Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness
108 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 4 ratingsHow would you like to travel along one of the oldest roads in the world? Take two minutes a day and join Eddie and Frank Thomas (authors of the award winning Natchez Trace: a Road Through the Wilderness) as they walk you along a 444 mile journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway. Inspire your weekdays, peek at the beauty of nature, and gather gems of insight as you come to treasure your journey along one of the oldest roads in the world: the Natchez Trace.
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Episodes
Journey's End
July 30, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 2.1 MB"The parkway commemorating the Natchez Trace is a star in the crown of human endeavors. It is a tool of instruction our country can turn to often to gain understanding. There have been many rewards along this journey, a journey that's as much about this country's future as it has been about the past. It offers us time to reflect and realize that the same progress that brought Europeans on board ships to the new lands of the Americas and prompted a new nation to seek convenience along the ro...
Northern Terminus
July 29, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"At 4:30 in the afternoon, Saturday June 22, 1996 the National Park Service officially opened the last five miles of the Natchez Trace Parkway in Tennessee. The public along with Vice President Al Gore attended the formal ribbon cutting event near TN Highway 100. "Following this event there was a parade of antique vehicles to represent each year the Parkway has been under construction. The parade of cars traveled from the Highway 100 terminus down to Highway 96 and assembled for public view...
Highway 96 Bridge
July 28, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Our journey along the Natchez Trace Parkway is nearing a close as we get closer to Nashville, Tennessee. Today we are crossing Tennessee Highway 96 where we will see evidence that the story of the Natchez Trace isn't over. Today we look at the Parkway bridge across Tennessee Highway 96. "This modern bridge across highway 96 was opened to the public June 22, 1996. It is the first segmentally constructed arch bridge in the United States -- a double arch bridge. One arch spans the length of n...
Garrison Creek
July 27, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway we are visiting a site called GARRISON CREEK that is just south of Leipers Fork, Tennessee. "There's a trail used by hikers and horseback riders that connects this site with exhibits at BURNS BRANCH, the OLD TRACE EXHIBIT and the TENNESSEE RIVER DIVIDE along the original Old Natchez Trace and the parkway. All these exhibits pertain to the National Road Era of the Natchez Trace. "When the old trail first became a national road, the postmast...
Andrew Jackson
July 26, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"James Robertson and John Donelson, who lead settlement parties from Fort Patrick Henry to the Salt Lick where the Old Natchez Trace crossed the Cumberland River, are known as the co-founders of Nashville, which was the new name given to Fort Nashborough in 1784. "Robertson later became known as the 'Father of Tennessee.' "As a young man Andrew Jackson rode into the town in 1788, and had a great effect upon Nashville, and Tennessee and the building of the new nation along its frontier. His...
Nashville, Tennessee
July 23, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"On our Journey up the Natchez Trace we are getting close to what was the destination for many who traveled along this road so many years ago -- Nashville, Tennessee. "In 1775, at the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals, Richard Henderson, a North Carolina businessman, purchased from the Cherokee Indians, lands in the great bend of the Cumberland River. He called this land west of the Appalachian Mountains, Transylvania and advertised for settlers to journey to a site where this old Indian trail join...
Tennessee Valley Divide
July 22, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"On our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez to Nashville we are well up into Tennessee, and today we cross the TENNESSEE VALLEY DIVIDE. We have been riding along the highest elevation on the entire Natchez Trace, which is right at 1000 feet above sea level. The Tennessee Valley Divide is a watershed, part of a ridge that divides central Tennessee. Streams and creeks south of here flow into the Duck River and the Tennessee River, but to the north water flows down to the Cumberla...
Water Valley Overlook
July 21, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"We are making our way up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee and today we are west of Columbia, Tennessee at a site called the WATER VALLEY OVERLOOK. "This exit takes travelers 3 tenths of a mile, high up to a hilltop overlooking a quiet valley. It's a pastoral scene of farmlands, ponds and country roads. There's a picnic table there for those who care to stay for awhile. "The ten miles or so north of this overlook is the highest section along the ...
Gordon, House and Ferry Site
July 20, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting the GORDON, HOUSE AND FERRY SITE west of Columbia, Tennessee near the community of Shady Grove. "At this exhibit is one of the few buildings still remaining from the days of the Old Natchez Trace. "By treaty George Colbert had been given control over all ferry operations on Chickasaw lands. John Gordon, an Indian scout and friend of Andrew Jackson, made an agreement with Col...
