Shows
Natchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessWater Valley Overlook"We are making our way up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee and today we are west of Columbia, Tennessee at a site called the WATER VALLEY OVERLOOK.
"This exit takes travelers 3 tenths of a mile, high up to a hilltop overlooking a quiet valley. It's a pastoral scene of farmlands, ponds and country roads. There's a picnic table there for those who care to stay for awhile.
"The ten miles or so north of this overlook is the highest section along the entire Natchez Trace. The following RoadMusic® piece titled TH...2021-07-2102 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessGordon, House and Ferry Site"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting the GORDON, HOUSE AND FERRY SITE west of Columbia, Tennessee near the community of Shady Grove.
"At this exhibit is one of the few buildings still remaining from the days of the Old Natchez Trace.
"By treaty George Colbert had been given control over all ferry operations on Chickasaw lands. John Gordon, an Indian scout and friend of Andrew Jackson, made an agreement with Colbert to allow Gordon to operate a trading post and a Ferry across...2021-07-2002 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessJackson Falls"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting several sites outside of Columbia, Tennessee that pertain to the Duck River.
"At the Jackson Falls exhibit there are two trails. The one to the right is the steeper, a 900 foot trail that takes visitors to a clear pool at the base of the Jackson Waterfalls. These falls were named for Andrew Jackson, a frequent traveler of the Trace between his home in Nashville and the territories of Mississippi and Louisiana. The stream that feeds this water fall is...2021-07-1902 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessTobacco Farm / Old Trace Drive"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting a Tobacco Farm exhibit near Columbia, Tennessee where we will ride and walk along the original Old Trace.
"There are two recorded messages at this exhibit that tell how tobacco is grown, cut and dried. Visitors can take a short walk through the field, and the barn built by Mr. Leland Greenfield in 1959. In the summer you can see the tobacco growing and in the fall, see it drying in the barn.
"This section of the parkway...2021-07-1602 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessSheboss Place"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting SHEBOSS PLACE near Columbia, Tennessee.
"By comparison to the forced removal of the Cherokee and the Choctaw Indians from the southeastern United States, it must appear the Chickasaw had an easy time of it. Beginning in 1837 some of the Chickasaw traveled west to Oklahoma with Government escort while others took up their lives and traveled at their own expense. By the fall of 1839 the enrollment of Chickasaw in the west was 5,947. Others moved between 1840-47.
"The Chickasaw...2021-07-1502 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessOld Trace Exhibit"HEMONA KA ONAHLÍ TÖK. This is Chickasaw, meaning, 'Once I was there.'
"Today we are in land that belonged to the Chickasaws before the tribe's removal along the "Trail of Tears" in 1837.
"Possibly the worst events of the Indian Removal from the Southeast in the1830s occurred to the Cherokee Indians, removed at bayonet point by the American army in the dead of the winter 1838-39; There were 645 wagons filled with a freezing human cargo. It was so sudden that many were barefoot and without blankets against the cold. 4000 Cherokee died of starvation an...2021-07-1402 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessSwan Valley Overlook"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are just north of the parkway intersection with Tennessee highway 412 at the exhibit, SWAN VALLEY OVERLOOK, where you can get a good look at the terrain in the direction south.
"The change in elevation here along the parkway gives it a different feel. Boatmen and Kaintucks returning from Natchez would have been keenly aware of these hills and valleys and would have sensed their journey along the old road coming to an end. Their thoughts must have turned toward home as...2021-07-1302 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessPhosphate Mine / Fall Hollow"Today we will look at a couple of exhibits near Swan Valley, where the Natchez Trace Parkway crosses Tennessee highway 412. The first exhibit is PHOSPHATE MINE. A 5 minute walk there takes visitors to a collapsed mine shaft and an abandoned railroad bed.
"This is a region where the limestone has rich deposits of phosphate. There was a lot of mining activity in this area at one time, and there are many abandoned mine shafts like this one.
"Just past PHOSPHATE MINE is a bridge that takes travelers across Big Swan Creek. Beyond the bridge is F...2021-07-1202 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessPale Moon Rider"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway we are visiting the Meriwether Lewis exhibit and are going to listen to part of Pale Moon Rider, a song written about the danger posed by robbers along this early National Road.
"Captain Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark Expedition died here in 1809. In 1848 the state of Tennessee erected a monument at Lewis's grave, which visitors can see at this exhibit. The monument is a broken shaft symbolizing the early death of a promising life. The surrounding County is also called Lewis County.
"To this d...2021-07-0902 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessMetal Ford"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting an exhibit called METAL FORD at the Buffalo River in Tennessee.
"METAL FORD is a point where travelers of the old road waded across the Buffalo River when the water was low. One method of road construction in that era was known as 'metalling', which meant the road was built by placing stones on the surface to help it stand the wear in bad weather. As you can imagine, these road surfaces were hard and rough to travel. The...2021-07-0702 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessNapier Mine"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting an exhibit called NAPIER MINE near the Buffalo River in Tennessee four miles south of the parkway junction with Tennessee highways 20 and 412.
"As people moved into the expanding frontier, it wasn't possible to bring everything they needed, and they couldn't afford to have it shipped from the East. Among the things pioneers settling these areas needed were items made of iron, like shoes for their horses and nails, plow points and hoes for tending the fields and cast iron...2021-07-0602 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessOld Trace Drive"In building the parkway it wasn't possible to follow the Old Trace exactly. What worked for people traveling on foot and on horseback 200 years ago doesn't work well today in a car going 50 mph.
"We are 5 miles north of where the Natchez Trace Parkway intersects Tennessee highway 64 at an exhibit called OLD TRACE DRIVE. This is a 2.5 mile section of the Old Natchez Trace that you can drive along in your car. Visitors have to travel the old road at a slower pace and get to see it up close. It makes you think about the footsteps...2021-07-0502 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessSweetwater Branch"Today on our journey along the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are going to visit several trails and exhibits just north of Collinwood, Tennessee.
"SWEETWATER BRANCH nature trail takes 15 or 20 minutes to walk. This branch was named for the "sweet" flavor of the water. Travelers today should not drink the water. The shallow rocky soil of this bottom land supports plants and trees as they struggle to grow, as the branch continues to carve and shape the valley. In season, wildflowers are plentiful in this area.
"A few mile north...2021-07-0202 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessAwakening"In 1811, on board a steamboat named the New Orleans, Nicholas Roosevelt pioneered steam travel down the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.
