THE GREAT STONE DOOR
The Great Stone Door is an impressive cliff line overlooking the Savage Gulf on the Cumberland Plateau. It gets its name from a crack in the cliff that runs from the top to the bottom that looks like a door left slightly ajar. The crack has been improved for hikers with stone steps — about 150 of them — leading down to the bottom of the bluff where a set of wooden stairs leads the rest of the way down into the valley.
If you go
* Stone Door is part of the South Cumberland State Park system in Grundy, Franklin, Marion and Sequatchie counties. It comprises more than 23,000 acres in nine separate areas. * To get to Stone Door from Chattanooga, take Interstate 24 West to exit 135 for Monteagle and turn right at the end of the ramp. Take Dixie Lee Avenue to a right onto U.S. Highway 41 South/State Route 56 and continue toward Tracy City. In Tracy City, take a left at the traffic light onto State Route 56. Continue about 20 miles through Coalmont and Altamont to Beersheba Springs and watch for Stone Door Road on the right. Turn right onto Stone Door Road and follow the signs to the parking area. South Cumberland State Park’s visitors center is a quick stop on the right between Monteagle and Tracy City on Highway 41.
Celebration
An event to celebrate the acquisition to protect Stone Door’s view of Savage Gulf is set for Oct. 11. The Land Preservation Celebration is free and will begin with a hike to the Stone Door at 2 p.m. CDT followed by a gathering at the historic Beersheba Springs Hotel from 3-4 p.m. For more information or to find out how to help, visit friendsofscsra.org online.
BEERSHEBA SPRINGS, Tenn. – One of the southern Cumberland Plateau’s most breathtaking views has been protected thanks to a deal struck between a local conservation group and a landowner who share a love of the Great Stone Door in Grundy County.
For Shirley Jones, the Great Stone Door – an enormous outcropping of stone that has a narrow, natural path leading down the bluff behind it – was part of the view from her property on the other side of the gulf.