March 24, 2021 - Driving the Natchez Trace
Back in early December, when we were returning from "The Road to Tucson" trip, we had intended to drive the Natchez Trace Parkway, which is listed as one of the top drives in the United States. But it was raining then so we bypassed the Natchez Trace. But today the weather was good, it was early spring, and we were in Natchez, which was and is the southern terminus of the historic Natchez Trace, with the northern terminus being Nashville, Tennessee.
So it was a go!
Below is how most of the Parkway looked. Grass and then trees on each side. Surprisingly there was very little color.
The road is maintained by the National Park Service and has been designated an All-American Road. Commercial traffic is prohibited along the entire route, and the speed limit is 50 miles per hour.
We are on the Natchez Trace!
After unloading their cargoes in Natchez or New Orleans, many pilots and crew of flatboats and keelboats traveled by the Trace overland to their homes in the Ohio River Valley. (Given the strong current of the Mississippi River, it was not until steam-powered vessels were developed in the 1820s that travel northward on the river could be accomplished by large boats.)
Now you could make it easily in your car in one day. It took weeks, back in the day.
Native Americans, following the "traces" of bison and other game, improved this walking trail -- althought it was never a single path -- for foot-borne commerce between major villages located in central Mississippi and middle Tennessee. The route is locally circuitous; however, by traversing this route the bison, and later humans, avoided the endless, energy-taxing climbing and descending of the many hills along the way. Also avoided was the danger to a herd (or groups of human travelers) of being caught en-masse at the bottom of a hollow or valley if attacked by predators. The nature of the route, to this day, affords good all-around visibility for those who travel it. At all times the road is on the high ground of the ridge dividing the watersheds and provides a view to either see or catch the scent of danger, from a distance great enough to afford the time to flee to safety, if necessary. By the time of European exploration and settlement, the route had become well known and established as the fastest means of communication between the Cumberland Plateau, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico settlements of Pensacola, Mobile, and New Orleans.
