Grinder's Stand, Milepost 385.9

Historic sign marking Grinder's Stand

NPS

Quick Facts

Location:

Meriwether Lewis Death and Burial Site, milepost 385.9 on the Natchez Trace Parkway, near Hohenwald, TN

Significance:

Location where Meriwether Lewis died

Amenities

2 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Parking - Auto

Meriwether Lewis arrived at Grinder’s Stand on the evening of October 10, 1809. He was accompanied by Pernia and James Neelly’s, the US Indian agent to the Chickasaw, enslaved servant. James Neelly remained farther south, looking for horses that had escaped the previous night. Lewis stayed in the cabin while Pernia and Neelly’s enslaved servant stayed in the stables. Mrs. Grinder and her children stayed in the kitchen separate from the house. In the middle of the night Mrs. Grinder heard two gun shots and found Lewis bleeding from his wounds. By sunrise on October 11,1809, Lewis was dead. Historical accounts support the probability of suicide. When Neelly arrived later in the day, he arranged to have Lewis buried a few hundred yards from Grinder’s Stand.

Unfortunately there are noknown drawings or descriptions of what Grinder's Stand look like. The house itself was destroyed before the state of Tennessee erected the monument to Meriwether Lewis in 1848. All that is left of the stand is hearth stones just past the Grinder's Stand sign.

To explore the other areas of the Meriwether Lewis Death and Burial site along the Natchez Trace Parkway see Exploring the Meriwther Lewis Site.