"As the New Orleans passed along the western border of the state of Tennessee, the first shocks of an earthquake struck near New Madrid, Mo. on December the 16th. Villages were destroyed, bluffs along the Mississippi fell into the river, ravines opened as far south as Natchez. As a result of the earthquake of 1811, the ground in the northwestern corner of Tennessee collapsed and giant waves from the Mississippi flowed to fill the depression, reversing the flow...2021-07-0102 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessAnnus Mirabilis"Annus mirabilis -- miraculous year. This comes from Jonathan Daniels story of the Natchez Trace, The Devil's Backbone.
"In 1811 the steamboat pioneer, Robert Fulton, hired Nicholas Roosevelt to travel the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to see if a steamboat could navigate them. Roosevelt and his bride took there honeymoon 6 months on board a flatboat to check out the rivers and determined that it was indeed possible for a steamboat to negotiate the currents. So Roosevelt built a steamboat named the New Orleans, and in the fall of 1811, Nicholas and his wife, an engineer, a pilot, six hands...2021-06-3002 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessMcGlamery Stand"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we visit another of the trading posts established along the Old Trace, McGLAMERY STAND. It was built in 1849 by John McGlamery, quite late in the old road's history. This stand didn't survive the Civil War, but today, the nearby village is known as McGlamery Stand.
"'Annus mirabilis' is the title of a chapter in the book Devil's Backbone by Jonathan Daniels. This is Latin meaning "Miraculous Year." The title was inspired by a quotation from the Englishman Charles J. Latrobe, who journeyed t...2021-06-2902 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessSunken Trace"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting an exhibit 8 miles north of the Tennessee-Alabama State line. The exhibit is called SUNKEN TRACE and offers visitors a look at how this old road through the wilderness changed with the passage of time and traffic.
"We've seen how the Natchez Trace grew out of the geography of the land and the movement of animals and man, and rivers and streams. Just as the animals and people have changed during the course of the trail's history, the trail itself...2021-06-2802 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessTennessee-Alabama State Line"Today we are leaving Alabama and going into the state of Tennessee. In 1663 King Charles II granted the Carolina Colony all the land starting at the Atlantic Ocean and running west between the 31st and 36th parallel. The 31st parallel is the bottom border of Mississippi below Natchez. The 36th parallel is now the northern boundary of North Carolina and Tennessee. When North and South Carolina separated they established the border between them as the 35th parallel. North Carolina released it's claim on lands west of the Appalachian Mountains, and this became the state of Tennessee the 16th state...2021-06-2502 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessRock Spring"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are about a mile and a half beyond the Tennessee River at an exhibit called ROCK SPRING.
"Colbert Creek empties into the Tennessee River near where the river and the parkway intersect. A mile or so above the mouth of Colbert Creek, beaver have built a dam near where Rock Spring feeds into the creek. This place is alive with activity in the spring and summer, and in the backwater of the beaver dam visitors can see fish and turtles...2021-06-2402 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessJohn Coffee Memorial Bridge"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are crossing the Tennessee River at the JOHN COFFEE MEMORIAL BRIDGE.
"John Coffee was an old Indian fighting buddy of Andrew Jackson and one of Jackson's Generals who fought with him against the British at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Coffee was chosen by Jackson to negotiate for the United States with the Choctaw at Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830 and with the Chickasaw at Pontotoc Creek in 1832. In both cases Coffee was successful in getting the Indians to give up a...2021-06-2302 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessColbert Ferry"For early travelers, the Tennessee River was the biggest obstacle along the entire Natchez Trace.
"At the COLBERT FERRY stop, down by the edge of the River, there's a taped message that tells what it was like crossing the Tennessee River in the early 1800s and before. The river wasn't as wide as it is today. It was swift moving and a little more than a quarter mile across (about a third the distance it is now). What you'll see there today is a lake created in the mid 1930s when the Tennessee Valley Authority build Pickwick...2021-06-2202 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessBuzzard Roost Spring"On the parkway in Alabama, about 7 miles before we reach the Tennessee River there is an exhibit called BUZZARD ROOST SPRING. Buzzard Roost was one of the most famous stands along the Natchez Trace, at the site of a large spring originally called BUZZARD SLEEP. In 1801 Levi Colbert built his stand near this spring. At that time this was Chickasaw land and the stands were owned by Indians.
"Levi wasn't a full-blooded Indian, his father was a Scotsman, James Logan Colbert, who spent most of his life among the Chickasaw and may have been an important military s...2021-06-2102 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessFreedom Hills Overlook"Today on our trip up the Natchez Trace Parkway traveling from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are in northwest Alabama climbing out of the bottom land of Bear Creek up to the exhibit called FREEDOM HILLS OVERLOOK.
"There's a steep paved walkway there that leads about a quarter of a mile up from the parking area to an overlook. There is a bench where visitors can sit and look to the east over the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. This overlook is 800 feet above sea level, about the same elevation as the highest point in all...2021-06-1802 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessMississippi-Alabama State Line"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway we leave the state of Mississippi and cross into Alabama, the 22nd state to join the Union. That was on Dec. 14, 1819. The Southern pine is the state tree. The state flower is a rose-like flower that grows on a bush, called a camellia. The state bird is the yellowhammer. And the motto? WE DARE TO DEFEND OUR RIGHTS. The state song is ALABAMA.
"After crossing the state line the parkway begins to drop off into bottom land. Down in the bottom we get to see Bear Creek as i...2021-06-1702 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessBear Creek Mound"We are making our way up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee, and today we visit BEAR CREEK MOUND, our last exhibit before we leave Mississippi.
"The Bear Creek Mound is typical of the ceremonial Indian Mounds we have seen along our Natchez Trace journey. It is a flat topped temple mound that stands about 10 feet high and is right on the Mississippi-Alabama Border. The mound itself was built less than a 1000 years ago, sometime between 1200 and 1400 AD. At first you may think this is just another old Indian mound; however, the mound...2021-06-1602 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessCave Spring"We are making our way up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee, and today we are very near the Mississippi-Alabama State line at an exhibit called Cave Spring.
