Audio
A Business Woman Living on the Frontier, Mount Locust, Milepost 15.5
Transcript
In front of you, behind this sign, is a small but steep hill with a flight of stairs that leads directly up to the historic Mount Locust house. To your right, a paved path leads back towards the Information Center and parking lot. To your left, a paved path continues towards a sparse gathering of trees. Behind you is an open field surrounded by trees and the Natchez Trace Parkway beyond. The text on the wayside reads:
A Business Woman Living on the Frontier
William and Paulina “Polly” Ferguson moved to Mount Locust in 1784. The Natchez Trace passed in front of their farm. As the number of travelers on the Trace increased, the Fergusons converted their home into a stand, or inn. For 25 cents, guests received a meal of corn mush and milk and sleeping accommodations on the house’s porch or grounds.
After Willaim’s death in 1801, Polly managed business at Mount Locust. With the rise of steamboats in the 1820s, the number of people trekking along the Trace declined. So too did business at the inn.
Polly focused instead on expanding the agricultural endeavors at Mount Locust. Initially a small corn farm, under Polly’s management the property became a profitable cotton plantation. Like the success of the inn, the success of the plantation was built on chattel slavery.
The background of the exhibit is an illustration that recreates what Mount Locust may have looked like as an inn back in the 1820s. In this scene there are four guests on the front porch. Two men – who look like worn travelers – sit on the left end of the porch on their bed rolls. One of them is holding a bowl of food. A woman, perhaps Polly Ferguson, dressed in a blue dress with a white bonnet and apron, holds out a bowl to the second man. At the top of the stairs another man stands casually, looking out over the landscape as he smokes his pipe. The fourth man sits in a rocking chair on the far right side of the porch. He looks to be a bit older than the other guests, with a grey beard. At the front of the house, on the right side, a brown horse is tied up to a hitching post. In the background the cotton crops are visible. The caption reads:
Polly operated an inn at Mount Locust from 1785 to 1842. In 1820, Polly enslaved 26 people. By the time of her death in 1849, she enslaved 53 people, many of whom were named in her will. Scan the QR code to learn more about the enslaved people of the Old Trace.
To the right of the caption is a QR code.
Description
An audio description of the wayside "A Business Woman Living on the Frontier" located at Mount Locust.
Credit
NPS Audio / P. Pinson
Date Created
05/20/2025
Copyright and Usage Info