Dear Jake & Amelia,
After a yummy lunch at the Loveless Cafe, we headed down the Natchez Trace looking for spring. This 445 mile long National Parkway  connects Nashville and Natchez. The speed limit is 55 mph. No billboards, roadside development or commercial traffic interrupt your visual pleasure. We spent three peaceful days driving down the roadway. Every day, the changing Trace continued to be beautiful, a linear park traveling through rolling countryside, farm fields, marshland, cypress swamps, forests and past lakes.

We spotted white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, turkey vultures, and herons. Informative signs pointed out the locations of river fords, old stands (inns), and the Old Trace itself. Trace - a path of footprints made by animals, ancient inhabitants, slaves, solders, and traders. The modern Parkway intertwines with the path of the original trail. Walking along a section of the Old Trace sparks the imagination. Its history speaks of roughness, especially when compared to the romantic beauty of the present road. 

Along the Trace we found ancient ceremonial burial sites left by an early Mississippian culture whose people inhabited the area from about 1000 BC to 1540 AD. These mysterious large earthen mounds date from around 100 AD. Choctaws and Chickasaws, descendants of the mound builders, lived in the area until the 1830's, when they were moved west of the Mississippi. 

From 1800 to 1820, the Trace felt the footsteps of thousand of slaves as they were moved to land along the Mississippi  from the upper South. Their labor was used to develop new territory for growing cotton. The Trace was also used as as a mail route and as an important military road during the Civil War. 

The Old Trace is mostly know for its use by traders who put their crops and products on flatboats, floated them down the Mississippi, and sold their goods downriver. They broke up the boats, sold the lumber, and walked back up the trace, over 400 miles to Nashville. The boatman used this dangerous pathway from 1785 to 1815. They  tried to avoid swamps, robbers and disease until the steamboat made travel up the river possible and safe.

We drove into spring on the trail. As we reluctantly drove off the Natchez Trace, red buds were blooming and spring green leaves were unfolding. If you visiting this area and have 3 or 4 days, drive the Trace. 

Nancy & Peter

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