Short-Stay Getaways

Rattlesnake, coondogs & music

Enjoy Freedom Hills music and culture for an afternoon or a weekend

by Bruce Hartfield
Posted 3/8/23

When you head off into the Freedom Hills of Alabama, leave your options and your eyes open for surprising beauty, history, and culture. You can make your trip an afternoon drive, a single overnight …

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Short-Stay Getaways

Rattlesnake, coondogs & music

Enjoy Freedom Hills music and culture for an afternoon or a weekend

Posted

When you head off into the Freedom Hills of Alabama, leave your options and your eyes open for surprising beauty, history, and culture. You can make your trip an afternoon drive, a single overnight trip, or a two-night getaway, depending on your time restrictions and your get-away budget. And depending on what you find in the nearby hills where rascals and robbers used to hide out.
The Cat and I have been through Colbert County to Tuscumbia, Muscle Shoals, and Florence, Alabama, on several occasions over the past few years. We live right off the Natchez Trace in Tishomingo, so it is easy for us to take the Trace to its intersection with Highway 72 in Alabama, then travel east to the destinations.
Let me rephrase that…..it used to be easy, but the Natchez Trace has been closed for improvements all the way from our exit to Highway 72 since the fall of 2021. Until it reopens, our alternate route has been Highway 25 to 72 at Iuka, then east toward Muscle Shoals.
Our alternate route doesn’t add a whole lot of travel time, but we miss the scenery along the Natchez Trace, particularly the part that passes through the Freedom Hills. There are also a number of interpretive sites along the Trace that are worth the time to visit.
When accessible again, visitors can explore the site of Levi Colbert’s Inn and lands at Buzzard Roost Spring, milepost 320.3, and the site of the Colbert Plantation and brother George Colbert’s Ferry (across the Tennessee River) at milepost 327.3. Since most or all of the Alabama part of this trip is in Colbert County, you are correct if you connect the Colbert family to the name of the county.
The first location of interest after you are on 72 East in Alabama is the Key Underwood Coon Dog Cemetery, between Cherokee and Tuscumbia (11.7 miles south from your turnoff). Turns are well-marked from Highway 72 to the cemetery; take the one at Highway 247, and please take note that Coon Dog Cemetery is always open!
On the way to the cemetery, you will pass turn-offs to two other attractions that are also trip worthy, the Northwest Alabama Speedway and Drag Strip and the Rattlesnake Saloon. I don’t know the racing schedule at the Speedway, and that would probably be something for another trip, anyway, but the Rattlesnake Saloon is on our agenda for this Short-Stay Get-Away.
At this point I need to explain something to you about my companion, The Cat. No, she is not a cat person, although I have seen her pet one, but she is really NOT a dog person for sure! You would think it was a 5-alarm fire if she sees a dog passing through from the backyard patio door!
Cat was unusually quiet on this first leg of the trip and I finally decided she had a vision of numerous canines wandering around Coon Dog Cemetery to pay their respects! Of course that was not the case when we got there, and the only visitors prior to us that day were the human kind from all over the country who registered in the guest book.
The cemetery, exclusive to bona fide, raccoon-treeing hunting dogs, began in 1937 when Key Underwood buried his coondog, Troop there. Since then, more than 300 coon hunting dogs of various breeds, from all over the United States, have been given their final resting place there, including some redbone hounds (remember my story about the trip to Jackson, Tennessee, and the restaurant we liked called Redbone’s).
If you have some children going with you, you might want to first find a copy of the movie, “Where the Red Fern Grows,” which gives the story of a boy who purchased brother and sister coonhound puppies.
Also, you might want to brush up on the custom of leaving coins at a grave site, which had its origin at the tombstones of military veterans killed in action. You’ll see a lot of pennies and even a few nickels and dimes; each denomination has a special meaning!
The drive to the cemetery and back is truly worth the time, as the route takes you through a scenic portion of the Freedom Hills, the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.
You will return the way you got there on Hwy 247 back to Hwy 72, so this will give you a chance to experience the Rattlesnake Saloon for lunch, but keep a sharp lookout for the sign on your left. The rebel spirits of the Freedom Hills affect GPS, we have found!
The Rattlesnake Saloon is self-described as a “relaxed, funky watering hole under a giant rock (and a waterfall, sometimes) with a menu of appetizers, burgers and sandwiches,” and it is currently open Thursday through Saturday for lunch until 10 p.m. Alcohol is only available after 5, and live music is usually scheduled on weekends beginning at 6.
There are three areas to eat in – under the rock shelf, inside the bar, and outside on an elevated patio, and the Rattlesnake Saloon is handicapped accessible and family friendly. Facebook is typical of the various reviews, giving the Rattlesnake Saloon a 4.6 with 6,475 reviews since it opened for business in 2009.
The property is huge – more than 20,000 acres – and is also home to Seven Springs Lodge and a campground with 100 electrical and water hookups for RVs, campers, and trailers. More than 150 stalls are available for horses and four independent, fully furnished bath houses for their riders.
The only tip Cat and I have for you is to call before driving and confirm their schedule of operation, but that’s always a good policy for any destination. Rattlesnake Saloon has been in operation since 2009, and a 4.6 from over 6,000 reviews makes them a must-see destination on this Get-Away.
After leaving Rattlesnake Saloon, there are several other stops Cat and I have visited and can highly recommend. They are all in Tuscumbia, the county seat, and they are on or very nearby to Highway 72. In fact, there are at least 16 things listed to do in and around Tuscumbia, which is why this next stop is very important!
That next stop is the Colbert County Tourism Bureau, located just before you reach the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, both located right on Highway 72. You can enjoy their Colbert County hospitality and pick up brochures and a calendar of events before continuing your trip. Sometimes local tourism bureaus even have free passes or discount coupons, also, so don’t be bashful about asking.
The Alabama Music Hall of Fame, next door, contains memorabilia from the careers of Tammy Wynette (yes, Mississippi claims her, too), Lionel Richie, Mac McAnally (native of Belmont), Emmylou Harris, the Temptations, the group Alabama, the Commodores, Nat King Cole, W.C. Handy, Hank Williams, and many, many others.
Special points of interest include instruments, costumes & memorabilia from a number of the selectees, a custom Cadillac convertible with six-guns and rifles and a longhorn steer’s horns attached, a restored tour bus, and a mocked-up studio where visitors can record themselves. Cat and I both passed on that one!
The Alabama Music Hall of Fame is an extremely well-crafted facility with many dynamic displays, and you will likely want to spend more than just an hour there. So, after you factor in the driving time back to home base, your No-Stay Get-Away in Colbert County, Alabama, may just about be over…..unless you know a really great place to stay and a really great place to eat supper in Tuscumbia.
Cat and I found both on our last trip to the area, ColdWater Inn for the stay and Champy’s for the eating! That is where the story will begin next week when we add the Short-Stay to our Get-Away in neighboring Colbert County, Alabama!