6 October 2012...UP THE NATCHEZ TRACE

The Natchez Trace Parkway lead one 444 miles through three states and 10,000 years of North American history.  It commemorates the most significant highway of the Old Southwest.
The natural travel corridor that became the Natchez Trace dates back many centuries.  It bisected the traditional homelands of the Natchez, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations.  As the United States expanded westward in the late 1700's and early 1800's, growing numbers of travelers tramped the rough trail into a clearly marked path.  The "sunken" sections you can walk along today are clear signs of historic use.
In the early 1800's through the mid-1820's "Kaintucks" from the Ohio River Valley floated cash crops, livestock, and other materials down the Mississippi River on wooden flat-boats.  At Natchez or New Orleans, they sold their goods, sold their boats for lumber, and walked or rode horseback toward home via the Old Trace.  As the road was improved, stands(inns) provided lodging, food, and drink for Trace travelers.
Riding the Trace today was everything I had heard it would be.  The day was not too good it was cold, overcast and dreary but luckily no rain.  It was mile after mile of great scenery, some wild animals and a few turkeys.  In most places the trees hang over the highway and are covered with Spanish Moss.  There was no one on the parkway today.  I might have seen 15 cars the entire 160 miles I traveled today.  I stopped a number of times to see historic sights.  Of real import was the Emerald Mound and the Sunken Trace.  I took pictures of the Mound but it is so large it is impossible to get much of it in a picture.  I did take one with the motorcycle in it that tends to show the scale of the Mound.


The Emerald Mound





Scale of the Mound



8 Acre Emerald Mound



The Sunken Trace





You can almost see the footprints

 The Sunken Trace was a little different.  You had to get off the parkway and drive back into the woods and then walk down a path to the Trace.  Then all of a sudden you were standing in the Trace.  You were standing in the footprints of thousands of Indians and Settlers who helped to open up this land and forge our nation.  Close  your eyes and imagine living off the land for forty some days sometimes encountering hostile Indians or robbers and thieves.  I can ride the Trace in 8 to 10 hours, these folks were on there for 40 to 50 days.  It was an amazing trip and I look forward to completing the Trace tomorrow.