Yet if you have only an hour, or less, you can still make a quick trip to the lower falls. The adventurous traveler might take a couple hours to explore the Graveyard Fields and find the Upper Waterfalls on Yellowstone Prong.
#GRAVEYARD FIELDS NC DRIVERS#
Someday, too, Graveyard fields might even once again be the scene of a spruce-fir forest.įor now, it’s the setting of a great walking trail at an overlook that always seem hopping with drivers and passengers. Today, it is believed that such enrichment will eventually lead to large plants and trees. Gradually, these small plants enriched the soil. Yet the earth rebounded.īlackberry briars and other plants took root - and added decaying vegetation to the earth each season. The fire burned so deeply, scientists believe, that it destroyed much of the soil’s nutrients.įor years, this barren area was compared to the parts of the Rocky Mountains, for its lack of vegetation. Flames ripped apart the area’s spruce-fir forest and even destroyed the ancient dirt mounds. Over time, the forest recovered, but then came a fire in 1925, ravaging the forest. Thus, this place became known as “Graveyard Fields,” simply because that’s what it looked like - a graveyard. Later, old tree trunks rotted, leaving behind large clumps of dirt that looked like a field of graves - covered with moss and spruce needles. Here, about 500 to 1,000 years ago, a tremendous wind uprooted the area’s spruce forest. Graveyard Fields lies between Asheville and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the southern portion of Haywood County, N.C. It is also simply pretty, and it provides an environmental history lesson.
This stop along the North Carolina portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway offers not only a chance to splash in a couple of waterfalls. Graveyard Fields may not sound scenic, but don’t let the name fool you.
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