Peacock Hill Closes at 4 This November, and Its Best Days Start With a Phone Call

Starting Sunday, Nov. 1, Peacock Hill Nature Park's posted hours end at 4 p.m. That is two hours earlier than the 6 p.m. closing on the county's general daily listing. The county's wheelchair reservation rules point the same way. The winter reservation window ends at 3 p.m., which the county describes as one hour before closing. At the same time, the park has added things worth arriving early for. Two free all-terrain wheelchairs can now be reserved, and the ranger calendar runs through Thanksgiving weekend. Most of these openings go to people who call or register ahead. The shorter day leaves less room for a late, unplanned visit, so a little planning gets you much more out of the park this month.

The new clock at 6990 Giles Hill Road

Williamson County Parks & Recreation's page for Peacock Hill posts "New Park Hours" of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. beginning Sunday, Nov. 1. Because the general daily listing on the same page still shows 6 p.m., call the visitor center if you are counting on a late-afternoon visit. Veterans Day, Wednesday, Nov. 11, follows the same 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. hours. The park is at 6990 Giles Hill Road in College Grove, and the visitor center's number is 615-368-2911.

Peacock Hill is a day-use park, and it may close for rain, freezing temperatures, snow or ice. As the weather cools, check the county's inclement weather page before driving out Giles Hill Road on a gray morning.

Count back from 4 p.m. and you can plan the visit. The park covers 246 acres, with six walking trails that add up to nearly five miles, two ponds, three hilltops, a chapel and a visitor center, according to FranklinIs. If you want to walk most of those miles, look around the visitor center and stop at an overlook or two, plan to start in the morning.

What's on the trail map

The six-trail count above comes from FranklinIs. The county's park map labels seven routes by name, the Storybook Trail among them:

• Chapel Trail, which leads toward The Chapel marked on the map
• Grackle Hill Trail and Hogg Hill Trail, both named for hilltops on the property
• Saddle Ridge Trail
• Ogilvie Trail
• Pond Loop, marked at 0.35 miles
• Storybook Trail, marked at 0.95 miles

Ogilvie Trail is named for the family behind the park. The Ogilvie family donated the property to Williamson County, and a conservation easement held by The Land Trust for Tennessee protects it for public recreation and conservation.

The Storybook Trail is the one to pick if you are walking with small children and a short afternoon. Along the trail, child-height panels tell The Busy Tree by Jennifer Ward. A grant from the Governor's Early Literacy Foundation and the Williamson County Public Library Foundation paid for the project, which the Williamson County Public Library requested. The park also has picnic areas, restrooms, several overlooks and seating areas with chairs for resting or reading.

Two all-terrain wheelchairs, reserved by phone

This is the biggest change at the park this year, and it depends most on booking ahead. In August, FranklinIs reported that Williamson County Parks & Recreation was adding all-terrain wheelchairs at Peacock Hill, with reservation details still to come. The county's All-Terrain Wheelchairs page now lists the chairs as available at Peacock Hill. They are free to use and built for dirt trails, gravel paths and uneven ground. A visitor can operate one alone, or a caregiver can steer.

The park has only two chairs per day, which is why booking ahead matters. The county's reservation rules:

1. Call Peacock Hill at 615-368-2911 or stop by the visitor center. You can reserve up to 30 days ahead.
2. Each reservation covers the full day, from opening until one hour before closing. In winter, that means 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Summer use runs 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
3. The county accepts one reservation per person, per chair, per day.
4. The user, or a parent or legal guardian, signs a liability waiver before using the chair. Under the county's written policy, staff also give an orientation on safe use, and checkout may require a valid ID.

You can ask for a chair when you arrive, but on busy days both may already be booked. The chairs are limited to designated trails, and the county notes that not every trail at Peacock Hill is wheelchair accessible. Ask staff which routes are open to the chairs before you head out. Staff can also suspend chair use for weather or trail conditions, and their call on trail safety is final.

The winter window gives a reserved chair seven hours on the trails, two fewer than the nine-hour summer window. If you reserve one for a family outing, aim to arrive close to 8 a.m.

The chairs came together with a lot of local help. FranklinIs reported that Williamson County Commission records from March 2026 traced the idea to the State of Tennessee's ACCESS 2030 initiative for state park accessibility. State accessibility coordinators brought chairs to Peacock Hill so county staff could try them, and staff chose equipment that could be serviced locally. Donations and grants paid for them. The county thanks Pamela Lewis, the J.L. Clay Senior Citizen Center, the Franklin Breakfast Rotary Club, the Franklin Noon Rotary Club in partnership with the Library Foundation of Williamson County, and the Rotary Club of Brentwood.

Ranger programs for the rest of November

The county's Nature Parks Programs page lists Peacock Hill sessions through Nov. 27. Most of them run in the morning or around 1 p.m., well before the 4 p.m. close. The Night Hike starts at 6 p.m., after the park's posted November hours end, so it is a rare chance to be on these trails after dark with a ranger.

For the Fire Baked Apples program, each participant prepares an apple and learns some area history while it bakes. Toddlers, Tales & Trails pairs a short hike with a nature-themed story time on the trail. You register the children only, and parents stay with the group.

The log structures talk is held in the park's nineteenth-century one-room cabin. It covers how log construction reached the Tennessee frontier and how a frontier family added to its cabin and outbuildings as the homestead grew. Rangers also discuss the historical items on display in the cabin. The Day After Thanksgiving Hike is billed as a way to walk off the holiday meal.

Saturday, Nov. 14, around College Grove

Nov. 14 has plenty going on close to home. Peacock Hill's log cabin program starts at 1 p.m. Earlier that day, the College Grove Community Library at 8607 Horton Highway holds Teen Dungeons & Dragons from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. After the park closes at 4, Arrington Vineyards is open until 8 p.m., with Mac Shack, Simply Living Life and songwriter Sean Z on the day's lineup.

Looking toward December

The county's program list for Peacock Hill stops at Nov. 27, so check back before planning a December ranger outing. The first weekend of December is already on the calendar. Arrington Vineyards has Scarlett in the pavilion tent on Saturday, Dec. 5, from 2 to 5 p.m., with food from Simply Living Life and The Derby Coffee & Desserts. The free College Grove Christmas Parade steps off Sunday, Dec. 6, at 2 p.m. Lineup starts at 1 p.m. at the Recreation Center and gym at 8607 Horton Highway. The library in the same building has STEAM Academy on Dec. 8 and The Rebel Order, a Star Wars-themed program, on Dec. 28, both from 4 to 5 p.m.

If a morning on Saddle Ridge or a stroll around the Pond Loop has you thinking about what land and homes around College Grove could mean for your own plans, I would be glad to talk it through, on your timeline. Reach out to Rita Ash and let's connect.