"The basic type of rock in this area is limestone. When rain falls, the water absorbs carbon dioxide from the air and this forms a weak acid. As this water seeps through the ground it dissolves the limestone very slowly. At this site, the underground water dissolved a large cavern out of the limestone just beneath the surface and eventually the roof of the cavern...2021-06-1502 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessTishomingo State Park"TISHOMINGO is the Chickasaw Indian name meaning WARRIOR CHIEF. Today we visit TISHOMINGO STATE PARK along the Natchez Trace Parkway about 6 mile before it leaves Mississippi and crosses into Alabama. The park, county and nearby town are all named for the last great war chief of the Chickasaw Indian Nation, Chief Tishomingo.
"The land in this scenic state park was Tishomingo's favorite hunting ground, and saddle back ridge was his favorite spot, where he spent many hours riding young white children on his spotted red horse and telling them stories of his many battles. He fought with...2021-06-1402 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessBay Springs Lock and Dam"Today we are visiting the Bay Springs Lock and Dam site on the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway. The Lock is just off the Natchez Trace Parkway about 30 miles north of Tupelo, Mississippi.
"Construction of the Waterway began in 1972 and was finished in 1985. The RIVER section of the Waterway is south of Bay Springs and utilizes the Tombigbee River coming north from Demopolis, Alabama to Amory, Mississippi. Using a chain of lakes construction, the CANAL section runs from Amory to Bay Springs where barges locking through change elevation by 84 feet. The final DIVIDE CUT SECTION was the most difficult...2021-06-1102 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessTennessee-Tombigbee Waterway"Today we visit where the TENNESSEE-TOMBIGBEE WATERWAY crosses the Natchez Trace Parkway about 30 miles north of Tupelo, Mississippi.
"The Tombigbee River was known as the "River of the Chickasaw" -- Desoto crossed it when he came through the Chickasaw land in 1540. Bienville traveled with his troops up the Tombigbee from Mobile in 1736 with visions of destroying the Chickasaw Nation, before being routed by the Chickasaw at the Battle of Ackia. But Bienville saw the advantage of a waterway connecting the Tombigbee and the Tennessee Rivers and recommended it to Louis XIV. It would allow a more direct...2021-06-1002 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessDonivan Slough"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez to Nashville we will look at a couple of exhibits that show us some of the bottom lands through which travelers of the Trace had to pass. We are now about 20 miles north of Tupelo, Mississippi.
"The first exhibit is DONIVAN SLOUGH that contains a woodland nature trail through rich moist soil that supports Tulip poplar, sycamore and water oak, all trees that tolerate lots of water. A slough like this is a winding channel that makes its way through swampy bottom land. The occasional flooding...2021-06-0802 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessTwenty Mile B0ttom Overlook"Today on our journey along the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi north to Nashville, Tennessee we are 15 miles north of Tupelo, Mississippi. Today's exhibit is called TWENTYMILE BOTTOM OVERLOOK.
"From the overlook you can see the bottom land of Twentymile Creek. This land is typical of the terrain encountered by early travelers of the Natchez Trace. Near this bottom was another of the stands that grew up along the Trace where travelers could find food and rest along their journey. This was called Old Factors Stand.
"It's hard for us these days to imagine...2021-06-0702 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessDogwood Valley"We are making our way up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee. Todays stop is at an exhibit called Dogwood Valley located about a dozen miles along the parkway north of Tupelo, Mississippi. A 15 minute nature trail takes visitors along a section of the Old Sunken Trace. It goes through a wooded area called DOGWOOD VALLEY. The valley gets its name because there's an unusually large number of flowering dogwood trees there. These are small trees that are common throughout the eastern United States. They blossom in the early spring of the year near Easter...2021-06-0402 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessConfederate Gravesites(Music segue to BlueGray)
"Today we are visiting the graves of 13 unknown Confederate soldiers at a site just north of Tupelo, Mississippi as we make our way up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee. A 5 minute walk takes visitors to the top of a small hill where these graves can be seen.
"By the time the American Civil War began much of the Old Natchez Trace was no longer used, but the war impacted the area as it did the entire nation. The soldiers whose graves lie atop this hill may...2021-06-0302 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessTupelo Visitor Center"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting the TUPELO VISITOR CENTER, which also houses the parkway headquarters.
"Outside the center there's a half mile loop trail, the BEECH SPRING TRAIL. This gentle grade trail passes through an area of forest regrowth. Inside the center there is an orientation program as well as exhibits that take visitors from ancient times through Indian and white man settlements up to modern times. You can see Indian artifacts recovered from within the park boundaries, along with exhibits of equipment used...2021-06-0202 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessOld Town Overlook"The next stop along the parkway is in Tupelo Mississippi. It is OLD TOWN
OVERLOOK, where there's another marker erected by the Mississippi Daughters of the American Revolution. This one was presented to the City of Tupelo on November 19, 1914. The inscription mentions the Battle of Ackia. This is a partial quotation from that monument.
'Bienville fought the Battle of Ackia with the Chickasaw Indians near this spot May 26, 1736. Of the rage that repulsed him let it be recorded here, they die well who die for faith and home and native land.'
"Of course...2021-06-0102 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessChickasaw Indian Village"Along the Natchez Trace Parkway, within the city limits of Tupelo, Mississippi is an exhibit shelter that tells of Chickasaw Village life in the early 1700s. There are foundations there that show the size and shape of both summer and winter homes and of a fort the group would use in times of danger.
"One threat to the Chickasaw came from the French following the Natchez Indian's massacre of French troops at Fort Rosalie in 1729 and the subsequent annihilation of the Natchez Tribe by the French. A few Natchez Indians took refuge with their friends the Chickasaws. 2021-05-3102 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessTupelo National Battlefield"Today on our journey along the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee, we are visiting the Tupelo National Battlefield. This exhibit is located within the town of Tupelo, and is a little more than a mile off the parkway.
"The Tupelo Battlefield Exhibit is not as extensive as the Civil War battlefields at Vicksburg or Shiloh, but it is a monument to the Union and Confederate armies that fought at the Battle of Tupelo on July 14, 1864. The Federal forces under General Andrew J. Smith were the victors.
"The whole thing had...2021-05-2802 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessBlack Belt Overlook"About 10 miles south of Tupelo on the Natchez Trace Parkway is an exhibit called the BLACK BELT OVERLOOK.
