Booker T. Washington National Monument Map (click to enlarge)

Length: 2.1-mile loop (includes hike along the Plantation Trail)
Time: 1.5 hours
Difficulty: Moderate

The Jack-O-Lantern Branch Trail, which gets its name from a creek, or “branch,” is a 1.6-mile loop trail. However, to reach it you must first hike the Plantation Trail, a half-mile loop trail. The Plantation Trail is the one to hike if you want to tour the Burroughs Farm where Booker T. Washington was born, whereas the Jack-O-Lantern Branch Trail offers no insight into Washington’s life or the farm and is for exercise purposes only.

The Plantation Trail begins at the back of the Booker T. Washington National Monument Visitor Center building. Follow the paved path south towards the farm and continue until you reach two cabins: the kitchen cabin, a reproduction built in 1960, and a smokehouse, also a reproduction, but built in the early 1970s.

Paved Plantation Trail at Booker T. Washington National Monument leads to the kitchen cabin and the smokehouse

Kitchen cabin where the Washingtons lived, smokehouse, and the outline of where the Burroughs’ home once stood

The pavement ends at the two buildings. To continue the hike, look for another building just down the hill and head towards it. This is the blacksmith shed, which is also from the early 1970s.

Blacksmith shed at Booker T. Washington National Monument

View of the kitchen cabin and smokehouse from the blacksmith shed at Booker T. Washington National Monument

With your back to the shed, continue downhill to a mowed path that leads into the forest. The trail crosses a creek via a small footbridge and eventually comes to a tobacco barn, the only authentic building in the park. This is where the Jack-O-Lantern Branch Trail begins. At this point you have walked a quarter mile.

Tobacco Barn at Booker T. Washington National Monument

The Jack-O-Lantern Branch Trail is a former road, so it is a wide gravel path the entire way around. The surface is smooth, so you don’t have to worry about tripping over rocks and roots.

Typical terrain at the start of the Jack-O-Lantern Branch Trail at Booker T. Washington National Monument

Just after passing the barn is an intersection with a Service Road. Ignore this and continue straight. You’ll come to another intersection in .2 mile, the beginning of the loop. You can go around in either direction, but most people stay straight, which is what I did.

The trail follows Jack-O-Lantern Branch, a small creek, and remains level during this time. However, things begin to change about .6 mile from the tobacco barn at an intersection with a shortcut trail. Beyond this point the terrain becomes very hilly, so if you take the shortcut over to the other side of the loop, you can avoid this moderately strenuous portion of the trail. Since anyone hiking the Jack-O-Lantern Branch Trail is most likely out for exercise to begin with, I can’t imagine wanting to skip the section that will get your blood pumping, so press on ahead.

A shortcut leads over to the other side of the Jack-O-Lantern Branch Trail at Booker T. Washington National Monument, allowing visitors to skip some tougher terrain

The reason for the hilly terrain once you pass the shortcut is that the trail is heading towards Gills Creek, and creeks, streams, rivers, etc., are almost always located at the lowest point on the landscape. The trail heads down a moderately steep hill, but it only takes a minute to get to the bottom. Gills Creek marked the southern border of the Burroughs Farm.

Steep hill on the Jack-O-Lantern Branch Trail heads down towards Gills Creek at Booker T. Washington National Monument

Once at the bottom, the terrain levels out and the trail runs along the creek, though there are so many trees in the way that you rarely get a decent glimpse of it.

Typical terrain of the Jack-O-Lantern Trail as it runs along Gills Creek at Booker T. Washington National Monument

Glimpse of Gills Creek at Booker T. Washington National Monument

The trail follows Gills Creek for about a tenth of a mile, then turns north and begins heading back to the starting point. Leaving the creek behind means an uphill climb, and you have one similar to the hill you came down just moments ago, except this one is twice as long, yet not as steep. I usually hike hilly trails with hiking poles, but I didn’t bring them with me and never regretted it. Overall, neither hill is much to worry about unless you simply can’t walk up or down a hill of any grade.

Once at the top, the Jack-O-Lantern Branch Trail comes to a T-intersection, forcing you to turn left or right. This intersection is not the other side of the shortcut trail, which is farther up ahead, and it is not on the trail map. A post with an arrow points to the left, which is the way that you ultimately want to go. But what’s to the right? This is a short detour to the Sparks Cemetery.

Nothing is known about the Sparks Cemetery. The only readable tombstone is either from 1823, which dates the cemetery to before Burroughs owned the property, or 1893, which doesn’t make much sense. First off, the second owner of the property was John Robertson, not Sparks. Second, you would think that if somebody was buried in the late 1890s, especially on the farm where Booker T. Washington was born—he was well known by then—that there would be a record of who was using the cemetery. The inscription is hard to read, but my bet is that the date is 1823.

Only readable tombstone in the Sparks Cemetery at Booker T. Washington National Monument

There are eighteen known graves, but nearly all are marked with nothing more than field stones.

Graves marked with fieldstones in the Sparks Cemetery at Booker T. Washington National Monument

Just past the cemetery is the intersection with the shortcut trail, and from here on out the terrain is fairly level. Posts with arrows on them point the way back to the tobacco barn. And remember, if you take the shortcut on the other side of the loop and come out here, and you still want to see the Sparks Cemetery, turn left on Jack-O-Lantern Branch Trail, away from the tobacco barn.

Typical terrain of the Jack-O-Lantern Branch Trail at Booker T. Washington National Monument once you pass the shortcut trail intersection

About a quarter mile past the shortcut trail, the Jack-O-Lantern Branch Trail comes to a field and forks left and right. Veer off to the right along the mowed grass path to stay on the trail. The left turn is a service road that leads back to the park headquarters building. A sign points the way.

Jack-O-Lantern Branch Trail at Booker T. Washington National Monument forks to the right at the field

After crossing the field, the trail reenters the forest and then heads down a steep hill. At the bottom is the intersection where the loop started. Take a left to get back to the tobacco barn and ultimately the Visitor Center.

Arriving back a the tobacco barn after completing the loop around the Jack-O-Lantern Branch Trail at Booker T. Washington National Monument

If you haven’t hiked the entire Plantation Trail, now is the time to do it. The trail continues across a footbridge just after you pass the tobacco barn, then climbs a moderate hill until eventually coming to the livestock barns and pens. When I visited there were pigs, sheep, a horse, and chickens. The trail is easy to follow, so you should not have any problem finding your way back to the Visitor Center. For details, refer to the Plantation Trail review page here on National Park Planner.

Pick up the Plantation Trail from the Jack-O-Lantern Branch Trail by crossing the footbridge near the tobacco barn at Booker T. Washington National Monument

While there were a couple of wayside exhibits along the Jack-O-Lantern Branch Trail that attempt to tie the hike to Booker T. Washington’s life on the farm, as mentioned early, the trail really does nothing to expand your understanding of the farm or Washington’s childhood. My suggestion for tourists is to skip it and stick with the Plantation Trail. Hike the Jack-O-Lantern Branch Trail only if you want some extra exercise, and if that is the case, hike the entire trail and bypass the shortcut.

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