Location:
From Natchez, in Southwest Mississippi through Alabama to Nashville, Tennessee
Length: 425 miles (684 km)
Time To Allow: 2 days
Description/Highlights/Points
of Interest
Native Americans, Kaintuck boatmen, post riders, government officials,
soldiers and fortune seekers all moved across this trail, charting new
territory and creating a vital link between the Mississippi Territory
and the fledgling United States. The Natchez Trace Parkway passes through
forests, cypress swamps and farmland, spanning three of America's most
beautiful states: Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee.
Suggested
Itinerary
For your reference, mileposts are located along the east side of the parkway
beginning at Natchez. The references for points of interest or visitor
services are given to the nearest tenth of a mile. The Mississippi section
of the Natchez Trace Parkway includes the points of interest between mile
310 and mile 0.
From the Alabama-Mississippi state line, head southwest to Bear Creek
Mound. This ceremonial structure was built between AD 1200 and AD
1400 by native Americans living in the area, who used nearby Cave Spring
as a source of water. Tishomingo State Park at milepost 302.8 is
a great place to camp, picnic, swim, canoe and fish. The park was named
for a famous Chickasaw Indian chief.
Pharr Mounds is a 90-acre complex of eight burial mounds was built
from about AD 1 to AD 200. Ranging in height from two to 18 feet, the
mounds are distributed over an area of about 85 acres. They comprise one
of the largest Middle Woodland ceremonial sites in the southeastern United
States. A 1966 excavation of four mounds by the U.S. National Park Service
unconvered fascinating internal features, including fire pits and low,
clay platforms. Archaeologists discovered cremated and unburned human
remains in and near the mounds, as well as various ceremonial artifacts
including copper spools, decorated ceramic vessels, lumps of galena (shiny
lead ore), a sheet of mica and a greenstone platform pipe. The copper,
galena, mica and greenstone did not originate in Mississippi; they were
imported long distances through extensive trade networks.
At Mile 283.3, the nature trail at Donivan Slough takes about 20
minutes to walk and passes through an area where occasional flooding influences
the variety of plants. The low area along the stream at Twentymile
Bottom Overlook (mi. 278.4) is typical of the landscape through which
the old trace passed. Further on, the old trace passes by the graves of
13 unknown Confederate soldiers (mi. 269.4).
Head to Chickasaw Village (mi. 261.8), where the Chickasaws' daily
life and early history are described in exhibits at the site of one of
their villages. A nature trail features plants they used. The Chickasaw
Council House at (mi. 251.1) is the site of Pontatok, the capital
of the Chickasaw Nation during the 1820s.
Milepost 243.3 marks the site where Hernando deSoto, Spanish explorer
and discoverer of the Mississippi, spent the winter of 1540-1541. Line
Creek (mi. 213.3) marks the former boundary between the Chickasaw
and Choctaw tribes.
Milepost 104.5 commemorates Brashear's Stand, an inn that advertised
itself as "a house of entertainment in the wilderness" to travelers in
1806. A portion of the original trace is nearby. Visit the nearby Mississippi
Crafts Center for souvenirs of locally handmade crafts. At the Grindstone
Ford/Mangum Site (mi. 45.7), artifacts have revealed much about the
prehistoric people who once lived in this area. Early travelers heading
north considered themselves in wild country once they crossed the ford
on Bayou Pierre.
Mount Locust, a restored historic house, was one of the first stands
in Mississippi. The home offers interpretive programs February through
November, as well as restrooms, exhibits and a ranger station (mi. 15.5).
Five minutes down the road is Emerald Mound. Ancestors of the Natchez
built this ceremonial mound about A.D. 1400. The second largest of its
type in the nation, the mound covers nearly eight acres. A trail leads
to the top.
The following
organizations offer trips in Mississippi:
Antebellum
South
Tauck World Discovery
Enjoy New Orleans and the famous French Quarter, walk amidst the fragrant
blossoms of Bellingrath Gardens and experience Cajun Country, where there's
music in the air, tempting cuisine on the table and old-time southern
hospitality. Your sojourn includes one night in Natchez at a historic
Inn!
Highway
61 The Great River Road
North
American Journeys
The soulful sound of the Delta blues beckons as you follow legendary Highway
61 South Memphis, TN to Natchez, MS.
The
Perfect Escape
North
American Journeys
Picture the scenic coastline, the antebellum homes, the scrolling marquees
of the casinos. Get your camera ready for a 26-mile journey along the
Mississippi Gulf Coast. You are about to experience the perfect escape.
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