"In a much earlier age all this area lay under a part of the ocean, which extended up across much of the state of Alabama, entering what is now Mississippi from the east near Columbus. From there an arm of the ocean reached through here north up into Tennessee. The ocean's marine life, shells and such, formed deposits of limestone that built up to be the land here. Over the ages the weathered limestone has become the black fertile so...2021-05-2702 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessChickasaw Council House"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez to Nashville we visit an exhibit known as the Chickasaw Council House. It is 11 or 12 miles south of Tupelo and due east of the town of Pontotoc. Along the original Old Natchez Trace was an Indian Village "PONTATOCK." The village had a council house, which became the capitol of the entire Chickasaw Indian Nation in the 1820s.
"In the fall of 1832, President Andrew Jackson had John Coffee to negotiate with the Chickasaw, for their land, as Coffee had done with the Choctaw two years earlier at...2021-05-2602 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessTockshish"About 12 miles south of Tupelo, Mississippi is an exhibit called Tockshish. This exhibit tells about a site on the Old Natchez Trace known as Tockshish. This was McIntoshville, a community of white men and Indians built up around the home of the British Indian agent, John McIntosh, who settled there before 1770. When the old Indian trail was established as a national road in 1801, Tockshish became a relay station where post riders carrying mail between Nashville and Natchez could exchange weary horses for fresh ones. The post riders would then move on with their mail bags. For them it was...2021-05-2502 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessMonroe Mission"We're on a journey along the Natchez Trace Parkway traveling north from Natchez, Mississippi heading up to Nashville, Tennessee. Today we visit an exhibit located in the northern part of the Tombigbee National Forest, 15 miles south of Tupelo, Mississippi.
"The Chickasaw's first contact with Christianity and with formal education came in 1822 at the site of MONROE MISSION. Many of the Indians who became Chickasaw leaders in Oklahoma were taught in one of three missionary schools. One of those schools was MONROE MISSION STATION.
"The church there was only 16 feet square, but 150 people were baptized in...2021-05-2402 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessHernando Desoto"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are stopping by an exhibit 17 miles south of Tupelo, Mississippi. It is called HERNANDO DESOTO.
"Desoto was the Spanish explorer who came through this region from 1539-1541. When he and his men visited Emerald mound just north of Natchez, they not only brought beads and trinkets to trade with the native Indians, they also brought disease to the Mississippian Indians who lived there, disease, that may have aided in the early demise of this highly advanced Indian culture.
"During...2021-05-2102 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessChickasaw Agency"On our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway we are about 20 miles south of Tupelo, Mississippi. Today's exhibit is called Chickasaw Agency.
"From 1802 until 1825 the United States Agents to the Chickasaw Indian Nation lived several miles west of this exhibit on the original Old Natchez Trace itself.
"During the Spring and Summer thousands of Kaintucks and Boatmen would float the produce from their farms down the Mississippi River to Natchez or New Orleans and then journey along the old road from Natchez back to their homes in the Ohio River Valley.
"While the...2021-05-2002 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessWitch Dance"We are taking a journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee and today we have reached the site of Witch Dance near Houston, Mississippi on the southern border of a unit of the Tombigbee National Forest.
"The National Forests in Mississippi are an important resource for the state and while this unit of the Tombigbee National Forest contains mostly watershed lakes that are built to control flooding, there is one exception, the 200-acre recreational Davis Lake built in 1937 which sits amidst stands of pine trees and hardwoods and offers visitors the opportunity...2021-05-1902 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessBynum MoundsNatchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness.
"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway we'll visit BYNUM MOUNDS just north of Houston, Mississippi.
"We are now in Chickasaw Territory, and while the Chickasaw did settle here, the Bynum Mounds date form the Woodland Indian Period. This site dates back over 1500 years. There's a recording there that tells of Indian village life, of their living from the land gathering berries, nuts and fruit from the wild. They also fished, hunted wild game and farmed.
In the summers the Woodland Indians lived in...2021-05-1802 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessLine Creek"Today on our journey along the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we visit an exhibit called LINE CREEK.
"To the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians, private land ownership had no meaning. Land was something for the good of the group and was held in common by the tribe. Understandably then, property lines were not familiar and had little importance in the everyday lives of Indians and the tribes. Even between tribes, boundaries were seldom distinct. But the Chickasaw and the Choctaw tribes were not friendly, and over the years the two tribes came to...2021-05-1702 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessPigeon Roost"Today on our journey along the Natchez Trace we come to Pigeon Roost which is just south of the junction of the Trace and Mississippi Highway 82.
"Pigeon Roost was the site of a trading post established before 1790, belonging to a New Englander named Nathaniel Folsom who was married to a Choctaw woman. Their son, David Folsom, followed in their footsteps operating the trading post, and was a strong supporter of both Indian education and of Christianity. In 1826 David Folsom was elected Chief of the Northeast District of the Choctaw Nation.
"PIGEON ROOST gets its name...2021-05-1402 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessOld Trace Exhibit"Just north of Jeff Busby Campground is an Old Trace Exhibit that tells how in the early 1800s, it was feared that the Mississippi Valley region would become a separate nation simply because of poor communication. This prompted Congress to establish this road as a post route between Nashville and Natchez.
"The post road itself changed. In 1801 it ran south out of Nashville along this old Trace. In 1802 post riders leaving Nashville went south to Franklin, Tennessee and then over to the Old Trace. In 1808 riders continued to Columbia, Tennessee and by 1819 to Florence, Alabama and west...2021-05-1302 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessEastern Hardwood Forest"Today on our journey along the Natchez Trace Parkway we are visiting Jeff Busby Park, located near Ackerman, Mississippi.
"Above the campground here is Little Mountain Summit where you'll find a large nature and history exhibit that tells of the Great Eastern Hardwood Forest, by far the greatest hardwood forest in the world. Before Columbus came to this hemisphere, the Eastern Indians lived in this forest. It was vast, extending from the Gulf Coast up into Canada. There's a quotation at the exhibit that says, "A squirrel could travel from Maine to Texas without touching the ground."...2021-05-1202 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessJeff Busby Park"Today on our journey along the Natchez Trace Parkway we'll stop by a major campsite that was dedicated on November 7, 1965. This is JEFF BUSBY PARK named in honor of the U. S. Congressman from Mississippi, Jeff Busby, who introduced a bill in congress on February 15th of 1934 to authorize a survey of the Old Natchez Trace. Four years later, May the 18th, 1938, the Natchez Trace was designated a unit of the National Park Service.
"There's a service station and camp store located immediately off the road here and it makes a convenient stop for travelers to get...2021-05-1102 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessGreenwood LeFlore"Today we are at French Camp, Mississippi on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez to Nashville.
