Harpeth River - Pinkerton Park Access Point

The Pinkerton Park Access Point to the Harpeth River is one of the best marked. It has a brown canoe sign on Highway 96 letting paddlers know where to turn into the park. Then another sign is located on the park road indicating where to turn for the river access. To get to Pinkerton Park take I-65 South from Nashville and exit at # 65 Franklin/TN-96 and Murfreesboro Rd. Turn right onto TN-96 and go 2.2 miles. Then turn right into Pinkerton Park and a left down to the river bank. The left-hand turn will be on to a gravel road, it is not paved. 

There is no parking lot at this location but rather an open field. Parking on the grass is allowed, just don’t get stuck after a heavy rain. One of the great things about this access point is that there are all kinds of amenities, that includes restrooms, playground, picnic tables and hiking trails. It even has a historical site, Ft. Granger. Once your vehicle is parked it is a short gravel walkway about 20 yards to the 28 steps down to the river. During periods of high water, boats will have to be launched from the steps. Otherwise there is enough room at the river’s edge to beach boats while getting all the gear packed up. 

Pinkerton Park access point is at river mile marker 88.1.  It is 1.4 miles downriver from the Eastern Flank access point. There are no outfitters that currently service this part of the Harpeth, so river traffic is light. The next planned access point is at Bicentennial Park in downtown Franklin, 1.2 miles downriver. Harlinsdale Park is the current next access point and it is 2.2 miles from Pinkerton Park.

Looking Up River                          Looking Down River

Two resources for maps are the following links:

https://tnstateparks.com/assets/pdf/additional-content/park-maps/harpeth-river-trailandaccess-map.pdf

http://www.harpethconservancy.org/programs/recreation/sm_files/Watershed%20Map%20PDF.pdf

Play Ground at Pinkerton Park

Harpeth Fun Fact: There are four rivers that have the name Harpeth in their name: The Little Harpeth River, The South Harpeth River, The West Harpeth River, and The Harpeth River.