Snead Farm: An Easy SNP Day Hike



There are a couple of forks in the road -
mind the guide posts!



The old Snead Farm barn.



A few years ago, when I was making my way through the easy day hikes in the previous edition of the book I reviewed yesterday, I stopped by Snead Farm on a late spring morning with the intention of knocking this 1.4 mile out-and-back hike along a fire road, with an easy climb. The book also describes a longer, 3.2 mile loop - I've never done that one. 



Exterior of the root cellar.



By the time of year I visited - mid May, if I remember correctly, parts of the homestead were already overgrown with waste-high grass and I imagined I could actually see the ticks in there waiting for me, so I postponed a close inspection of the ruins here for another day.  I planned to come back during the winter, and I hoped I'd be able to talk Mary into it.  So it happened that over the Christmas holiday we went out and did this hike, pairing it with the Lands Run Falls hike I reviewed last week - as it happens, that is the same way I did these two hikes the first time.



Root cellar interior.



The story goes that this 200-acre apple farm was acquired by the park in 1962.  But unlike with many of the old farmsteads, the barn was not razed and you can see it when you visit, although you cannot get in.  There's also an old root cellar; which for me conjures up a vision of onions, carrots, turnips and the like - and a healthy share of winter squash to boot.



Bunkhouse foundation wall.



The tall grass had kept me away from the foundation of the old bunkhouse, but we were able to get a closer look at it during December.  In addition to the old concrete footers, there's an old cistern, and a couple of stairs where the old doorways were.  There's a substantial foundation where an interior stairway once stood, as well, so I assume the bunkhouse was a two-story structure.



Bunkhouse cistern.



On the way in, there are piles of stones, hinting at old pasture walls, and a couple of little springs that you pass.  It's a very pleasant and easy adventure, one I don't mind revisiting now and again.

Bunkhouse doorway steps, with the
old staircase in the background.