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On our way to San Antonio to visit our family, we decided to venture off The Beaten Path onto the Natchez Trace between Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee. The 444-mile two-lane highway is a National Scenic Byway, All-American Road and Designated Bike route. We drove 17 miles southwest of Nashville on I-40W and took Exit 192 onto McCrary Lane. We went five miles to the entrance of the Park. We put on two of our “travel” CD’s consisting of the Grammy Songs from the last two years and headed out to find harmony in midst of a sometimes-troubled world.
We spent four hours meandering through nature at the rate of between 20 and 40 miles per hour. We stopped at lookouts, visited a cypress swamp, and hiked down to a waterfall. We passed many bikes, bikers, and a few cars. The road is hilly but not very steep. It would take about two days if you wanted to drive the entire Parkway.
The Natchez Trace was the most significant highway of the old Southwest. The original route from Natchez, Mississippi linked the Cumberland, Tennessee, and Mississippi Rivers. It followed the buffalo trails from Tupelo, Mississippi to the salt licks around Nashville. It was the traditional homeland of the Natchez, Chickasaw, and Choctaw Nations. Native Americans used the road for 100’s of years. Later explorers and settlers set up trading post bringing a wide variety of people and commerce to the road. In 1801, Thomas Jefferson declared the Trace a United States Postal route. The steamboat took away business once the river was used for commercial purposes.
Meriwether Lewis, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, was governor of the Upper Louisiana Territory when he died on the trail in 1809. You can visit the site and reflect on the circumstances of his death. It was widely believed that he committed suicide, but a recent History Detective Show shed new light on the subject. They uncovered documentation showing Meriwether Lewis was on a secret mission for Jefferson and was murdered by a political rival.
Natchez Trace State Park
Headquarters and Visitors Center
1-800-305-7417
800-245-3868
January 11, 2023