Jackson Falls
July 19, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting several sites outside of Columbia, Tennessee that pertain to the Duck River. "At the Jackson Falls exhibit there are two trails. The one to the right is the steeper, a 900 foot trail that takes visitors to a clear pool at the base of the Jackson Waterfalls. These falls were named for Andrew Jackson, a frequent traveler of the Trace between his home in Nashville and the territ...
Tobacco Farm / Old Trace Drive
July 16, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting a Tobacco Farm exhibit near Columbia, Tennessee where we will ride and walk along the original Old Trace. "There are two recorded messages at this exhibit that tell how tobacco is grown, cut and dried. Visitors can take a short walk through the field, and the barn built by Mr. Leland Greenfield in 1959. In the summer you can see the tobacco growing and in the fall, see it dry...
Sheboss Place
July 15, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting SHEBOSS PLACE near Columbia, Tennessee. "By comparison to the forced removal of the Cherokee and the Choctaw Indians from the southeastern United States, it must appear the Chickasaw had an easy time of it. Beginning in 1837 some of the Chickasaw traveled west to Oklahoma with Government escort while others took up their lives and traveled at their own expense. By the fall of...
Swan Valley Overlook
July 13, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are just north of the parkway intersection with Tennessee highway 412 at the exhibit, SWAN VALLEY OVERLOOK, where you can get a good look at the terrain in the direction south. "The change in elevation here along the parkway gives it a different feel. Boatmen and Kaintucks returning from Natchez would have been keenly aware of these hills and valleys and would have sensed their journey al...
Phosphate Mine / Fall Hollow
July 12, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today we will look at a couple of exhibits near Swan Valley, where the Natchez Trace Parkway crosses Tennessee highway 412. The first exhibit is PHOSPHATE MINE. A 5 minute walk there takes visitors to a collapsed mine shaft and an abandoned railroad bed. "This is a region where the limestone has rich deposits of phosphate. There was a lot of mining activity in this area at one time, and there are many abandoned mine shafts like this one. "Just past PHOSPHATE MINE is a bridge that takes tr...
Pale Moon Rider
July 09, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway we are visiting the Meriwether Lewis exhibit and are going to listen to part of Pale Moon Rider, a song written about the danger posed by robbers along this early National Road. "Captain Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark Expedition died here in 1809. In 1848 the state of Tennessee erected a monument at Lewis's grave, which visitors can see at this exhibit. The monument is a broken shaft symbolizing the early death of a promising life....
Meriwether Lewis
July 08, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today we visit the location of Grinder's Stand at an exhibit called MERIWETHER LEWIS. Meriwether Lewis was President Thomas Jefferson's personal secretary when the United States made the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803. Meriwether became leader of the famous LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION and explored trails all the way to the pacific northwest. When Lewis returned, President Jefferson appointed Captain Lewis governor of upper Louisiana, replacing the controversial General James Wilkinso...
Metal Ford
July 07, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting an exhibit called METAL FORD at the Buffalo River in Tennessee. "METAL FORD is a point where travelers of the old road waded across the Buffalo River when the water was low. One method of road construction in that era was known as 'metalling', which meant the road was built by placing stones on the surface to help it stand the wear in bad weather. As you can imagine, these ro...
Napier Mine
July 06, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting an exhibit called NAPIER MINE near the Buffalo River in Tennessee four miles south of the parkway junction with Tennessee highways 20 and 412. "As people moved into the expanding frontier, it wasn't possible to bring everything they needed, and they couldn't afford to have it shipped from the East. Among the things pioneers settling these areas needed were items made of iron,...
Old Trace Drive
July 05, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"In building the parkway it wasn't possible to follow the Old Trace exactly. What worked for people traveling on foot and on horseback 200 years ago doesn't work well today in a car going 50 mph. "We are 5 miles north of where the Natchez Trace Parkway intersects Tennessee highway 64 at an exhibit called OLD TRACE DRIVE. This is a 2.5 mile section of the Old Natchez Trace that you can drive along in your car. Visitors have to travel the old road at a slower pace and get to see it up close. ...
Sweetwater Branch
July 02, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today on our journey along the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are going to visit several trails and exhibits just north of Collinwood, Tennessee. "SWEETWATER BRANCH nature trail takes 15 or 20 minutes to walk. This branch was named for the "sweet" flavor of the water. Travelers today should not drink the water. The shallow rocky soil of this bottom land supports plants and trees as they struggle to grow, as the branch continues to carve and shape...
