Nashville Pike Unit: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Stones River National Battlefield, National Park Service

Hasty, David; Byrd, Beth

Located three miles north of Murfreesboro, the Nashville Pike Unit represents a portion of the field of battle where General Rosecrans's Union Army of the Cumberland and General Bragg's Confederate Army of Tennessee clashed on December 31, 1862 to January 2, 1863. The 480-acre Nashville Pike Unit is the largest of the six discontiguous tracts within the current park boundaries. The Nashville Pike Unit includes the locations of significant actions of the battle and today functions as the focal point of park interpretation. The battlefield was, and continues to be defined by karst topography with shallow soils, limestone outcroppings, and sinkholes. A distinctive characteristic of the 1862-1863 battlefield that influenced the course of the battle was the cedar glades and thickets endemic to the region. Cedar glades are openings in thick stands of red cedar where the shallow soils prohibit permanent invasion by trees. However, the shallow soils support a diverse plant community dominated by herbaceous annuals and mosses. Today, cedar thickets and glades survive in the central portion of the Nashville Pike Unit and serve as tangible links to the setting and its effect on the events of the battle. Limestone beds also remain in the southeast portion of the battlefield, which once afforded advancing soldiers cover from enemy fire. The natural and cultural features of the 1862-1863 agricultural landscape had an effect on the strategies and conduct of the battle. Today, the cultivated fields and woodlands of the historic landscape survive. Three roads that were present at the time of the battle, (Old) Nashville Pike, Van Cleve (McFadden) Lane, and Wilkinson Pike border the Nashville Pike Unit. Both armies used these routes during the fighting at Stones River. None of the domestic and agricultural buildings or structures that were present at the time of the battle survives. Several snake and picket fences have been reconstructed by the NPS along park boundaries. A 1976 archeological investigation confirmed the location of one of the structures present at the time of the battle and in 1999; the tollhouse site was excavated along Nashville Pike. Earthworks built by the Pioneer Brigade are located northwest of the visitor center. Currently the vegetation of the Nashville Pike Unit is managed to resemble the general appearance of the vegetation patterns of the battlefield. Discrepancies between the composition, structure, and boundaries of the historic and current vegetation patterns exist, though a fire management plan was recently approved and prescribed burns promote native grasses to grow. At present, Middle Tennessee State University cultivates acreage under an agricultural special use permit in an attempt to replicate the historic land use on a portion of the battlefield. The remainders of the open fields are maintained through regular mowing. Today, visitors enter the Nashville Pike Unit from Old Nashville Pike. The modern visitor center, the only standing structure within the main battlefield landscape, provides orientation and context to events of the battle. A closed, circular tour road with parking pull-offs and wayside exhibits interpret specific locations and events of the battle. The tour stops along the route provide access to trails and Van Cleve Lane. There is a picnic area at tour stop 4, which is located near the visitor center and the Pioneer Brigade earthworks. The battery is the only of battle-era earthwork extant on the Nashville Pike Unit. Several stone culverts also exist along the tour route; though most are modern NPS features.

Nashville Pike Unit: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Stones River National Battlefield, National Park Service

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