"The French Canadian, Lewis LeFleur, established the stand of French Camp along the old Natchez Trace in 1812. He married Rebecca Cravat, a French-Choctaw woman. Their son, Greenwood LeFlore, became a District Chief of the Choctaw Indians, and in the fall of 1830 was principal negotiator at the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek where the last of the Choctaw lands were traded away to the United States. In this treaty the Choctaw were given three years in which to leave...2021-05-1002 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessFrench Camp"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez to Nashville we will visit the town of French Camp, Mississippi.
"The French Canadian, Lewis LeFleur, first traded with the Choctaw Indians at a trading post called LeFleur's Bluff, located where Jackson, Mississippi is today. In 1812, LeFleur established a stand along the Old Trace, and because of his nationality the area came to be called French Camp. Today the town that stands at the site of Lewis LeFleur's tavern is French Camp, Mississippi. It became a school in 1822 and has remained one to this day.
2021-05-0702 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessBethel Mission"Today's stop along the Natchez Trace Parkway is at an exhibit called Bethel Mission, and it is located on the parkway 4 ½ miles south of French Camp, Mississippi.
"The old Natchez Trace was used by Indians long before Europeans came to the new world. Pioneers began to settle in the Ohio River Valley during the late 1700s and float their produce down the Mississippi River to sell it in Natchez . As thousands of pioneers traveled home over the old Natchez Trace and became familiar with this rich and fertile land there was an increased desire for settlement here. I...2021-05-0602 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessCole Creek"We are making a journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee. Along the way we are stopping by the more than one hundred exhibits which the park service has erected to interpret the history, culture and nature along this, one of the oldest roads in the world.
"Today we visit a short nature trail along COLE CREEK, another of the many winding creeks and streams that feed water into the Yockanookany River. The early road paralleled this creek for awhile and it would have been a source of food and water for...2021-05-0502 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessHurricane Creek"Today our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway has brought us to a nature trail just north of Kosciusko, Mississippi. Each of the nature trails offers us something quite revealing and complex in its detail and yet basically very simple.
"Walking the nature trail at Hurricane Creek can be a poignant experience, especially when you remember that this was once the home of the Choctaw Indians. The trail offers a 15 minute walk and signs that explain differences in vegetation. The trail passes through the wet bottom land of Hurricane Creek, and through American beech and white oak tr...2021-05-0402 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessKosciusko"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting the town of Kosciusko, Mississippi, one of the oldest remaining settlements on the Natchez Trace. It was originally known as Red Bud Springs, an Indian campsite. In the late 1700s a tavern was established to accommodate the growing number of travelers making their way up the old Indian trail, heading toward their homes in the Ohio River Valley.
"In 1830 the Choctaw Indians gave up their lands with the signing of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit creek. In 1833 the county...2021-05-0302 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessKanchi"The Choctaw lived in lands east of the Mississippi River until 1830 when the white men of the United States forced them to sign treaties giving up their land, moving them to the west. Of 20,000 Choctaws forced from their homes 2,000 would die before reaching new settlements in Oklahoma.
"Listen to the words of Kanchi, one of the dispossessed Choctaw, as he stood with friends and relatives on the east bank of the Mississippi River before crossing to the west. They had just received word of the burning of their homes.
" 'My own kin and blood brothers...2021-04-3002 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessPromised Land"We're just south of Kosciusko on the Natchez Trace Parkway in land that once belonged to the Choctaw Indians. East of here is the "promised land," the hill of origins -- Nanih Waiya, sacred to both the Choctaw and the Chickasaw Indians because the traditions of both tell how once they were one people.
"One story tells how the Indians came from the west searching for a homeland with a magical pole to guide them. After a day's travel they would stick the magical spear into the ground and make camp. At sunrise their leaders, two brothers...2021-04-2902 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessMyrick Creek"Today our stop along the Natchez Trace Parkway is at Myrick Creek. The site is known as Beaver Dam and is 15 miles south of Kosciusko, Mississippi. The exhibit and nature trail at Myrick Creek explain the many activities of a member of the rodent family, the beaver. In Mississippi these animals grow as large as 60 pounds. They are clumsy animals on land but have adapted to life in the water, felling trees, and building dams.
"I first thought the nature exhibits and trails that the park service has erected along the parkway were meant simply as an...2021-04-2802 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessRed Dog Road"We are making a journey along the Natchez Trace Parkway, traveling from Natchez, Mississippi on our way up to Nashville, Tennessee. The parkway follows the footsteps of the migrating buffalo and Indian hunters, of boatmen and farmers returning home after floating the produce of their farms down the Mississippi River to sell in Natchez.
"The Natchez Trace offers travelers a look at this country's frontier history in the context of the natural setting that shaped the people and cultures that interacted here. Like the rivers and streams that erode the land while changing course in the bottom...2021-04-2702 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessRobinson Road"We are taking a journey on the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee. Today we'll visit an exhibit at Robinson Road. A road built in 1821, to connect the states capitol, Jackson, with Columbus, Mississippi to the east which lies on the banks of the Tombigbee River. Almost all of this road ran through Choctaw Indian territory.
"In 1822, Robinson road was designated as a mail route and soon after began carrying much of the traffic to and from the north. The northern part of the Natchez Trace quickly began to lose its importance. In fact...2021-04-2602 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessYockanookany River"A site along the Natchez Trace Parkway that is half way between the cities of Jackson and Kosciusko in Mississippi is known as the Yockanookany Picnic Area.
"As we journey on up the Natchez Trace we will be crossing several streams: Nine Mile Creek, Bain Creek, Myrick Creek, Blatlock Creek, Hurricane Creek, Bird Creek. They all drain into the Yockanookany River that flows south and joins the Pearl River near this picnic area.
"These creeks were mileposts to early travelers that marked their progress up the old road. We hardly notice them when we drive...2021-04-2302 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessTreaty of Doak's Stand"Today we visit an exhibit along the Natchez Trace Parkway called Upper Choctaw Boundary.
