Chickasaw Village Site, Milepost 261.8

The summer prairie at Chickasaw Village Site.

NPS Photo K Maxfield

Quick Facts

Location:

Natchez Trace Parkway, Milepost 261.8 in Tupelo, MS.

Significance:

The historic site of a large village of Chickasaw people. The Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail runs through this site.

Amenities

9 listed

Accessible Sites, Audio Description, Benches/Seating, Captioned Media, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Parking - Auto, Parking - Bus/RV, Scenic View/Photo Spot, Trailhead

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"Welcome to our village. This is a place that we think of as our home. This is our community. This is the place where we lived. It is not only a place where we lived, it is a place where we took care of each other. In our community, if one person is hungry, everybody is hungry, and the hunters would go out and they would hunt, and they would bring animals back and everybody would eat...
"If somebody is cold, or somebody doesn't have any clothing, the hunters would bring back those animals and the people would make clothing... 
"If we were to have visitors that came from long distances, say from the area now known as North or South Carolina...They would find people within this village who were of the same clan. They would have a place to stay for the night. They would have a place to eat, and they would have entertainment. They could talk about the news of what was happening in their village." LaDonna Brown, Chickasaw Nation anthropologist. 

This was once the location of a large Chickasaw Village. The sizes and shapes of their homes are marked on the ground. Interpretive signs share the site history which is located on a portion of Black Belt Prairie. Visit the Chickasaw Village site and imagine what it would have been like to live here hundreds of years ago.

Today, Chickasaw Village Site is a great location to see wildflowers and do some bird watching, as well as learn about Chickasaw culture. 

The Blackland Prairie section of the Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail runs through Chickasaw Village. There are also two short foot trail loops, and a horse trail loop.

• Our Community, Chickasaw Village, Milepost 261

  
  

  Speakers: LaDonna Brown, Tribal Anthropologist at the Chickasaw Nation; Pauline Brown of the Chickasaw Language Committee and Chickasaw Nation Historical Society.

  Credit / Author:

  NPS

  Date created:

  06/17/2016

  Audio Transcript

  L. Brown - (Speaking in Chickasaw.) Hello. My name is LaDonna Brown. I am the tribal anthropologist at the Chickasaw Nation.

  P. Brown - My name is Pauline Brown. I am a Chickasaw. (Speaking in Chickasaw.)

  L. Brown - I would like to greet you at the Chickasaw Village Site on the Natchez Trace Parkway. (Speaking in Chickasaw) Welcome to our village. This is a place that we think of as our home. This is our community. This is a place where we live. It’s not only a place where we live, but a place where we take care of each other. In our community, if one person is hungry, everybody is hungry, and the hunters would go out and they would hunt, and they would bring animals back and everybody would eat.

  P. Brown - The Chickasaw people didn’t only work and strive to feed; there was joking and talking and laughter under some of the trees. The old people got together and discussed different things, and the children were out there playing. The women would have a big black pot going with some kind of dish like what Chickasaws called pashofa—it’s corn boiled in water—and they add pork to it. Then there was the dance. L. Brown - So you have many different things going on in the village. You also have traders who are traveling all across this continent from coast to coast, from east to west and from north to south, and who are trading with all these different tribes, people who have different cultures than us, people who have different languages than us, and they are trading for what we call exotic trade good items. And they’re bringing all of those items back into our village, and they’re trading their wares to the community members.

  P. Brown - And then the Chickasaws not only did all of that, but they were holy people. (Speaking in Chickasaw) Their land was very holy. (Speaking in Chickasaw) They were happy.