Shelby County High Point Trip Report
five areas (430+ ft with 10-ft contour intervals)
Date: January 22, 2002
Author: Fred Dale
There are two areas just south of Hagy's Corner, near Atoka, TN, up on the north county line.
Topo chart
From I-40 northwest of Memphis, exit west on the freeway called Hwy. 385, and go to Hwy. 14, a two lane.
Go northeast on 14 to Rosemark Road, turn left, and go north almost 4 miles to the county line at Tracy Road.
Backtrack 300 yards to White Oak Farm ("Visitors Welcome") on the west side of the road.
Richard, the caretaker of this boarding stable, was cordial, and cheerfully allowed me to walk around.
The highest ground is within the walking oval and along its perimeter fence's southeast portion. Across the road
is the other hp area in this locality, located in an unposted mown field between two houses. Sight-leveling
helps to determine that the high ground within this contour is at the obvious knoll-top, closely rivaled by
ground a bit north and northeastward within the contour. Leveling also shows that this hilltop is a bit higher
than the White Oak Farm area across the road.
Area(s) south of Moore Cemetery: there are now two.
Topo chart
Go to Fisherville, a crossroads community in east-central Shelby County on Highway 205
(aka Collierville-Arlington Rd.), and turn east onto Highway 193, Macon Rd. Go east 1.1 mile.
There you'll find an electronic
security gated entrance to the fine pasture on the south, which is fronted by a well-crafted wood and wire fence.
At the property's west end, at that end of the fence, is a weedy access lane where you can park and
from which the hp area listed in Andy Martin's book can be seen, just within the pasture and next to the highway,
across the barbed-wire fence which runs south along this lane. Sight-leveling to the east shows the
ground at the east end of the pasture, again barely south of the highway, to be just as elevated. That is the
county line, and the new 5th area for Shelby Co. A walk along the fence perimeter, GPS and sight-level in hand,
will show the new liner 430-foot contour interval to barely enter the pasture, and thus the county.
I could not determine which was higher, back-sighting from either point.
Route 72 area, just east of Collierville, TN
Topo chart
You can use Highway 205 to get south to Collierville from the previous areas, or take freeway 385 from
Memphis to its current terminus at US Highway 72. From that intersection, go less than a mile southeast on 72
to the county line sign, and turn right onto the poorly-maintained gravel road paralleling. I went 0.3 mile to
a height of road, parked in Fayette County near a farm gate and silos on the right, and walked west to the
target contour, using the pond with an island to the north as a reference. Within the contour, I confirmed
the fence-line as the county line by GPS. I scouted for the highest ground on both sides of the fence,
crossed it into Shelby County at the most likely spot, and felt the hp here was a liner. I gridded some;
I think you'll agree the ground consistently descends away from the fence on the Shelby side, except perhaps
in a thicket near a large fallen tree, where I took my GPS reading.
I actually did these in reverse order than presented here, starting at sunrise.
The GPS coordinates:
Hagy's Corner west - (35° 24' 3.6" N, 89° 46' 6.0" W)
Hagy's Corner east - (35° 24' 1.2" N, 89° 45' 58.2" W)
Moore Cemetery west - (35° 9' 24.0" N, 89° 38' 37.8" W)
Moore Cemetery east (new) - (35° 9' 19.8" N, 89° 38' 18.6" W)
Route 72 (Collierville) - (35° 0' 29.4" N, 89° 38' 38.4" W)