Travel day today as I went west a little over 300 miles. Traveling to Arkabutla Lake in Mississippi (or Mizsippy if you will), just 40 miles south of Memphis. 300 miles is a nice number as it covers a little bit of ground, yet lets me enjoy the scenery and maybe even stop and do a little site seeing.
And so it is with the Natchez Trace. I get off the interstate in Tupelo MS, and directly onto the Natchez Trace Parkway. The Natchez Trace is a National Scenic Trail, like the Florida Trail and the Appalachian Trail. The park headquarters is located just north of Tupelo and I head there for a picnic lunch in the shade. I was joined there by two large families traveling north from Baton Rouge to Nashville and taking the parkway for it’s entire length. I counted two sets of mom and dad, one grandma, and about a dozen kids. Very nice folks and offered to share their lunch, but I had already eaten most of mine.
After lunch I went hiking for a bit on the Trace itself. The Natchez Trace was most likely an old Indian trail, that eventually became the super highway of the time through use by war parties, pioneers, settlers and eventually traders on the Mississippi River. This from the NPS website. “The most celebrated travelers of the Natchez Trace were farmers and boatmen from the Ohio River regions of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky floating supplies down to ports in Natchez and New Orleans at the beginning of the 1800s.”
Eventually the trail became a path, then the path became a road, then the road became a thoroughfare.
Stopped along my walk to visit the grave-sites of thirteen unknown confederate soldiers. Speculation are that they may have survived Shilo, but died here, or may have been located locally and died of disease or malnutrition. Nobody knows for sure. Now they are in the care of the National Park Service. Also visited a Chicksaw Village which was nothing more than the outline of the foundations of a few buildings. Somewhat interesting to see their approach to housing including an entry way design that prevented cold winds and an enemy attack.