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Natchez Trace Parkway, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi
Introductory Comment
The Natchez Trace Parkway should not be confused with the completely separate road called The Trace in Land Between The Lakes.
Pronunciation
Natch-ez. The name comes from the Natchez Native American tribe who lived in the area of present-day Natchez, Mississippi.
Location
The Natchez Trace Parkway runs for 404 miles between a point near Franklin, Tennessee (south of Nashville) to just north of Natchez, Mississippi. Apart from a gap in the Jackson, Mississippi area the Parkway is continuous.
Description
The Natchez Trace Parkway, similar in concept and design to the Blue Ridge Parkway and like that road also administered by the National Park Service, follows the return route taken by the boatmen who in the era before the riverboats went down the rivers from Nashville to Natchez in the spring and walked back home in the summer and autumn.
There are a number of exhibits along the way, but this Parkway is not as varied in this respect as the Blue Ridge Parkway. Many of the exhibits are groups of Indian mounds, large earthworks often built in the shapes of animals. A number of other exhibits are the sites of former stands, inns where travellers on the Trace stopped overnight. There are also a number of places where short stretches of the original Trace can be seen.
Although the Natchez Trace Parkway passes through some very pleasant country the spectacular views of Appalachia are not to be found here and there are long relatively uninteresting sections through avenues of trees.
There is no charge for using the Natchez Trace Parkway, nor do most of the exhibits on the Parkway charge any entrance fee.
South of Tupelo the Parkway runs through the Tombigbee National Forest for a few miles.
Some Ideas for Places to Stay
There are numerous towns of various sizes near the Parkway. We would recommend the following medium sized towns, but this list shouldn't be regarded as exclusive:
State Parks With Similar Names
- Natchez Trace State Park, Tennessee is on I-40 some 85 miles west of Nashville, and is therefore a considerable distance from the Natchez Trace Parkway.
- Natchez State Park, Mississippi is just off the Natchez Trace Parkway near its southern terminus, about ten miles northeast of the town of Natchez.
- Trace State Park, Mississippi is on Mississippi State Highway 6 just west of Tupelo, about five miles west of the Natchez Trace Parkway.
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As with all the other pages on this personal web site, all the information on this page is solely the opinion of the author, who has no connection whatsoever with any of the companies and organisations mentioned other than as an actual or potential customer.
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Most recently modified 18-Mar-03