Adullam-France Park
A 50,000-dunam park with Second Temple sites and hiking trails.
Adullam-France Park is a 50,000-dunam (approximately 12,350 acres) public recreation area in Israel's Central District, south of Beit Shemesh. Established in 2008, it stretches from Naḥal Ha-Elah (Highway 375) in the north to Naḥal Guvrin (Highway 35) in the south, with the Beit Guvrin-Beit Shemesh highway to the west and the green line to the east. The park is notable for containing four major Second Temple period archaeological sites.
Quick Facts
- Nearest city
- Beit Shemesh
- Established
- 2008
Facts from the source article.
Park features
The park's landscape consists of gently rolling limestone hills covered with natural Mediterranean vegetation, including Sarcopoterium underbrush, Quercus calliprinos oaks, Pistacia lentiscus, Ceratonia siliqua carobs, and Rhamnus lycioides buckthorns. Seasonal flowers endemic to the Land of Israel such as anemones, cyclamens, almond blossoms, and asphodels appear within the area. Low-lying riverine brooks run between the hills, and a section of the park contains pine forests planted by early Jewish immigrants who settled in the Lachish region at the founding of the State. Facilities include a picnic area, a lookout point, and marked trails. The Kanim Single Track, a 23-kilometer loop bike trail suitable for experienced cyclists with moderate technical ability, traverses the park from west to east. Another bike trail is called the Illegal Resident's Trail. The park is managed jointly by the Jewish National Fund (JNF – KKL), the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA), and the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), with a visitors' center offering guided tours run by the Kfar Etzion Field School. Limited agricultural activities, such as viniculture, are also accommodated.
Main archaeological sites
Adullam-France Park, a site managed by the JNF (KKL), holds several ancient locations. At Ḥurvat Burgin, visitors find burial tombs, a maze of underground hideouts linked to the Bar Kokhba period, a Roman villa, and a dovecote. Before 1948, the Palestinian Arab village Khirbat Umm Burj stood there. Horvat 'Ethri is a partly rebuilt town from the Second Temple era, featuring what may have been a synagogue, ritual baths, wine presses, and caves. Ḥurvat Midras, located 32 kilometers south of Jerusalem and also from the Bar-Kokhba era, contains 56 caves and cisterns, plus over twenty underground passages—one runs 50 meters through three older cisterns, another stretches 90 meters. It also has an ancient burial site with a sarcophagus and a large columbarium. Amir Ganor and Alon Klein surveyed this spot in 2010 for the Israel Antiquities Authority. The park’s main entrance sits on regional highway 38, about 200 meters north of Moshav Givat Yeshayahu and 10 kilometers south of Beit Shemesh. A visitors’ center and archaeological garden, run jointly by the JNF and the IAA, are open Monday through Thursday from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. They display olive presses, old milestones, millstones, and ossuaries. Nearby attractions include the Elah Valley, Britannia Park, and the Luzit Caves.
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