Awakening
July 01, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"In 1811, on board a steamboat named the New Orleans, Nicholas Roosevelt pioneered steam travel down the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. "As the New Orleans passed along the western border of the state of Tennessee, the first shocks of an earthquake struck near New Madrid, Mo. on December the 16th. Villages were destroyed, bluffs along the Mississippi fell into the river, ravines opened as far south as Natchez. As a result of the earthquake of 1811, the ground in the northwestern corner of Ten...
Annus Mirabilis
June 30, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Annus mirabilis -- miraculous year. This comes from Jonathan Daniels story of the Natchez Trace, The Devil's Backbone. "In 1811 the steamboat pioneer, Robert Fulton, hired Nicholas Roosevelt to travel the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to see if a steamboat could navigate them. Roosevelt and his bride took there honeymoon 6 months on board a flatboat to check out the rivers and determined that it was indeed possible for a steamboat to negotiate the currents. So Roosevelt built a steamboat nam...
McGlamery Stand
June 29, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we visit another of the trading posts established along the Old Trace, McGLAMERY STAND. It was built in 1849 by John McGlamery, quite late in the old road's history. This stand didn't survive the Civil War, but today, the nearby village is known as McGlamery Stand. "'Annus mirabilis' is the title of a chapter in the book Devil's Backbone by Jonathan Daniels. This is Latin meaning "Miraculou...
Tennessee-Alabama State Line
June 25, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today we are leaving Alabama and going into the state of Tennessee. In 1663 King Charles II granted the Carolina Colony all the land starting at the Atlantic Ocean and running west between the 31st and 36th parallel. The 31st parallel is the bottom border of Mississippi below Natchez. The 36th parallel is now the northern boundary of North Carolina and Tennessee. When North and South Carolina separated they established the border between them as the 35th parallel. North Carolina released it...
Rock Spring
June 24, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are about a mile and a half beyond the Tennessee River at an exhibit called ROCK SPRING. "Colbert Creek empties into the Tennessee River near where the river and the parkway intersect. A mile or so above the mouth of Colbert Creek, beaver have built a dam near where Rock Spring feeds into the creek. This place is alive with activity in the spring and summer, and in the backwater of the be...
John Coffee Memorial Bridge
June 23, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are crossing the Tennessee River at the JOHN COFFEE MEMORIAL BRIDGE. "John Coffee was an old Indian fighting buddy of Andrew Jackson and one of Jackson's Generals who fought with him against the British at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Coffee was chosen by Jackson to negotiate for the United States with the Choctaw at Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830 and with the Chickasaw at Pontotoc C...
Colbert Ferry
June 22, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"For early travelers, the Tennessee River was the biggest obstacle along the entire Natchez Trace. "At the COLBERT FERRY stop, down by the edge of the River, there's a taped message that tells what it was like crossing the Tennessee River in the early 1800s and before. The river wasn't as wide as it is today. It was swift moving and a little more than a quarter mile across (about a third the distance it is now). What you'll see there today is a lake created in the mid 1930s when the Tenness...
Buzzard Roost Spring
June 21, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"On the parkway in Alabama, about 7 miles before we reach the Tennessee River there is an exhibit called BUZZARD ROOST SPRING. Buzzard Roost was one of the most famous stands along the Natchez Trace, at the site of a large spring originally called BUZZARD SLEEP. In 1801 Levi Colbert built his stand near this spring. At that time this was Chickasaw land and the stands were owned by Indians. "Levi wasn't a full-blooded Indian, his father was a Scotsman, James Logan Colbert, who spent most of...
Freedom Hills Overlook
June 18, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today on our trip up the Natchez Trace Parkway traveling from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are in northwest Alabama climbing out of the bottom land of Bear Creek up to the exhibit called FREEDOM HILLS OVERLOOK. "There's a steep paved walkway there that leads about a quarter of a mile up from the parking area to an overlook. There is a bench where visitors can sit and look to the east over the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. This overlook is 800 feet above sea lev...
Mississippi-Alabama State Line
June 17, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway we leave the state of Mississippi and cross into Alabama, the 22nd state to join the Union. That was on Dec. 14, 1819. The Southern pine is the state tree. The state flower is a rose-like flower that grows on a bush, called a camellia. The state bird is the yellowhammer. And the motto? WE DARE TO DEFEND OUR RIGHTS. The state song is ALABAMA. "After crossing the state line the parkway begins to drop off into bottom land. Down in the bottom ...
