Cheatham Hill Loop Hike map (click to enlarge)

Length: 5 mile loop, (add .5 mile total for side trips to Cheatham Hill and Kolb’s Farm)
Time: 3-4 hours (add 1 hour to visit Cheatham Hill and Kolb’s Farm)
Difficulty: Mostly easy, but with two steep hills

NOTE: Fighting took place all over Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, and historic earthworks crisscrossed the area. When originally created, the trenches were roughly eight feet deep. Over the 150 years since the war, those that were not completely destroyed by farmers and builders have eroded away, so now most resemble nothing more than shallow gullies. In the main historic areas of the park, the earthworks are pointed out by markers and interpretive signs, but this is not the case along the Cheatham Hill/Kolb Farm loop trail. To the casual hiker, most go unnoticed or mistaken for natural gullies. Therefore, keep in mind that for most hikers there is nothing of recognizable interest on the trail between the two historic sites, so the only reason to hike from one place to the other is for exercise. If you just want to see the sites, use your car.

A loop trail takes hikers to Cheatham Hill and to Kolb’s Farm. Being a loop, it can be accessed at a number of locations, the two best being either from Cheatham Hill or from the official start of the trail at the Sherman/Thomas Headquarters on Cheatham Hill Road. You can also pick up the trail at Kolb’s Farm, but the parking lot only holds six cars, and you have to walk on the road and cross a busy intersection to get to the trail. The other locations have ample parking and are close to the trail.

The trail is 5 miles long, but if you venture off to Cheatham Hill and Kolb’s Farm, factor in another half mile. You should be able to hike the trail, see the historic sites, and take a few rests along the way in no more than 4 hours. At Cheatham Hill, this would include visiting the exhibits only at the Confederate Line atop the hill and the path to the parking lot, not the exhibits along the road coming in from Dallas Highway.

My hike description is from the Sherman/Thomas Headquarters parking lot on Cheatham Hill Road. For those hiking from Cheatham Hill, at the bottom of this page I have included instructions on how to get to the loop trail. Depending on the park map you have, it may be downright confusing as to how to get to the loop trail because you will come to intersections that are not on the map.

To begin the hike, exit the Sherman/Thomas Headquarters parking lot and turn right. The trailhead is a fifty yards down.

Sherman/Thomas Headquarter parking lot as seen from Cheatham Hill/Kolb Farm loop trail

This trail is wooded, but not as much as the trails in the northern section of the park around Kennesaw Mountain. Therefore, be sure to wear a hat and apply sunscreen if avoiding the sun is important to you.

You can hike the trail in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. I recommend hiking it in the counterclockwise direction, which is how the park set up the trail. The reason for this is that the trail signs are visible only when hiking in this direction. Coming from the clockwise direction you only see the back of the sign, so to make navigation simple, hike in the counterclockwise direction. To do so, pick up the trail on the same side of the road as the parking lot. Look for the information board and “Start” post.

Starting point for the Cheatham Hill/Kolb Farm loop trail

Along the trail you will see posts with red, blue, and yellow directional arrows and red, blue, and yellow distances in miles. These correspond to certain trails, but this color-coded system must have been abandoned, for no place on the National Park Service website or in any literature is there a reference to the trails by color. However, since there are no other trails in the area that branch off from this loop, all three colored arrows always point in the same direction, so you don’t need to know what color trail you are on—just follow the arrows. In addition to these posts with directional arrows are actual direction signs, so the trail is well marked, and it’s hard to get lost.

Follow the color arrows to stay on the loop trail

The first thing you will notice on this trail is the proliferation of joggers. Joggers mean that the trail is relatively smooth—not many roots or rocks. Much of the path from the trailhead to Kolb’s Farm (west side of the loop) is nothing but an old, gravel road, though from Kolb’s Farm to Cheatham Hill (east side of the loop) the path is more “trail like” and not as smooth, but certainly joggable. Other than two short but very steep hills, the trail is flat to mildly hilly, and you shouldn’t break much of a sweet (unless, of course, it’s hot outside). One of the hills is at the very end of the trail when you are coming back to the trailhead and approaching Cheatham Hill Road. The other is near the Kolb Farm area.

