Take a Walk at Ivy Creek
White Trail
Ecology in Action
7. At the end of the White Trail, turn left to follow the Red Trail back to the parking lot.
Step Into the Past
This trail follows an old roadbed that served as a farm road in the recent past. There is some evidence that this was also used as a public road in the early 1800s. Imagine a heavy wagon bumping over the rocks at this very spot headed down to a road which followed Martin’s Branch to Ivy Creek and to the community of Hydraulic -- once located where Ivy Creek joins the Rivanna River. Possibly the wagon was loaded with farm produce to go to the mill or to be sent by boat down the Rivanna River to a market further east. Flooding of the Rivanna Reservoir has concealed all evidence of this link with our past except for the portions now preserved in the Ivy Creek Natural Area.
Learn more about the history of Hydraulic Mills
Trails were once farm roads
