• A curve along the Natchez Trace Parkway with fall colors

    Natchez Trace

    Parkway AL,MS,TN

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  • Sequestration Effects on the Parkway

    On March 1, 2013, the Parkway was required to reduce its annual budget by five percent, in accordance with the sequestration provision of the Budget Control Act of 2011. Click the link to learn about visitor center, restroom, and services impacts. More »

  • Portion of National Scenic Trail Near Tupelo Closed to Hikers

    Part of the Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail (NOT the Parkway) near Tupelo, MS, has been closed until 2015 due to construction under Tupelo's Major Thoroughfare Construction Project. Parkway travelers may expect delays, but no detours are expected. More »

Trading Cards

Looking for a fun and educational way to learn about America's Civil War? Collect stories about the Civil War and civil rights with the National Park Service's Civil War to Civil Rights trading cards! The National Park Service is offering more than 500 trading cards to mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Visit a park in person to earn a card (sorry, cards cannot be mailed). Ask a ranger or stop by the visitor center at a participating park. Along the Natchez Trace Parkway, you can earn your cards at the Parkway Visitor Center (milepost 266), the Parkway Information Cabin (milepost 102.4), or Mount Locust (milepost 15.5). In addition to the Natchez Trace Parkway cards, you can also earn trading cards for Tupelo National Battlefield and Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site.

 
mount locust trading card- mount locust with a person on the front porch

Living and Dying Enslaved

Mount Locust became a thriving cotton plantation by the 1840s, and about 50 enslaved people lived in the cabins that once stood on the property. In the nearby slave cemetery, a single headstone marks the area where these individuals are buried.

 
sunken trace trading card- an eroded trail with trees on each side

Trace of Sadness

Traders brought slaves from Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky to Nashville, Tennessee, to sell them further south. From Nashville, enslaved people were forced to walk for more than three weeks along the Old Natchez Trace. When they arrived at Natchez, Mississippi, they were sold at one of the largest slave trading posts in the country.

 
confederate gravesites trading card-6 gravesites along a gravel trail with bright flowers

Confederate Cemetery
Unidentified but not Forgotten

Thousands of unidentified soldiers on each side of the war were buried throughout the country with no permanent markers. Although it's not known which battle they fought in, or even their names, 13 Confederate soldiers are buried along the Natchez Trace. To honor their service, headstones were placed here to mark their graves in 1940.

Did You Know?

The Tennessee River along the Natchez Trace Parkway

George Colbert operated a stand and ferry to cross the Tennessee River and is rumored to have charged Andrew Jackson $75,000 to ferry his army across the river.