Rose Trail

Rose Trail is the name of the road located in Cherokee Alabama. The road is over 20 miles long and it stretches from Highway 72 on one side to the Natchez Trace parkway on the other side. The road was originally called Union Grove Road. The road crosses through several historic communities: Margerum, Buzzard Roost, Union Groove, Riverton, Hog Hollow, and Lane Springs

The road got its name from the wild roses that were planted along the side. There are two stories about the roses. The first story is that the Sloan ladies started planting roses in 1948 to remember their deceased sister Maggie. 

The second story is that the roses were originally planted by the locals after the town of Riverton was flooded.  The town was flooded in 1938 by TVA in order to provide hydro-electricity to the area.This was a very sad day when the town was flooded. Life had forever changed for the locals. Most of them had to move away from the place they love. The locals decided to plant roses along the road to Cherokee in order to bring some life back to the area. The Sloan ladies that lived on Sloan Road were the first people to start planting roses. Their goal was to plant roses all the way to the end of the road. They were joined by other locals that helped make this possible. I was born and raised in the Sloan house so the roses hold a special place in my heart. Please let me know if you have any other facts about the roses.

Ray Hays said the roses use to be really thick but they were cleared out by the bulldozers when they started paving the road.You can still see some of the roses during the spring and early summer months. Most of them have been dug up by visitors or killed by the pesticides that the county uses for weed control. Please do not dig up the roses if you see them. I have a dream of bringing the roses back but that dream will have to wait for my retirement years. I even invite you to help me with this goal. Bring your own rose bush and plant it along the road and make a memory. Drop me an email and let me know you did and I will create a page that tracks all the roses bushes and who helped plant them. If you live along the road then help with this goal by planting roses along your property line. 

Let me know if you have any additional history about the area and I will add it to the website.