Central Region - Hiking Alabama: A Guide to the State's Greatest Hiking Adventures - page 297

alongside several creeks, including Roupes Creek, which once helped power the
furnace.
We begin the hike at the Alabama Iron and Steel Museum, a great museum that
exhibits many of the artifacts discovered through the years at the site and well
worth the small admission. The trail begins directly behind the museum next to
Plank Road, which features cabins from the mid to late 1800s.
After crossing a creek you will come to a Y intersection with three trails. The
top trail simply loops back into the middle trail. The center trail leads you to the
top of the furnace to take a look at the massive stone structure from above. Our
walk uses the lower trail on the left, which is called the Iron Works Trail. The trail
takes you along beautiful views of the creek, with several boiling rapids churning
its blue-green waters, before taking you to the base of the furnace, an impressive
sight. Take your time to stroll around the structure and take it all in.
As the trail moves into the woods away from the campgrounds, it joins the
Slave Quarters Trail. You'll have to look hard, but you will pass the foundations
of several of the slave cabins burned by Union troops during their raid. The trail
soon turns onto Old Bucksville Stage Road, which was the main highway into the
area during the mid-1800s. At the end of the road, a short side trail leads to the
slave cemetery. All that remains are simple, plain rock headstones marking the
graves.
The hike is rated moderate due to some good inclines. The trail itself uses well-
maintained dirt, gravel, and clay roads. After a good rain, however, some of the
route, especially the Iron Road returning to the trailhead, can be deep in mud or
have several water runoffs crossing it.
Your park day-use fee covers hiking, admission to the craft houses, and a visit
to the furnace. The museum is a separate fee. And remember, artifacts are protec-
ted by the State of Alabama and cannot be removed. In other words, don't take
home a brick from the furnace.