It rained again last night but had ended when we got up this
morning. The skies were still cloudy
however and it was a lot cooler. We got
a little bit of a late start, leaving around 11:30 am after getting gas. We only had 200 miles to go though and the
later start helped the traffic situation going through Chattanooga on I-24.
In Chattanooga we turned NW towards Nashville, turning left
at Murfreeboro south of Nashville then SW through rolling hill country to join
the Natchez Trace Parkway. We then
headed SW on the parkway to the RV Park where we are staying tonight. We had a hard time finding the park due to
poor instructions and bad directions on the GPS. We are here now however and buttoned up for
the night. The park is a huge Thousands
Trails campground, but is best described as “rustic” and sprawling around a
man-made lake. It looks most of the
people here are permanent/semi-permanent residents. We haven’t seen any other overnighters. No banjo music however. We are also off the
grid with no Internet or TV service (cable and Antenna). We are not going anywhere tonight, because we
didn’t unhook and the temperature is presently 42 degrees and windy.
The Natchez Trace Parkway was established as a unit of the
National Park System in 1938 and was officially completed in 2005. The Parkway commemorates the most significant
highway of the Old Southwest. It stretches
444 miles from Nashville, TN to Natchez, MS through the three states of
Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi and 10,000 years of history.
The trail that became the Natchez Trace goes back many
centuries. It bisected the traditional
Native American homelands of the Natchez, Chickasaw and Choctaw nations and was
a trading and transportation route for them. As the United States expanded westward in the
late 1700s and early 1800s, growing numbers of travelers used the trail,
turning it into a clearly marked path. In 1801 President Jefferson designated
the Trace a national post road for mail delivery between Nashville and Natchez.
In the early 1800s through the mid-1820s, “Kaintucks” from
the Ohio River Valley floated cash crops, livestock, and other materials down
the Mississippi River on wooden flatboats.
At Natchez or New Orleans, they sold their goods, sold their boats for
lumber and walked or road horseback back home via the Old Trace. As the road improved, stands (inns) provided
lodging, food, and drink to the travelers.
Today the Parkway creates a greenway from the southern
Appalachian foothills of Tennessee to the bluffs of the lower Mississippi
River. There are many historic landmarks
along the way and the Trace crosses four distinct ecosystems and eight major
watersheds. It is habitat for 1,500
hundred species of plants, 33 mammal species, 134 bird species and 70 species
of reptiles and amphibians. The parkway
also has limited access and commercial traffic is prohibited. Traffic at this time of year is virtually
non-existent. It is still early spring (or late winter) here. The trees are just starting to bloom and it
is cold at the moment. I am sure it will
be busier during the summer.
The plan tomorrow is to visit various stops along the
parkway as we head south to Tupelo, MS. Our first stop tomorrow is the nearby
Meriwether Lewis Monument and Gravesite.
Lewis stayed here on the Trace in 1809 on his way back to Washington, DC
and died under mysterious circumstances from gunshot wounds. Many believed he had taken his own life while
others were later convinced that he was murdered.
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