Historic Sites - Natchez Trace Parkway
11 Natchez Trace Parkway
- Natchez Trace
Before the arrival of Europeans, native Americans established a network of trails or "traces" through the wilderness. Early hunters, settlers, and soldiers used these traces, the most famous of which was the Natchez Trace connecting Nashville and Natchez, Mississippi. During the late 1700s the Natchez Trace became an important thoroughfare for French and Spanish traders and missionaries. By the early 19th century American boatmen were returning over the trace from New Orleans and Natchez. Circuit-riding ministers, Federal troops, and pioneer wagons increased the traffic on this busy artery. In 1809 Meriwether Lewis of the famed Lewis and Clark Expedition met a mysterious death at Grinder’s Stand on the trace. His grave is marked by a monument, one of many historic sites on the trace. In 1938, Congress created the Natchez Trace Parkway, which was opened for its entire 442 miles in 1996. The Parkway provides a landscaped recreational roadway that winds its way past old iron industry villages, railroad towns, tollhouses, and the German-Swiss immigrant community of Hohenwald. One can see at various places the wagon-rutted early trace, especially the portions cleared by U.S. soldiers between 1801 and 1803.
Natchez Trace Parkway Web Site
Hohenwald, TN 38462
(931) 796-2675
