention that it was somewhat strenuous, with lots of loose rocks, holes, mud, and hills? Steady Eddie is my hero. 🙂
I’m tagging this post Alabama field trips, northwest Alabama field trips, and Tennessee Valley field trips, in hopes that I can blog more about some of the fun places we go around our state and region. Alabama really is a beautiful state!
I love these pictures and am totally envious of how far along Alabama is in the spring! We only have green on the willow trees, and the daffodils just came out this week.
We’re going to make a field trip to visit a horse farm if the mud ever dries up around here. Thanks for reminding me of how much such a trip can spice up school.
Thanks for the links, I’m already checking them out. Hey, remember the blog header we talked about. I remember talking about it and the quote and sadly, not much more. When you get a chance, shoot me an email so I can play with graphics! 🙂 Hope you are having a good week.
looks like a wonderful day. We are still getting snow!
Look at that sweet little sleepy man in that picture. Adorable. I want us to do some stuff like this soon – I need to get a little better carrier for my boy as he has about maxed out my wrap!
It looks like you had a fun day – tiring, but fun. That’s just the sort of outing I want to do with the family, before it gets too hot.
Sounds like a perfect homeschool day! So much more fun and educational than sitting in a classroom.
I love the photos!
So absolutely beautiful! And such a contrast to the devastation that the state endured just a few days afterwards. I’m so glad you shared the pictures from your outing here. True confessions: I have a hard time thinking of southern states as being beautiful. (Mostly I just think of them as HOT!) But you’re re-educating me!
Carrie, NW AL is quite beautiful–very similar to southern middle TN. It’s somewhat hilly and has lots of creeks and streams. But you’re right–it is HOT in the summertime–and HUMID!
This is wonderful but I just found out that my family line showed Indians were born in Bull Skull Hollow in the early to middle 1800’s I don’t know what the Indian names are but the last name was McBride can anyone help me?
The road to Bull Skull has a deep cut over McBride Branch. No doubt that is a reference to your ancestors.
I loved your website!! Thank you for visiting and enjoying our wildflower trails and village.