"In October of 1820, Andrew Jackson, who nine years later would become the 7th President of the United States, met with leaders of the Choctaw Indian Nation, notably the Indian chief Pushmataha. The meeting took place at a tavern established in 1812 by William Doak. Andrew Jackson was asking the Choctaw to give up all of their tribal lands in exchange for land west of the Mississippi River. The Indians didn't like the prospect of leaving their homeland and after several days of argument, Jackson...2021-04-2202 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessRiver Bend Picnic Area"Today we'll stop by the RIVER BEND PICNIC AREA about 20 miles up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Jackson, Mississippi. At this bend in the Pearl River you can see part of the dynamic process of a river changing its course. The picnic area stands on the outer part of the river bend, at a point where the flowing water and the solid ground meet. You can see how the water is eroding the earth, eating away at the picnic area. At the same time if you look across the river you will see a beach being build as silt...2021-04-2102 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessCypress Swamp"There are two species of trees in the area of the Natchez Trace that can live while standing in depths of water that would kill other trees. Theses two species are the water tupelo and the bald cypress. Today we're visiting a site along the parkway just north of Ross Barnett Reservoir; it's called CYPRESS SWAMP. There you'll find a 20 minute nature trail with a boardwalk to carry you across this swamp where the water tupelo and bald cypress live.
"The Pearl River used to flow through the channel where the cypress and water tupelo now grow...2021-04-2002 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessWest Florida Boundary"Today our stop along the parkway is on the bank of the Ross Barnett Reservoir. The exhibit is called West Florida Boundary.
"Between 1756 and 1763 the conflict known as the Seven Years' War was fought in Europe and India. It pitted the French and the British against each other for control of the seas and control of colonies in North America.
"The North American part of this struggle is what we call the French and Indian War, with the French defending a line of forts from the St. Lawrence River to the Mississippi, against British attack...2021-04-1902 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessBoyd Mounds"We are traveling along the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi up to Nashville, Tennessee and visiting the interpretive exhibits the park service has placed along the way.
"Today we visit Boyd Mounds. These Indian burial mounds stand along the shore of the Ross Barnett Reservoir. A village site near Boyd Mounds dates from around 500 A.D. This was near the end of the Woodland Indian Culture, but earlier than the Mississippian Indians who built Emerald Mound just north of Natchez. Indians occupied this site for centuries before the mounds were built. The village had long been...2021-04-1602 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessA Long Ride Along the Reservoir"Visitors to the Natchez Trace Parkway that travel it using the Road Through the Wilderness audio tour as their guide will enjoy entertaining and informative musical pieces written for unique sights along the parkway. Listen for a moment to part of a piano piece entitled A Long Ride Along the Reservoir which accompanies the drive along the banks of the Ross Barnett Reservoir just north of Jackson, Mississippi. Imagine now, if you will, the smell of new mown grass, see the sunlight shimmering on the water, feel the breeze and hear the waves gently lap at the shore."
2021-04-1502 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessReservoir Overlook"The Pearl River Valley Water Supply District was established by the Mississippi legislature in 1958 to develop a reservoir to help prevent floods and provide a dependable water supply for Jackson, Mississippi. This was motivated in part by years of drought during the early 1950s. Today along the Natchez Trace Parkway, just north of Jackson, Mississippi there is a stop called the RESERVOIR OVERLOOK where visitors can see the results of the first project of its type undertaken by a local government for the expressed purpose of conservation and for making the maximum use of the available water supply. From...2021-04-1402 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessBrashear's Stand"We're traveling the Natchez Trace from Natchez, Mississippi north to Nashville, Tennessee. This was the direction returning Boatman and Kaintucks traveled the old road in the late 1700s and early 1800s after they had floated the produce of their farms in the Ohio River Valley down the Mississippi River to sell in Natchez.
"Today we're visiting a stop along the Trace known as Brashear's Stand, and though you wouldn't realize it driving up from the south this is only about 1/4 mile from a 50 Square mile body of water, the Ross Barnett Reservoir.
"Of course there...2021-04-1302 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessRidgeland Crafts Center"On the parkway just north of Jackson, Mississippi at Ridgeland, is the Mississippi Crafts Center. This is a relatively new development for the Old Natchez Trace. The structure was located on the Natchez Trace Parkway in 1975 by the Craftsmen's Guild of Mississippi, a non-profit organization of craftsmen and others who want to preserve and promote the folk and traditional, as well as contemporary crafts of Mississippi.
"When you arrive at the crafts center, the first thing you'll notice is that it's housed in a dogtrot cabin, a style common in this area during pioneer days. Inside you'll...2021-04-1202 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessLeFleur's Bluff"Today in our journey up the Trace from Natchez we have reached Jackson, Mississippi, an important landmark both in the history of the Trace and the history of early settlers forging out the American Frontier.
"The French Canadian Lewis LeFleur first set up a trading post with the Choctaw Indians near a bluff that overlooked the Pearl River. The post became known as LeFleur's Bluff.
"In the early years of the Mississippi Territory the capitol was located at Washington, Mississippi just north of Natchez. The capitol remained there until 1821 when it was moved to the...2021-04-0902 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessBattle of Raymond"The next stop along our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee is the exhibit for BATTLE OF RAYMOND.
"Before the time of the American Civil War the Natchez Trace had already lost its use as a national road, so the role it played in the war was a small one. One section that was still used ran between Port Gibson and Jackson. General U. S. Grant was planning his siege of Vicksburg when he crossed the Mississippi River and took Port Gibson in the spring of 1863. Grant marched up the old...2021-04-0802 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessDean's Stand"We are making our way up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee and today we are just a little south of Jackson, Mississippi.
"Along the old Natchez Trace there grew up places to rest and possibly buy provisions. The common term for these hostelries came to be stands. Prior to 1820 there had been as many as 50 of these stands established along the route of this national road between Nashville and Natchez.
"In October of 1820 the Choctaw Indians signed a treaty with the United States, in which the Choctaws gave up a...2021-04-0702 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessLower Choctaw Boundary"The next point of interest along our trip up the Natchez Trace Parkway is called LOWER CHOCTAW BOUNDARY.
"There's a line of trees there that have been a boundary since 1765. Then a north-south line running through this point and along these trees ran from east of Vicksburg, south as far as the 31st parallel. When you look at an outline of the state of Mississippi it looks a bit like the profile of the head of a worn toothbrush with the bristles facing left. If you look at it that way the 31st parallel runs along the...2021-04-0602 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessOwens Creek Waterfall"Today we'll visit what was a waterfall at Owens Creek. Rocky Springs and Owens creek are connected by a foot trail 2 1/2 miles in length and they're related to each other by a curious fact.
