Thomas Stone NHS Grounds Hike Map (click to enlarge)

Length: 2-mile loop
Time: 1.5 hours
Difficulty: Easy with one strenuous hill

A loop hike around the grounds of Thomas Stone National Historic Site starts at the Visitor Center. The trail passes all of the attractions in the park including the Stone Family cemetery, Stone’s Haber de Venture home, outbuildings from the 1840s, and an old rental house owned by the Stone family. I started the loop hike from behind the Visitor Center, but you can start from the other end as well—the trailhead is located to the left of the Visitor Center front entrance (this is actually the official start of the trail). It makes no difference which way you go, but I wanted to see the cemetery first, and my route is the quickest way to get there.

The cemetery is only a five minute walk from the Visitor Center. Take the boardwalk for a short distance until it becomes a gravel path and then a mowed swath cut through the grass. By this time you can see the cemetery in the distance.

Grass path to the Stone Family cemetery

Thomas and his wife Margaret are buried here along with seven other family descendants. Both died within a few months of each other in 1787. In 1776, Margaret was inoculated for small pox and had a devastating reaction to the mercury used in the vaccine. Her health quickly declined and she eventually became an invalid, spending most of the last decade of her life in bed. It is because of this illness that Stone gave up public life in 1785, choosing instead to take care of his sick wife, though he still kept up his law practice. Margaret died on June 3, 1787, in Annapolis (the Stones had moved to Annapolis in 1783, though kept the Haber de Venture estate). Thomas was so distraught that he quit eating and taking care of himself. He died suddenly on October 5th in Alexandria while he was preparing to sail to England for a much needed vacation.

Stone Family cemetery

Grave of Thomas Stone

Just a short distance to the east of the Stone Family Cemetery, though not fenced in, is a cemetery for black servants and employees. No records were kept, so there is no way to determine if any slaves were buried here—the Stones did have slaves—but paid servants from the 1900s are definitely here. I didn’t know about the cemetery at the time of my visit, so I didn’t look for it and thus can’t say for sure if there are even any grave markers or other visual evidence of its existence.

The next stop is Stone’s house, Haber de Venture, which you can see from the cemetery. It remained in the Stone family until 1936.

Haber de Venture as seen from the cemetery

There are two ways to get to the house—the short way and the long way. Just beyond the cemetery the trail forks. A sign directs you to go right to the Mansion (the short way) or left to stay on the Hiking Trail (the long way). I chose the long way just to see more of the grounds, though there is no real reason to do this other than to get a little extra exercise. You can get to the house either way.

Intersection near the Stone Family cemetery

The long way follows the tree line around a large field. You head south along another mowed path, then U-turn at the next trail intersection, this time following the sign to the Mansion. If you kept straight, you would continue south for a stretch before looping around to the north and heading back to the Visitor Center.

Path south from the cemetery

You will approach Haber de Venture from the back side, so make your way around to the road that runs past the front of the house. Tours are given daily, so you may happen to catch one just starting, otherwise, check at the Visitor Center for the latest schedule. You can only get inside the house on a Ranger-guided tour. By the time you reach the house you will have hiked a half mile.

Front side of Haber de Venture

When done at Haber de Venture, continue down the dirt road towards a white barn and two other out buildings. All were built by Stone’s descendants between 1820 and 1840. The first you come to is a horse barn.

Horse barn at the Thomas Stone National Historic Site

Continue down the road to the next two buildings. The large, brown structure is a tobacco barn, and the National Park Service has hung actual tobacco from the rafters to show you how it is dried.

Tobacco Barn and corn crib

Tobacco Barn

Tobacco drying in the Tobacco Barn

The smaller white building is a corn crib. This is not the original building, for it was flattened by a tornado in 2002. What you see is a reconstruction by the National Park Service, but it is on the original location, no different that if a tornado flattened it in the 1840s and the Stone’s rebuilt it. The tornado miraculously missed the tobacco barn, though it destroyed the park maintenance building and a second tenant house.

Corn crib

The corn crib marks the point where you depart from the road and get back on the hiking trail. This segment will take you past the Tenant House. The trail is a straight shot along an old gravel road that is often covered in grass. A sign indicates that you can ride your horse on this trail, but no bikes are allowed.

Typical terrain of the trail to the Tenant House

About .2 mile down the trail (.9 mile into the overall hike) is a building known as the Tenant House. This was built around 1860 by the Stone family and used as a rental home for tenant farmers on the property, possibly the former slaves of the Stone family.

Tenet House at the Thomas Stone National Historic Site

Once you pass the Tenant House the trail proceeds down a moderate hill before leveling out and making a big turn to the left. You will cross a creek via a stone footbridge just before coming to the intersection with a trail that makes a large loop around the property. A directional sign indicates that a left turn will take you back to the Visitor Center in .3 mile, a route that sets you off hiking northward back towards Haber de Venture and the intersection where you were earlier when you made the U-turn north to the house. You do not want to go this way. The trail map makes it look like your only other option is to turn right, but it is not drawn correctly. Instead, stay straight, following the Hiking Trail route as indicated on the sign.

Intersection of the two loop trails

About .2 mile farther down the trail is an extremely steep hill. I’m talking tippy-toe steep, which means it’s so steep that you must push off with your tip toes to make the climb. I rarely ran into hills this steep in the Smoky Mountains. Fortunately it only takes about a minute to get to the top, but because of this one hill some people may not be able to hike the trail. The two dimensional photo below does not do the hill justice.

Steep hill on the Thomas Stone National Historic Site Grounds Hike

From the time you merged onto the large loop trail you have been traveling south. Just after the steep hill you begin making a gradual U-turn and start heading back north, this time along another mowed grass path that hugs the tree line of a small forest. The trail is out in the open from this point on, but depending on the angle of the sun, the trees may end up providing you with shade.

Final stretch of the hike back to the Visitor Center

The rest of the hike is uneventful. You eventually come back to the Visitor Center, first passing by a picnic pavilion. As mentioned at the beginning of this review, my route ends at the intended start of the trail. Either way is as good as the other, though if all you want to see is the Stone Family cemetery, Haber de Venture, and the barns, my route is the quickest way to get there.

Intended start of the Grounds Hike

I enjoyed my hike around the grounds of Thomas Stone National Historic Site because it added to the historical aspect of the park. When I am in a nature-based park I want to hike trails with beautiful views, but in a history-based park I want the trails to have something to do with the history of the place. This hike allows you to see all of the historical features in the park, including the Tenant House. Other than the one hill, the hike is easy and well marked. Much of it is out in the open, so if avoiding the sun is a priority to you, be sure to wear a hat and apply sunscreen. Other than that, if you can walk two miles I highly recommend the effort.

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