Old Trace segment up ahead on the Natchez Trace Parkway

The Natchez Trace extended for approximately 500 miles from Natchez, Mississippi, to Nashville, Tennessee. It was mainly used in the late 1700s to early 1800s as a route for boatmen returning north to Nashville after delivering their cargo to Natchez or New Orleans. Before steamboats, cargo was floated down the Mississippi River in rudimentary barges to a port on or near the Gulf of Mexico. The boats were unloaded and then sold for scrap. Because the current of the Mississippi was too strong to travel back upriver by boat, the boatmen had to walk back to Nashville, which was the largest western city at the time. By 1820, steamboats, which started appearing on the Mississippi in 1812, had become commonplace and the trail lost much of its purpose, though it was still used as a road until the mid-1800s by mail carriers and military units.

As you can imagine, due to disuse the Natchez Trace soon became completely overgrown. However, the National Park Service has cleared twenty short segments for visitors to hike so they can experience what travelers of the past might have experienced (minus bandits and angry Indians). Most segments are no more than a quarter mile long, while the longest is approximately two miles long. The following is a list of Trace locations and mile post numbers:

1. Old Trace Segment and Exhibit Shelter (8.7)
2. Sunken Trace (41.5)
3. Grindstone Ford Trail (45.7)
4. Historic Trace Trail at Rocky Springs (54.8)
5. Old Trace and Brashears Stand (104.5)
6. Old Trace Segment (198.6)
7. Old Trace Segment (221.4)
8. Old Trace and Confederate Graves (269.4)
9. Dogwood Valley (275.2)
10. Sunken Trace (350.5)
11. Dogwood Mudhole (367.3)
12. Old Trace Drive (375.8)
13. Metal Ford (382.8)
14. Meriwether Lewis Site (385.9)
15. Old Trace Segment (397.4)
16. Tobacco Barn and Old Trace Drive (401.4)
17. Old Trace Walk (403.7)
18. Gordon House Ferry Site Trail (407.7)
19. War of 1812 Memorial and Old Trace Segment (426.3)
20. Garrison Creek Picnic Area (427.6)

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