Bear Creek Mound
June 16, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"We are making our way up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee, and today we visit BEAR CREEK MOUND, our last exhibit before we leave Mississippi. "The Bear Creek Mound is typical of the ceremonial Indian Mounds we have seen along our Natchez Trace journey. It is a flat topped temple mound that stands about 10 feet high and is right on the Mississippi-Alabama Border. The mound itself was built less than a 1000 years ago, sometime between 1200 and 1400 ...
Cave Spring
June 15, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"We are making our way up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee, and today we are very near the Mississippi-Alabama State line at an exhibit called Cave Spring. "The basic type of rock in this area is limestone. When rain falls, the water absorbs carbon dioxide from the air and this forms a weak acid. As this water seeps through the ground it dissolves the limestone very slowly. At this site, the underground water dissolved a large cavern out of the lim...
Tishomingo State Park
June 14, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"TISHOMINGO is the Chickasaw Indian name meaning WARRIOR CHIEF. Today we visit TISHOMINGO STATE PARK along the Natchez Trace Parkway about 6 mile before it leaves Mississippi and crosses into Alabama. The park, county and nearby town are all named for the last great war chief of the Chickasaw Indian Nation, Chief Tishomingo. "The land in this scenic state park was Tishomingo's favorite hunting ground, and saddle back ridge was his favorite spot, where he spent many hours riding young white ...
Bay Springs Lock and Dam
June 11, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today we are visiting the Bay Springs Lock and Dam site on the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway. The Lock is just off the Natchez Trace Parkway about 30 miles north of Tupelo, Mississippi. "Construction of the Waterway began in 1972 and was finished in 1985. The RIVER section of the Waterway is south of Bay Springs and utilizes the Tombigbee River coming north from Demopolis, Alabama to Amory, Mississippi. Using a chain of lakes construction, the CANAL section runs from Amory to Bay Springs wh...
Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway
June 10, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today we visit where the TENNESSEE-TOMBIGBEE WATERWAY crosses the Natchez Trace Parkway about 30 miles north of Tupelo, Mississippi. "The Tombigbee River was known as the "River of the Chickasaw" -- Desoto crossed it when he came through the Chickasaw land in 1540. Bienville traveled with his troops up the Tombigbee from Mobile in 1736 with visions of destroying the Chickasaw Nation, before being routed by the Chickasaw at the Battle of Ackia. But Bienville saw the advantage of a waterway ...
Pharr Mounds
June 09, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"PHARR MOUNDS, located 20 miles north of Tupelo, Mississippi on the Natchez Trace Parkway, is the most important archaeological site in northern Mississippi. It's also the largest, containing 8 dome shaped mounds spread over an area the size of 100 football fields. The Pharr Mounds date from the Middle Woodland Culture. People were at this site between 100 B.C. and 200 A.D. "Although the builders of these mounds traveled to hunt and trade, they probably stayed at a village most of the year....
Donivan Slough
June 08, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez to Nashville we will look at a couple of exhibits that show us some of the bottom lands through which travelers of the Trace had to pass. We are now about 20 miles north of Tupelo, Mississippi. "The first exhibit is DONIVAN SLOUGH that contains a woodland nature trail through rich moist soil that supports Tulip poplar, sycamore and water oak, all trees that tolerate lots of water. A slough like this is a winding channel that ma...
Twenty Mile B0ttom Overlook
June 07, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today on our journey along the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi north to Nashville, Tennessee we are 15 miles north of Tupelo, Mississippi. Today's exhibit is called TWENTYMILE BOTTOM OVERLOOK. "From the overlook you can see the bottom land of Twentymile Creek. This land is typical of the terrain encountered by early travelers of the Natchez Trace. Near this bottom was another of the stands that grew up along the Trace where travelers could find food and rest along their jou...
Dogwood Valley
June 04, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"We are making our way up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee. Todays stop is at an exhibit called Dogwood Valley located about a dozen miles along the parkway north of Tupelo, Mississippi. A 15 minute nature trail takes visitors along a section of the Old Sunken Trace. It goes through a wooded area called DOGWOOD VALLEY. The valley gets its name because there's an unusually large number of flowering dogwood trees there. These are small trees that are ...
Confederate Gravesites
June 03, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB(Music segue to BlueGray) "Today we are visiting the graves of 13 unknown Confederate soldiers at a site just north of Tupelo, Mississippi as we make our way up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee. A 5 minute walk takes visitors to the top of a small hill where these graves can be seen. "By the time the American Civil War began much of the Old Natchez Trace was no longer used, but the war impacted the area as it did the entire nation. The soldiers wh...
