Yesterday's Ride was to explore the Canopy Roads of Tallahassee...
Canopy roads are roads that are shaded by tree canopy. Trees near the roadways grow out over the roads, creating a canopy with their branches and leaves. The canopy shaded the roads from direct sunlight, providing a cool reprieve from the heat. And they made for a more scenic ride as the canopy creates a “tunnel of trees” through which to ride. Canopy roads are typically country roads, but they may also be urban roads, such as some of the canopy roads in Tallahassee, Florida. Approximately 55% of Tallahassee is covered by tree canopy. If you go to the observation deck on the 22nd floor of the Capitol and look out over the city, from above, Tallahassee will look just as much like an urban forest as a city. Nearly half the city will be hidden beneath the branches. Also hidden beneath this tree cover are these beautiful Tallahassee canopy roads. These roads began as Native American paths that later were used by the local plantations to transport their crops to market in the 19th century. The scenic roads add to Tallahassee’s southern charm. There are nine roads that are officially designated as canopy roads in Tallahassee and Leon County, making up 78 miles of roadway, 20 miles of which are within city limits. The nine official Tallahassee canopy roads are: • Centerville Road and Moccasin Gap Road ✓ • Meridian Road ✓ • Miccosukee Road ✓ • Old Bainbridge Road • Old Centerville Road ✓ • Old St. Augustine Road • Pisgah Church Road ✓ • Sunny Hill Road✓
✓= Roads On Our Day Tour
The following roads were on our exploration on this impromptu short day...
Centerville Road/Moccasin Gap Road is reached from the heart of town where Magnolia Drive ends and the shaded canopy begins. A delightful ride down several miles of the undulating road connecting pastures and fields which included a stop to pick up some of Bradley’s Country Store famous Bradley’s sausage. This landmark building is a must-see if going to Leon County.
Miccosukee Road Extending into east-northeast Leon County, this road began as a Native American footpath that led to the village of Miccosukee. British surveyors made a note of the path in 1767. By the 1850s, the road was used by 30 Leon county plantation owners to haul cotton to market. Gracious old live oaks now create a nearly nine-mile-long continuous stretch of canopy.
Old Centerville Road Old Centerville Road dates to the early 19th century, shortly after the founding of Tallahassee. The six-mile-long wagon road was part of a north-south route linking the antebellum plantations to the market and rail lines to St. Marks. The road once passed along the hamlets of Centreville and its neighboring Sunny Hill, which have long since disappeared. Old Centerville Road still retains its historical charm and character. Scattered former tenant dwellings peek out with their forest green painted siding dusted with clouds of red clay stirred up by passing motorists.
Pisgah Church Road
Methodist missionary circuit riders who first held services near Centerville, Florida in 1822. Centerville was just west of the current intersection of Pisgah Church Road and Bradfordville Road. During the Seminole Wars in 1839 a patrol station at Centerville was very active in protecting white settlers from raids by Native Americans. By 1848, Centerville had a post office, dry goods store, and a livery stable. Pisgah Church Road was probably built when Pisgah Church was established, but it is not documented clearly until 1883
Sunny Hill Road Leon County’s six other canopy roads were described in the 19th century as “spokes in a wheel” emanating from Tallahassee, Sunny Hill Road reflects a hard clay backwoods road that linked the plantations and hamlets near the Florida-Georgia border. Antebellum planters and farmers in the Red Hills used a network of roads to haul Sea Island cotton to the Gulf ports of Magnolia, Newport and St. Marks for shipment to Northern markets and England. Today, the only remnants of the antebellum plantation culture along Sunny Hill Road are the family cemeteries of the Ponders and Manning’s. The road itself, however, with its high red clay embankments and cathedral tunnel of green that once shaded the cotton wagon driver are visual reminders of the road’s history. Sunny Hill Road has a rich history and its scenic beauty has been preserved. It joins Leon County’s other designated canopy roads as a treasured community asset.
Meridian Road In 1824 federal surveyor laid lengths of chain through Leon County’s forests to establish the Prime Meridian for use in surveying all of Florida. This road is a result of that surveyor’s effort to go from the center of Cascades Park, straight over the hills rather than around them. Meridian Road runs from downtown Tallahassee, rarely dips or curves and has banks as high as 8 feet in places.
The canopy oak trees were gorgeous, and the ride relaxing. The Spanish moss was unusual because there is so much of it. Some spots on the journey we were careful though, the roads were narrow and tricky. At any rate it was a day of pure motorcycle riding joy...
Nana
Very nice riding! ❤️❤️❤️❤️