Typical trail terrain from Sherman/Thomas Headquarter parking lot to Kolb’s Farm

Typical trail terrain from Kolb’s Farm to Cheatham Hill

The only tricky aspects the hike are trying to see Kolb’s Farm and Cheatham Hill. In regards to Kolb’s Farm, the site does is not along the trail. If you are not aware of this, you will pass right by, disappointed that there was nothing to see after taking the time to hike to the site. To see the farm house you must get off the trail and onto the main street. About an hour or so from the start of the hike a street crossing. This is Cheatham Hill Road, and it will be the first street you come to. The trail continues on the other side. Don’t cross, but instead look to the right (left if you are hiking in the other direction). You will see the intersection of Cheatham Hill Road and Powder Springs Road, and while you can’t quite see the farm house, it is on the corner of that intersection. The site includes the Kolb farmhouse, which is closed to the public—you can still walk up and see it—and the Kolb family cemetery. Allow 15 minutes to see the site.

Kolb House

Kolb Family cemetery

The Cheatham Hill site is also not on the loop trail, but you don’t have to venture onto the street to visit. When you approach the Cheatham Hill area you will see the backside of a wooden sign, the only sign on the trail not facing counterclockwise hikers. The sign read “Unknown Soldier/Cheatham Hill.” Take this trail and in about two minutes you will be at the grave of an unknown soldier. Two minutes farther head is Cheatham Hill. If you miss this turnoff, there is another one a few minutes later, but it does not go to the unknown soldier grave site.

Cheatham Hill/Unknown Soldier sign

Grave of an Unknown Soldier

Information panel at the grave of the Unknown Soldier

Depending on which turnoff you take, you will either come out above or below the Illinois Monument. The Unknown Soldier trail will take you above the monument, while the second turnout will take you below the monument. Either way, be aware that there are other historical exhibits and interpretive panels on the path to the Cheatham Hill parking lot. It’s just a 200 yard walk, so don’t miss them. The trail to the parking lot is the one going uphill from the monument. Exhibits include cannons, a memorial to C. H. Coffey, and Confederate earthworks (trenches).

Illinois monument at Cheatham Hill

Remnant of Confederate trenches dug at Cheatham Hill

Sergeant Coffey Memorial

If you missed the unknown soldier grave site and want to see it, when standing on the top side of the Illinois Monument—between it and the Confederate trenches—and looking towards the open field at the bottom of the hill, you will see a trail running to the left. The grave site is a 2 minute walk down this trail. There are no signs directing you to it.

When finished at Cheatham Hill, connect back to the West side loop trail (see Note on how to do it). It is a 15-20 minute walk back to the Sherman/Thomas Headquarters parking lot from Cheatham Hill.

NOTE: If you are starting from Cheatham Hill, don’t bother looking at the National Park Service trail map; it is nowhere near accurate. Once at the Illinois Monument, there are two ways to get to the loop trail:

1) Look for the brown Kolb’s Farm sign and follow it. A short time later you will see a wooden sign for Kolb’s Farm Trail / East / Cheatham Hill and a metal sign that reads “Kolb Farm.” Follow the arrow on the metal sign, as that is the West Trail. Taking the East path will also get you to Kolb’s Farm, but it will put you on the loop in a clockwise direction (navigation is easier in the counterclockwise direction, as signs can only be seen from that direction).

2) There is an unmarked trail that runs down the right side of the field before you. If you take this trail it will eventually fork near a stream. Take the fork to the left to get on the loop trail. The right fork is the John Ward Trail and it takes you to Cheatham Hill Road, directly across from the Sherman/Thomas Headquarters parking lot. I did not take this route, but I did find an accurate map on which to base these directions.

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