Description
This wooded hollow in Jackson County features a wide diversity of plants uncommon in many other areas in the region. In spring, it blooms with thousands of wildflowers. Those flowers include large populations of the perennial wildflower Hepatica (Hepatica nobilis) and Synandra (Synandra hispidula), which is in the mint family and uncommon in Tennessee.
A rock-bottomed stream flows through the property and into the neighboring Roaring River, which is a state designated Scenic River. At the far end of the narrow property from the entrance on Spring Creek Road is a steep waterfall known as Wash Morgan Falls.
Washmorgan Hollow is bounded by two long ridges, and its steep slopes are wooded with a number of tree species including sugar maple and red maple, beech, tulip poplar, sycamore, box elder, buckeye, basswood, ash, oak and hickory. Several species of migratory warblers have been spotted at the preserve, including scarlet tanagers, cerulean warblers, northern parulas and worm-eating warblers.
The property was donated by Hector and Susanna Black in 1986. The Conservancy gladly accepted it for protection because of its rare population of Synandra and because Washmorgan Hollow is a significant habitat for neotropical migratory birds. In 1995, the state of Tennessee designated Washmorgan Hollow as a State Natural Area.