NATCHEZ TRACE PARKWAY

MISSISSIPPI, ALABAMA, AND TENNESSEE

The Old Natchez Trace was a series of closely parallel primitive paths carved out of the wilderness by game animals, American Indians, European explorers, and American settlers. Over time, the paths were gradually linked and used for transportation, communication, and trade. For more than two decades, the Old Trace was the most significant highway of the Old Southwest and one of the more important roads in the nation. From 1780 to 1820, it was an avenue of exploration, international rivalry, warfare, trade, settlement, and development. During the "Boatmen Period", owners of agricultural products, livestock, coal, and other materials from the Ohio River Valley floated their goods down the Mississippi River to ports in Natchez and New Orleans. Once the goods were sold, the "Kaintucks" sold their boats for the lumber and hiked or rode horses home via the Old Trace. In 1800, it was designated a national post road for the delivery of mail. General Andrew Jackson used the Old Trace to march troops from Nashville to the Battle of New Orleans, ensuring defeat of Britain’s plans to occupy the Mississippi River Valley. The development of the steamboat and the rerouting of portions of the national post road led to the death of the Old Trace as a major transportation corridor.

The modern Natchez Trace Parkway, covering a distance of 444 miles from Natchez, MS, across northwest Alabama to Nashville, TN, commemorates the historic Old Trace. The roadway, authorized by Congress in 1938, encompasses a traditional southern landscape that offers travelers manicured grassy roadsides and native tree plantings intermingled with a mosaic of hardwood and softwood forest communities, wetlands, prairie landscapes, agricultural croplands, abundant wildlife, and architecturally significant bridges and structures.

Sites administered by the Parkway include: Tupelo National Battlefield, Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site, and the Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail.

DID YOU KNOW

• The Parkway is the seventh most visited unit in the National Park System with 5.5 million recreation visits in 2003. The total number of visits to the Parkway in 2003 was 12.6 million.
• It is one of America’s 75 National Scenic Byways and 21 All-American Roads.
• The Parkway is unique among federal recreational motorways because it commemorates an earlier transportation route. The Old Trace was traveled by many, including Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians, "Kaintuck boatmen", Davy Crockett, Lafayette, Andrew and Rachael Jackson, Jefferson Davis, Aaron Burr, Henry Clay, James Audubon, Meriwether Lewis, and outlaws John Murrell and Samuel Mason.
• The Parkway is a connection corridor between two premier Civil War battle sites, Vicksburg and Shiloh.
• More than 180 separate segments of the Old Trace have been identified within the Parkway’s boundaries and represent 97 miles of the historic route. Additionally, more than 356 archeological sites, 36 cemeteries, and 21 National Register properties, including Civil War battlefields, historic inn sites, and historic houses are located on or adjacent to the Old Trace.
• Within the Parkway, approximately 900 species of plants help to support 57 species of mammals, 150 species of birds, 70 species of reptiles or amphibians, and a variety of other vertebrates and invertebrates. The Parkway provides critical habitat for 2 federally listed threatened and endangered (T&E) species and includes 19 other T&E species within its boundaries. No other unit of the National Park System in the eastern U.S. has more listed species.
• The Parkway represents a transect of the physiographic provinces and communities of the Midsouth. These provinces include Southern Pine Hills, North Central Hills, Flatwood, and Pontotoc Ridge. It also passes through six major forest types, two prairies (Jackson and Black Belt), several river systems (the Tombigbee, Lower Mississippi, Pearl, and Tennessee rivers) and four main waterways and/or watershed areas (Tennessee, Buffalo, and Duck rivers and Bear Creek).
• The Parkway’s 87-mile trail system consists of 52 nature, hiking, and horse trails and 4 national scenic trail segments.

DON'T MISS ATTRACTIONS

• Meriwether Lewis Unit: On October 11, 1809, Meriwether Lewis, the noted explorer, was pronounced dead at Grinder’s Stand (inn). Whether he was murdered or committed suicide has never been conclusively determined. The site includes a reconstruction of the inn and Lewis’ gravesite and monument. (Milepost 385.9)
• Sunken Trace: Walk through a deeply eroded section of the Old Trace at Parkway. (Milepost 41.5)
• Cypress Swamp: The nature trail takes you through a water tupelo/bald cypress swamp. (Milepost 122.0)
• Emerald Mound: Ancestors of the Natchez Indians built this ceremonial mound about AD 1400. The second largest of its type in the nation, it is a designated National Historic Landmark that covers nearly 8 acres. (Milepost 10.3)
• Tupelo Visitor Center (Parkway headquarters): Located midway between Natchez and Nashville, orientation to the Parkway is provided to visitors. (Milepost 266)
• Rocky Springs: The old, abandoned town site can be reached by a short trail. (Milepost 54.8)
• Jackson Falls: Named for President Andrew Jackson, the falls are a beautiful Parkway water feature. (Milepost 404.7)
• Double Arch Bridge: Received the Presidential Award for Design Excellence in 1995 for its innovative design. It rises 155 feet above the valley and eliminates the use of spandrel columns. (Milepost 438)
• French Camp: Louis LeFleur established a stand here in 1812. It became a school in 1822 and remains one to this day. (Milepost 180.7)
• Mount Locust: This restored historic house, one of the first stands in Mississippi, has interpretive programs from February through November. Originally a cotton plantation, it also provides a glimpse into the Mississippi 19th century Black experience. (Milepost 15.5)
• Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site: Site of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s brilliant tactical "victory" during the Civil War. Excellent example of "winning the battle, but losing the war".
• Mississippi Crafts Center: Sales and demonstrations of historic and contemporary Mississippi crafts are featured. (Milepost 102.4)
• Gordon House and Ferry Site: One of the few structures constructed (in 1818) during the heyday of the Old Trace that survives today. (Milepost 407.7)

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE PRIORITIES

Parkway Completion: Under construction since 1937, ceremonies to celebrate the completion of the Parkway are scheduled for May 2005, in Clinton and Natchez, Mississippi. The 67-year construction period is the longest of any National Park System unit.

Enhanced Visitor Services: The Parkway is in the process of renovating all of the exhibits at its Visitor Center in Tupelo, Mississippi. Completion is scheduled for fall 2005. In conjunction with the Lewis and Clark Expedition Bicentennial, the Parkway recently completed planning activities to enhance visitor services at its Meriwether Lewis Unit.

Scenic Viewshed Protection: The Parkway depends upon adjacent public and private landowners to maintain the quality and integrity of its scenic vistas. Mississippi and Tennessee have laws to protect the Parkway’s viewshed. The Parkway is working with Mississippi legislators to forestall additional changes to weaken the state’s existing law. The Parkway and Mississippi State University are jointly developing a viewshed analysis and protection model for the Parkway.

Resource Protection: Parkway-wide surveys of vascular plants and fish were initiated in 2004 using Natural Resource Challenge funds with an expected completion date in 2007. To date, more than 850 species of plants have been documented. Invasive plants are a significant issue with active control programs being implemented to eliminate Kudzu, Mimosa, Royal Paulonia, and Cogon Grass.

Click a photo to view larger version.

LINKS:

Natchez Trace Parkway»

Partnering & Managing for Excellence Report»

Previously Featured Parks»