Leighton, Alabama, A One Square Mile Whistle Stop on the Singing River Trail!

Note: I am flagging this photo essay as one of a sub-series that introduces the Nature of the emerging Singing River Trail (SRT):

A 200+ mile greenway system that strengthens regional bonds and creates new health and wellness, educational, economic, tourism, and entrepreneurial opportunities for the people and communities of North Alabama.

 

As a designated Ambassador to the Singing River Trail, I occasionally visit a destination along the route to explore and highlight worthy Nature attractions. I visited historic Leighton, initially known as Crossroads due to its strategic location at the intersection of two early stagecoach roads in Colbert County, on August 21, 2025. I distilled my tour, hosted by Derick Silcox, the Mayor, to two Posts:

• The Town: A One Square Mile Whistle Stop on the Singing River Trail
• Leighton, AL: Nature Attractions within Reach of The Town

I focus this Post on The Town.

The Town

 

I am a consumate forest scientist, naturalist, educator, conservation advocate, and lifelong Nature enthusiast. Presenting Leighton through that dense filter demanded concentrated focus. I will play with the term nature, using:

• All the animals, plants, rocks, etc. in a locale and all the features, forces, and processes that happen — my realm.
• The basic or inherent features of something — the more human sphere.

I met Mayor Silcox at the Leighton Museum. The banner embraces my realm, The Land, and the human sphere, The Lives and The Legacy. The three are intimately interdependent.

 

SRT’s Leighton backbone runs along Main Street south to the intersection at the woods line (left) and north past the railroad crossing (see further below).

 

The composite of the forest evident to the south, the urban trees across the street from the museum, and the summer sky above reminds me that every place includes natural features, The Land, as well as The Lives and the Legacy. I’ll touch on all three.

 

Historical Roots (Lives and Legacy)

 

I recorded this 30-second video as a coal train passed west to east through Leighton, just north of the Leighton Museum where I began my tour of town and some regional nearby environmental, economic, and historical attractions.

 

The coal train epitomizes our absolute dependence on The Land. In this era of divergent opinions on fossil fuel use, renewable energy, and climate as existential risk, or not, we cannot yet live and thrive without power sources derived from The Land. The train barrels through Leighton transporting 100 or more gondolas from mine to power plant.

Electricity, most likely generated from coal (or perhaps TVA hydro), powered the museum’s illumination of the enormous 350 million-year-old fern fossil, found nearby at LaGrange Cemetery, a site I’ll visit in my subsequent Leighton Post. Native Americans occupied this region for 13,000 years, leaving the mark of their Lives on the Land and Legacy (museum exhibit at right).

 

Leighton’s music wall mural (Missy Miles 2023) highlights Leighton’s own Percy Sledge and fellow R&B singer Jimmy Hughes, both part of Florence’s Fame Recording Studios legacy.

 

Here is my 46-second video recording at the music wall and mural.

 

The SRT will transit the sidewalk keyboard, recognizing the town’s rich musical heritage. Visitors can plan a trip during Sledgefest, a lively festival celebrating Percy Sledge, Leighton’s award-winning R&B, soul, and gospel singer.

 

The museum features other important elements of Leighton’s Lives and Legacy.

 

This old forester cannot do justice to The Town’s Lives and Legacy, with this brief Post. Allow me, instead, to pay a little more attention to the Nature of Leighton.

 

Nature of Leighton

 

My expertise is in the Nature of wild places: a bachelors degree in forestry; PhD in applied ecology; 12 years in the forest products industry; 35 years at nine different universities; eight years writing, speaking, and teaching in retirement. I will stretch into exploring the Nature of a small town whistle stop along the SRT, broadly characterized as The Land. I took many photos emphasizing Nature; I won’t burden you with a lot of narrative. I hope to provide a teaser, tempting readers and SRT enthusiasts to take a closer look.

As the former Director of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System (1996-2001), I was pleased to see this partnership sign. I speak often of the beauty, magic, wonder, awe, and Inspiration of Nature. Hallelujah!

 

A key component of understanding and enjoying Nature is getting into the out there, where seeing, feeling, listening, smelling (inhaling), and touching are conduits.

 

Founders Park lies on the east side of The Town, offering a great orientation to The Land. Agricultural fields, the railroad, the firmament (sky or heavens) arching overhead, a grove of trees, and an historical sign aggregate to portray The Land and the park.

 

 

 

 

I recorded this 36-second video at Founders Park.

 

The old forester (that’s me) enjoyed the spreading oak and relished a skyward view through its massive canopy.

 

We slipped south to Leighton’s athletic park and sports complex. Mayor Silcox proudly showcased a beautiful retention lake behind a chainlink fence, hinting at plans to develop the pond as a recreational feature. The egret at right has already assumed possession of this natural asset.