"When the old national road was active in the early 1800s and before, there were fresh water springs in this area. One spring fed Owens creek and another was known by travelers as "Rocky Springs." Since those days the water table, that's the level of underground water, the water table has fallen and the springs have dried up. So, while this stop is...2021-04-0502 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessRocky Springs"55 miles north of Natchez, Mississippi is the campground and village site of Rocky Springs.
"A settlement grew up around the spring here in the late 1790s. The town of Rocky Springs prospered during the time of the Old Trace and much later with the population reaching 2600 people. But, like its name, the history of the town was "Rocky." The town and farms suffered during the Civil War, and over a decade later in 1878, it was struck by Yellow Fever. Then in the early 1900s the Boll Weevil attacked and destroyed the cotton crops. Farming also suffered from...2021-04-0202 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessMangum Mound"Today we'll be looking at Mangum Mound.
"This mound is a burial mound of the Plaque Mine Culture, ancestors of the modern Mississippi and Louisiana tribes, (and there's a close relationship between these mound builders and the Natchez Indians and the builders of EMERALD MOUND. The Indian society here had elaborate religious and agricultural ceremonies. Information gathered from the burials at this site indicate there was a high infant mortality rate, and that the burial ritual at the death of a chief included slaying the chief's servants who were buried with him.
"At this site...2021-04-0102 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessGrindstone Ford"A Ford, as you know, is not just a car, it's a place to wade across a stream. The significance of Grindstone Ford is that the water it crosses is Bayou Pierre. The Ford is about 45 miles up the Trace now from Natchez and in the early 1800s when boatmen traveled north out of Natchez to return home after floating their produce down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to sell it at Natchez or New Orleans, crossing Bayou Pierre marked their first actual steps into the wilderness. Up to this point, they'd been in the Old Natchez District, but...2021-03-3102 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessSunken Trace"Our journey along the Natchez Trace Parkway, north out of Natchez, Mississippi has brought us to a site near Port Gibson, the town U. S. Grant found too beautiful to burn during the civil war. Today's site is called SUNKEN TRACE.
"SUNKEN TRACE is a place you can walk along a section of the old trail and see how the footsteps of animals and people over the centuries have worn their way deep into the loose topsoil deposited here by windstorms hundreds of thousands of years ago.
"If you decide to take a few minutes...2021-03-3002 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessWindsor Ruins"Today we'll look at the often photographed ruins of the Windsor Plantation house, twelve miles southwest of Port Gibson and lying several miles to the west of the Natchez Trace Parkway. This magnificent Greek Revival plantation home sat high up on a hilltop, overlooking the Mississippi River. It was completed in 1861 just before the outbreak of the Civil War, and during the war between the states, Confederate soldiers used the roof of the mansion as an observation deck. The Windsor plantation house was fortunate to make it though the war intact. But after having survived so much of both...2021-03-2902 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessBullen Creek"Traveling up the Natchez Trace Parkway eighteen miles north of Natchez, Mississippi, we arrive at an exhibit called Bullen Creek. This is the first of many Nature trails along the Natchez Trace Parkway where visitors can take a 15 minute walk that carries them through a Mixed Hardwood-pine forest and a mixed hardwood forest. The Hardwoods and the pines are battling it out, competing for water and sunlight. The tops of the hardwood trees block the sunlight from reaching the forest's floor and seedlings there have to struggle to survive. Pine trees don't tolerate the shade as well as the...2021-03-2602 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessJohn Blommart"We are taking a journey along what was the busiest road in the Old Southwest in the early 1800s, the Natchez Trace. Mount Locust is the sole remaining stand of more than 50 "houses of entertainment" that once thrived along side the old road.
"The original land grant for what became Mount Locust, was made in 1779 by British West Florida to Thomas Harmon who transferred the land to John Blommart, a Swiss-born soldier of fortune who had been a powerful man in Pensacola, the Capitol of British West Florida.
"Also in 1779 Spain went to war with...2021-03-2502 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessMount Locust"MOUNT LOCUST, is the first site we've visited north of Natchez, Mississippi, that falls into the era of the national road, 1800 to 1820.
"MOUNT LOCUST is one of the oldest structures in the state of Mississippi, possibly dating from 1779. It began as a house; the center room was the first part, built to satisfy the provisions of a British land grant, which required the building of... "One good dwelling house to contain at least twenty feet in length, sixteen feet in breadth."
"William Ferguson married Paulina Burch in 1783 and in 1784 bought Mount Locust and received an...2021-03-2402 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessLoess Bluff"As we continue our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway we are now about 12 miles north of Natchez, Mississippi, at an exhibit called LOESS BLUFF.
"Loess, spelled L-O-E-S-S, comes from the German word for "loose." This loose soil was blown from the western plains, by almost endless dust storms, during the last ice age and deposited east of the Mississippi River. Once, the Loess covered a huge area to depths ranging from 30 to 90 feet. What's left now is a strip of soil that extends from Baton Rouge in Louisiana up into the state of Tennessee. The Natchez...2021-03-2302 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessEmerald Mound & Desoto"Today we'll take a close up look at Emerald Mound, the huge Indian temple mound just north of Natchez, Mississippi. It was built by Indians from the Mississippian Culture.
"On top of the large mound and at the west end, there is a secondary mound. At one time this smaller 30 foot tall mound had a temple on its top and it housed sacred Indian images. There's also a smaller mound located on the east end of the huge platform and there's evidence that from 4 to 6 even smaller mounds once stood along the top sides of the big...2021-03-2202 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessEmerald Mound"Just north of Natchez, Mississippi and less than half a mile off the Natchez Trace Parkway is Emerald Mound.
"The Indians who built EMERALD MOUND were from the Mississippian Culture which gets its name because so many of their mounds and villages were located in the Valley of the Mississippi River. Unlike earlier mound builders who built mounds for burial purposes, the Mississippians constructed flat-topped mounds as the centers for their villages, and used them for ceremonial dances, civic processions, games and religious rituals.
