Carroll Cabin Barrens State Natural Area

By America's State Parks Editorial TeamMay 8, 2026 · Updated September 5, 2026

🏆 Western Valley Barrens — Silurian limestone glades above the Tennessee River, classified as a globally imperiled community

Carroll Cabin Barrens State Natural Area protects 250 acres of Silurian-age limestone glades and barrens on the hillsides above the Tennessee River in Decatur County, West Tennessee. The open, gravelly glades run in long bands across the slopes, dominated by little bluestem, with stunted eastern red cedars crowding their edges and oak-hickory woods with shortleaf and Virginia pine around them. Several state-rare plants that are otherwise found in the Southern Great Plains and the Ozarks grow here, which gives the flora a distinctly western feel. Weyerhaeuser Company donated the land to the state, and it was designated a natural area in 2002. Since 2006 a parking area and an approximately 2.5-mile loop trail, built with the Decatur County Parks Department, have made it one of the easier West Tennessee natural areas to explore.

Visitor Information

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a cabin to visit?

No. Despite the name, the Tennessee Division of Natural Areas lists no cabin or other historic structure at the site — its description covers only the glades, the barrens, the overlook and the surrounding forest. Plan the trip around the landscape and the rare plants, not around a building.

What are barrens?

Barrens are open grasslands on thin, rocky soil where the bedrock lies close to the surface. Here the bedrock is Silurian limestone, and the Silurian outcrops of the Western Valley are considered some of the most extensive in the unglaciated United States. These glades look similar to the famous cedar glades of Middle Tennessee, but they lack that region’s endemic species — instead they carry a set of disjunct western plants.

Which rare plants grow here?

The state lists the barrens silky aster, hairy fimbristylis and slender blazing star as threatened, and blue sage as a species of special concern, all recorded at Carroll Cabin Barrens. The community as a whole is classified as a Western Valley Limestone Hill Barren and is considered globally imperiled.

Getting There

From Interstate 40, take exit 126 (U.S. Highway 69/641) and go south through Parsons, crossing Highway 412, and through Decaturville, crossing Highway 100. From the four-way stop at Highway 100 continue about 11 miles, turn left on Bob’s Landing Road for about 1 mile, then turn right on Smith Gravel Pit Road. The parking area is 1 mile ahead on the right, with a kiosk at the trailhead.

Nearby state parks: Mousetail Landing State Park sits on the opposite bank of the Tennessee River in Perry County, and Natchez Trace State Park lies to the north off Interstate 40.

Things to Do

Hike the loop to the two glades and the overlook, look for the western disjunct plants in the open gravel, watch and photograph birds along the forest edges, and study how fire and thin soil hold the grassland open. The site is managed by the Division of Natural Areas from the Jackson Environmental Field Office (731-512-1369), together with the Decatur County Parks Department in Parsons (731-847-6225).

Best Time to Visit

The glades are exposed and hot in midsummer, so carry water. Slender blazing star and the barrens silky aster flower late in the season, which makes late summer and early fall the most rewarding time for the rare plants; spring brings the forest wildflowers along the wooded parts of the loop.

Wildlife & Nature

Little bluestem dominates the open, gravelly glades and their margins, with forbs unique to the glade-and-barrens complex scattered through the openings and crowding the edges. Stunted eastern red cedars ring the glades, and the surrounding forest is a mixed-age oak-hickory woodland with shortleaf and Virginia pine. The whole complex sits in the Western Valley of the Tennessee River, which some botanists treat as a separate physiographic region with its own flora.

Editorial note: The America’s State Parks Editorial Team checked this page against the Tennessee Division of Natural Areas site description on September 5, 2026. Contact the Jackson field office before you go if you need current trail conditions.

About the Author

America's State Parks Editorial Team

America's State Parks is an independent online guide to the state parks of the United States. Our editorial team compiles and reviews each park profile from official state park agency sources and other primary references, and follows a published editorial and review methodology (see /editorial-review-methodology/). We update profiles and correct errors on an ongoing basis.

View All Articles by America's State Parks Editorial Team →