 

Leighton’s Outdoor Classroom and Nature Park represents another partnership, this one with the Alabama Forestry Commission. I’ve learned across my 74 years that there is little we can do in isolation. Partnerships, whether within families, communities, corporations, higher education, or rural towns are essential. I compliment Mayor Silcox for reaching out and engaging with allied groups and agencies.

 

 

 

 

A park greeter welcomed us. We encountered a female river cooter depositing eggs in the lawn near the classroom seating.

 

 

 

 

 

Interpretation signage identifies this black oak tree.

 

A shaded pathway ushers visitors through the forest. I seldom miss a chance to direct attention vertically into the canopy. Trees vigorously compete for sunlight, just as roots seek their share of soil space, nutrients, and moisture. It’s a dog-eat-dog world in our forests. Only the strong survive and thrive.

 

We completed our square-mile Leighton auto-tour at a couple-acre park, with an an impressive state-of-the-art playground.

 

Accessory Attractions

 

Back at our museum starting point, Derick showed me the Leighton Bump on a Log! I’ll always be a sucker for corny humor!

 

I persuaded Derick to provide a measure of scale for this massive oak. I’m sure that this full-crowned Quercus has many stories it could tell of this wonderful Crossroads town.

 

My eye for tree form oddities and curiosities remains alert for specimens in the forests that I wander, as well as in urban settings. This backyard loblolly pine beckoned me for a closer look. The circumferential ridges extend along the entire bole up to the live crown. This feature results from the tree’s response to yellow-bellied sapsuker drill wounds. See my March 2024 Post for explanation: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2023/03/24/brief-form-post-on-loblolly-pine-tree-form-curiosity-at-joe-wheeler-state-park/

 

Leighton, Alabama is a Nature-enriched special place, a whistle-stop along the Singing River Trail!

 

Thoughts and Reflections

 

I offer these observations:

• A key component of understanding and enjoying Nature is getting into the out there. (Steve Jones)
• Nature’s gifts are hidden in plain sight whether in wild forests or along small town streets. (Steve Jones)
• I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious. (Albert Einstein)
• Curiosity rewards Nature enthusiasts who explore whistle stops along the SRT! (Steve Jones)

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

 

The Nature of the Singing River Trail

 

The Singing River Trail will be a 200+ mile greenway system that strengthens regional bonds and creates new health and wellness, educational, economic, tourism, and entrepreneurial opportunities for the people and communities of North Alabama.

 

 

The trail will prominently feature many off-shoots of the core trail. Leighton, Alabama is representative of the unique whistle stops and special places along the trail. My hope is that SRT venturers can search these Great Blue Heron Posts to better understand the Nature of our region.

As a lifelong devotee of hiking/sauntering, running, biking, and Nature exploration, I envision multiple other Great Blue Heron weekly photo essays focused on The Nature of the Singing River Trail. I will incorporate individual essays into my routine Posts that total approximately 450 to-date (archived and accessible at: https://stevejonesgbh.com/blog/). I offer these Mooresville Cemetery related photo essays as an orientation to the new component series.

 

 

If only more of us viewed our precious environment through the filters I employ. If only my mission and vision could be multiplied untold orders of magnitude:

Mission: Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.

Vision:

• People of all ages will pay greater attention to and engage more regularly with Nature… and will accept and practice informed and responsible Earth Stewardship.
• They will see their relationship to our natural world with new eyes… and will understand more clearly their Earth home.

Tagline/Motto: Steve (Great Blue Heron) encourages and seeks a better tomorrow through Nature-Inspired Living!

 

Steve’s Four Books

 

I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), and Dutton Land & Cattle: A Land Legacy Story (2023) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature. All four of my books present compilations of personal experiences expressing my deep passion for Nature. All four books offer observations and reflections on my relationship with the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.

I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:

• I love hiking and exploring Nature
• I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
• I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
• I don’t play golf!
• I do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
• Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grandkids, and all the unborn generations beyond
• And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future

 

 

The Nature of the Singing River Trail

 

The Singing River Trail will be a 200+ mile greenway system that strengthens regional bonds and creates new health and wellness, educational, economic, tourism, and entrepreneurial opportunities for the people and communities of North Alabama.

 

 

The trail will prominently feature many off-shoots of the core trail. The Richard Martin Trail is an 11-mile (22 out and back) route segment reaching from Athens to the Tennessee line. My hope is that SRT venturers can search these Great Blue Heron Posts to better understand the Nature of our region. Here is my May 2022 Post on the Richard Martin Rails to Trails: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2022/06/07/early-summer-on-the-richard-martin-rails-to-trail/

As a lifelong devotee of hiking/sauntering, running, biking, and Nature exploration, I envision another Great Blue Heron weekly photo essay series focused on The Nature of the Singing River Trail. I will incorporate individual essays into my routine Posts that total approximately 450 to-date (archived and accessible at: https://stevejonesgbh.com/blog/). I offer these Mooresville Cemetery related photo essays as an orientation to the new component series.