• 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 »

Animals

alligator

Alligators are found in warm, swampy habitats.

NPS photo

Animal life abounds in the park, from the worms that burrow underfoot, to the people whose feet are burrowed under. The reason that animals are found here in such abundance has to do with our name. Notice that even though most people travel through the park by car on a paved road, we are not called the "Natchez Trace Roadway". Rather, we are very deliberately called the "Natchez Trace Parkway", with emphasis on the "park". The Parkway includes not just the road and mowed shoulders, but a swath of property extending outwards an average of 400 feet in each direction. Being that the parkway is 444 miles long, this means that the park acts as a "greenway", or habitat corridor, for the myriad of animal species that inhabit this part of the country. However, since the paved parkway itself extends down the middle of this greenway, it is vitally important that drivers slow down and pay attention in order to avoid making road-kill of the park's creatures. Please help us by obeying posted speed limits while traveling within the park.

Did You Know?

Boatmen from the Ohio River Valley walked along the Natchez Trace.

The "Kaintucks", or boatmen from the Ohio River Valley, would walk approximately 500 miles from Natchez to Nashville along the Natchez Trace in about 30 days.