Flint River, Georgia: Flat Shoals And The Red Oak Creek Covered Bridge

On Labor Day weekend, we went over to Landsford Canal State Park on the Catawba River in South Carolina to scout locations to view and, hopefully, photograph Hymenocallis coronaria, a lily considered to be a subspecies of Hymenocallis caroliniana (Carolina Spiderlily). Plants grow only in fast-flowing, shallow water currents in shoals on rivers in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. On October 21-22, we went to scout locations on the Flint River for access to photograph the lilies.

To view the section of the Flint River we covered over the two days, you can trace the river from here at Flat Shoals, downstream to the Flint River crossing near Woodbury, and then south to Sprewell Bluff State Outdoor Recreation Area. On Friday, we started at the Flat Shoals crossing of the Flint River and stumbled on the Red Oak Creek Covered Bridge, a completely serendipitous encounter. On Saturday we covered the area from the ‘Woodbury crossing over the Flint River south to Sprewell Bluff State Outdoor Recreation Area.

The current bridge at Flat Shoals is just north of the shoals. The bridge replaced an older bridge that had its footings on the rocks at the top end of the shoals.

Looking almost directly south from the current bridge. Stands of lilies are visible on the left side of the photo. A few turtles were sunning themselves on rocks in the center of the photo.

Looking a little to the left - to the southeast from the bridge. The concrete footings of the old bridge are still intact. Stands of lilies are visible at the far left and in the center to right of the photo.

A closer view of bridge footings at the east end of the old bridge. Stands of lilies are clearly visible on the exposed rocks. There is an informal launch area for canoes and kayaks, but no boat ramp, on the north side of the bridge on the east side of the river. So this spot may provide some access to lilies.

We then drove west into Meriwether County and took the first road south (CR-281) to stay as close to the river as possible.

We stumbled on the Red Oak Covered Bridge here.

An historical marker gives the historical and technical information on the bridge and its builder, a freed slave, Horace King.

Red Oak Creek to the north of the bridge. Very little water is flowing in it now due to the prolonged drought this area has experienced.

The covered section of the bridge is, itself, not exceptionally long but the eastern approach to the covered section is a long, open planked bridge.

Looking directly at the bridge from the west side.

Looking the side of the covered section from the south west

Continue the trip to Sprewell Bluff State Outdoor Recreation Area here…
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Related posts:
- Landsford Canal State Park, South Carolina: Wildflowers