"Built between 1250 and 1600 A.D. Emerald Mound is the second largest...2021-03-1902 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessWashington, MS/Jefferson College"Today we set foot onto the Natchez Trace, traveling north out of Natchez, Mississippi as we begin our journey to Nashville, Tennessee. The parkway and Highway 61 run parallel to each other for some distance north of Natchez. You'll be passing by Washington, Mississippi that became the capitol of the Mississippi Territory in 1802. And you'll pass the site of Jefferson College -- although it was named for President Thomas Jefferson, he was never by here to see it. The college opened in 1811. Operations were interrupted in 1863 by the American Civil War. By the way, Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate...2021-03-1802 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessRiver for Man"The Great Depression of the 1930s saw the beginning of the project to build the Natchez Trace Parkway as part of the National Park System. This road is a pathway through time, a pathway that connects us to our roots. It reaches back trough modern times, back beyond the Civil War, beyond the National Road, beyond The European frontiers and historic Indian tribes, and prehistoric human cultures, beyond even the time of man and the roaming buffalo. Back to geologic times hundreds of thousands and even millions of years ago, because this road, this trail, is a product of...2021-03-1602 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessCivil War and DAR Monuments"This ancient roadway lost much of its usefulness after the arrival of the steamboats in 1812 and completion of the Jackson Military Road in 1820.
"Though the road began to fade into the shadows of time, it still conjured up vivid images of adventure and peril in the minds of those who had used and survived its ancient steps. This was the era of the road's demise and yet it began to take on a mystique and became known for the first time by the name "Natchez Trace."
"During the 1860s the Civil War raged around the...2021-03-1502 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessSteamboats and 'Trail of Tears'"After 1812 steamboats began to travel up stream against the mighty Mississippi at a speed of 3 miles an hour, and by 1816 powerful steamboats were traveling against the river currents as far north as Louisville, Kentucky. This convenience and speed greatly reduced the number of returning boatmen to travel the "Road to Nashville." Still, the Old Natchez Trace continued as the main land route between Nashville and New Orleans until 1820 when the Jackson Military Road was completed. So, in 1820 the Old Natchez Trace was no longer the major thoroughfare it had once been.
"The period 1820 through 1832 is a shameful...2021-03-1202 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessNational Road Era"The Natchez Trace's historical significance to the United States, comes from the fact that in 1801, President Thomas Jefferson decided this 450 mile long section of the old Indian trail from Nashville to Natchez should become a national road for the protection and safety of the new nation. The trail ran through the wilderness, and through lands that belonged to the historic Indian tribes, the Chickasaw and the Choctaw. In 1801 treaties were signed between the United States and these tribes allowing improvements to be made along the road.
"The road was used as a mail route, for troop movements...2021-03-1102 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessKaintucks and Boatmen"In the 1763 Treaty of Paris the British got French lands east of the Mississippi. They called the Natchez Trace "The Path to the Choctaw Nation." The Second Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolutionary war and the British recognized the United States claim to British West Florida which included the Natchez District.
"Commerce established the route for pioneers beginning at about the time the new nation gained its independence from Great Britain. Boatmen who came to be known as "Kaintucks" floated flatboats filled with produce from Tennessee and Kentucky to the Mississippi River and down to Natchez...2021-03-1002 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessBattle of Ackia"After the French and the Choctaw annihilated the Natchez Indians tribe, the few remaining Natchez joined their friends, the Chickasaw.
"The Chickasaw threatened communications between the French settlements in Louisiana and Canada, and they threatened French boats along the Mississippi River. The French joined forces with the Choctaw Indians to fight against the Chickasaw not only wanting to get the escaped Natchez Indians but to destroy the Chickasaw Nation as well.
"When you travel the Natchez Trace you'll hear the story of the Battle of Ackia; it occurred in 1736. Ackia was a Chickasaw Indian Village...2021-03-0902 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessNatchez Massacre"D'Iberville reinforced the French claim upon the Mississippi River valley in 1699 by landing along the Gulf Coast and trading with the Natchez Indians. D'Iberville came with his younger brother, Bienville, who founded New Orleans and served as governor of the French province of Louisiana. There was a trading post set up at the Natchez Capitol and later Fort Rosalie was built in 1716.
"In 1724 Bienville was recalled to France, and in 1729 Sieur de Chopart was commander at Fort Rosalie. The Indians heard rumors that the French wanted them to abandon their villages and their land following the orders...2021-03-0802 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessEuropean Contact"By the time the first Europeans made contact in this region the Mississippian Culture was already fading. The Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto made a three year journey through the region with his army from 1539-1541. They crossed the Indian trails and made their way west and became the first Europeans to discover the mighty Mississippi River.
"The declining Mississippian Culture was replaced by the Historic Indian Tribes, the largest three of these in the region were the Chickasaws, in what is now Northern Mississippi and the western part of the state of Tennessee; the Choctaw tribe...2021-03-0502 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessArchaic Period -- Mississippians"8,000 BC, the beginning of the Archaic Period, was marked by men having improved hunting techniques, and fish in their diets and the beginnings of agriculture. The Archaic period lasted about 7,000 years until 1,000 BC, the beginning of the Woodland Period -- the time of the "Mound Builders" who buried their dead under mounds of earth. This culture used bow and arrow and is marked by a greater use of agriculture which caused an increase in village life and the use of pottery.
"By 700 AD the Mississippian Culture covered the region around and along the Mississippi River Valley. This...2021-03-0402 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessOrigins of the Trace"The Natchez Trace's Historical significance to the United States comes from the fact that in 1801 president Thomas Jefferson decided the old Indian trail from Nashville to Natchez should become a national road. Traveling the Trace you'll find that during this national road era the Trace was quite active, and vital to the growth of the young United States in the early 1800s.
"You'll also find the story of this road and the trail which preceded it didn't begin with the United States territories, it didn't even begin with the European explorers and colonists who came hundreds of...2021-03-0302 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessJeff Busby"Thomas Jefferson Busby, a Congressman from the state of Mississippi during the Great Depression, introduced a bill on February 15, 1934 calling for a survey of the historic old Indian trail, the Natchez Trace. This was a project to create much needed work and at the same time commemorate an early road from Nashville, Tennessee to Natchez, Mississippi. May 21, 1934 The Seventy-Third Congress of the United States appropriated $50,000. to make a survey with the idea of constructing what was to become known as the "Natchez Trace Parkway." Four years later, on May 18, 1938 the United States Congress designated the Natchez Trace Parkway to...2021-03-0202 minNatchez Trace: A Road Through the WildernessIt's a Long Journey"How would you like to travel along one of the oldest roads in the world?
"It's a long journey -- a journey that reaches back in geologic time where you'll see hundreds of thousands of years of activity during the last ice age as loess the windblown soil carried from far to the west is deposited along the eastern banks of the Mississippi River, and you'll see the beauty of nature springing from its richness.
"It's a long journey -- a journey that spans tens of thousands of years following the beasts of the wilderness a...2021-03-0102 min