Little Brier Gap Trail

This is a 3.9-mile out-and-back from Metcalf Bottoms to Little Greenbrier School and the Walker Sisters homestead. Plan about 2½ hours if you stop to look around. The path starts as packed dirt through hardwood forest, then follows a wide gravel roadbed up to the Walker Cabin access spur. The full mapped route comes to about 3.9 miles round-trip; another published estimate is 3.4 miles. Starting at the schoolhouse is a separate shorter version of about 2.6 miles round-trip.

Park at Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area and cross the small bridge north to the trailhead. Restrooms and picnic tables are at the picnic area, and a parking tag is required if you stay more than 15 minutes. Little Greenbrier Road to the schoolhouse closes seasonally, so use the Metcalf Bottoms approach when it is shut.

John Walker and his son helped build the log schoolhouse in 1881. It also served as a Primitive Baptist church until 1925. Classes were held during only two or three winter months because the family needed children’s help on the farm in warmer weather. The school makes a good first stop before continuing uphill into the cove.

The Walker family raised eleven children at the homestead. Six unmarried sisters received a lifetime lease to remain there after the national park was established; they kept working the farm and welcoming visitors. Their father’s log house used tulip poplar, packed with mud and rock. The sisters’ story is part of why this walk has more to it than a cabin at the end.

The preserved site includes the two-room cabin, with fireplaces and a front porch, plus the springhouse and corn crib. Frame the cabin with the smaller springhouse in view to show how the buildings sit together. Dogs are not allowed on this trail.