Tupelo Visitor Center
June 02, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting the TUPELO VISITOR CENTER, which also houses the parkway headquarters. "Outside the center there's a half mile loop trail, the BEECH SPRING TRAIL. This gentle grade trail passes through an area of forest regrowth. Inside the center there is an orientation program as well as exhibits that take visitors from ancient times through Indian and white man settlements up to modern ti...
Old Town Overlook
June 01, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"The next stop along the parkway is in Tupelo Mississippi. It is OLD TOWN OVERLOOK, where there's another marker erected by the Mississippi Daughters of the American Revolution. This one was presented to the City of Tupelo on November 19, 1914. The inscription mentions the Battle of Ackia. This is a partial quotation from that monument. 'Bienville fought the Battle of Ackia with the Chickasaw Indians near this spot May 26, 1736. Of the rage that repulsed him let it be recorded here, they di...
Chickasaw Indian Village
May 31, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.99 MB"Along the Natchez Trace Parkway, within the city limits of Tupelo, Mississippi is an exhibit shelter that tells of Chickasaw Village life in the early 1700s. There are foundations there that show the size and shape of both summer and winter homes and of a fort the group would use in times of danger. "One threat to the Chickasaw came from the French following the Natchez Indian's massacre of French troops at Fort Rosalie in 1729 and the subsequent annihilation of the Natchez Tribe by the Fr...
Tupelo National Battlefield
May 28, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.98 MB"Today on our journey along the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee, we are visiting the Tupelo National Battlefield. This exhibit is located within the town of Tupelo, and is a little more than a mile off the parkway. "The Tupelo Battlefield Exhibit is not as extensive as the Civil War battlefields at Vicksburg or Shiloh, but it is a monument to the Union and Confederate armies that fought at the Battle of Tupelo on July 14, 1864. The Federal forces unde...
Black Belt Overlook
May 27, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.98 MB"About 10 miles south of Tupelo on the Natchez Trace Parkway is an exhibit called the BLACK BELT OVERLOOK. "In a much earlier age all this area lay under a part of the ocean, which extended up across much of the state of Alabama, entering what is now Mississippi from the east near Columbus. From there an arm of the ocean reached through here north up into Tennessee. The ocean's marine life, shells and such, formed deposits of limestone that built up to be the land here. Over the ages the...
Chickasaw Council House
May 26, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.98 MB"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez to Nashville we visit an exhibit known as the Chickasaw Council House. It is 11 or 12 miles south of Tupelo and due east of the town of Pontotoc. Along the original Old Natchez Trace was an Indian Village "PONTATOCK." The village had a council house, which became the capitol of the entire Chickasaw Indian Nation in the 1820s. "In the fall of 1832, President Andrew Jackson had John Coffee to negotiate with the Chickasaw, for the...
Tockshish
May 25, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.98 MB"About 12 miles south of Tupelo, Mississippi is an exhibit called Tockshish. This exhibit tells about a site on the Old Natchez Trace known as Tockshish. This was McIntoshville, a community of white men and Indians built up around the home of the British Indian agent, John McIntosh, who settled there before 1770. When the old Indian trail was established as a national road in 1801, Tockshish became a relay station where post riders carrying mail between Nashville and Natchez could exchange w...
Monroe Mission
May 24, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 1.98 MB"We're on a journey along the Natchez Trace Parkway traveling north from Natchez, Mississippi heading up to Nashville, Tennessee. Today we visit an exhibit located in the northern part of the Tombigbee National Forest, 15 miles south of Tupelo, Mississippi. "The Chickasaw's first contact with Christianity and with formal education came in 1822 at the site of MONROE MISSION. Many of the Indians who became Chickasaw leaders in Oklahoma were taught in one of three missionary schools. One of th...
Hernando Desoto
May 21, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 2 MB"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are stopping by an exhibit 17 miles south of Tupelo, Mississippi. It is called HERNANDO DESOTO. "Desoto was the Spanish explorer who came through this region from 1539-1541. When he and his men visited Emerald mound just north of Natchez, they not only brought beads and trinkets to trade with the native Indians, they also brought disease to the Mississippian Indians who lived there, disea...
Chickasaw Agency
May 20, 2021 06:00 - 2 minutes - 2 MB"On our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway we are about 20 miles south of Tupelo, Mississippi. Today's exhibit is called Chickasaw Agency. "From 1802 until 1825 the United States Agents to the Chickasaw Indian Nation lived several miles west of this exhibit on the original Old Natchez Trace itself. "During the Spring and Summer thousands of Kaintucks and Boatmen would float the produce from their farms down the Mississippi River to Natchez or New Orleans and then journey along the old ro...