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Stopping by a state park on a snowy evening
By Tom Adkinson
February 4, 2022
Cumberland Presbyterian cabin. Image by Tom Adkinson |
BURNS, Tennessee – At least twice already this winter, it would have been easy to channel poet Robert Frost on a snowy hike through the woods at Montgomery Bell State Park, one of Tennessee’s most popular year-round parks. It is about 35 miles west of Nashville.
Unlike Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” where only the woods and the snow made him pause, there are two landmarks to find if you hike the Ore Pit Trail, one of eight in the 3,850-acre park. The first is a reproduction of the frontier dogtrot log cabin in which three men created the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1810, and the other is a nearby chapel (both built in the 1950s). There now are Cumberland Presbyterian congregations throughout the U.S.
Cumberland Presbyterian chapel. Image by Tom Adkinson |
The chapel is unlocked and accessible every day, and Sunday services are offered in summer months. The chapel has a special appeal when winter sunlight filters through its stained glass windows onto wooden pews and a slate floor. If Frost had visited the chapel, he may well have paused a bit longer before recalling he had promises to keep and miles to go before he could sleep.
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