Thanks to a partnership between Mainspring Conservation Trust, the U.S. Forest Service, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and the N.C. Bartram Trail Society, a gravel parking lot is available directly across Hickory Knoll Road from the Bartram Trail trailhead.

The Forest Service prepared the site, which sits on a portion of 72 acres purchased by Mainspring in 2018. Mainspring’s acreage borders the Nantahala National Forest to the east and the North Carolina Needmore Game Lands across the Little Tennessee River to the west. 

Gravel was delivered and spread by the NCWRC, and Mainspring and Bartram Trail volunteers placed bollards and installed bumpers to define the parking spaces.

Eventually, an informational kiosk and some landscaping, including native plants encountered by explorer and naturalist William Bartram during his 1770s travels through the region, are also planned for the area.