We had planned on going to the last Greeneville Astros regular season game of the 2013 season, but Sierra fell asleep at 5 pm. I had really wanted to get out and do something and so I decided to check out the Harned Chapel Natural Bridge which is in Cocke County, Tennessee, not too far from the Greene County line.
I told Noelle of my plans and hit the road. I took US 321 out of Greeneville and headed to the small town of Parrotsville. Once in Parrotsville I headed north on TN highway 340. Surprisingly there was a sign at the junction of the two highways indicating that the natural bridge was 3.2 miles ahead. I wasn't expecting much information to be posted about this bridge. The sign proved to be correct and the bridge was even labeled with a small sign.
Highway 340 passes right over the bridge. I parked in a parking lot for the church the bridge is named after, Harned Chapel, and then headed down a drainage/path that led to Oven Creek.
The creek was just a trickle.
Not much water. The bridge was more impressive than I had envisioned it.
It was a long limestone tunnel; really a short section of cave. I went a short ways inside and looked around a bit, but it was too dark inside to see much.
There is supposedly another natural bridge a little ways downstream and so I headed that way. I walked a hundred yards or so but did not see the bridge and so I turned around and headed back to the car.
The natural bridge happens to not be too far from the Bible Covered Bridge which Noelle, Sierra and I visited back in April. If I had known about the natural bridge the two would have made for an interesting "bridge adventure".
