Extending 444 miles, the parkway is a National Scenic Byway and an All-American Road. It’s open for motorists, hikers and bikers, and administered by the National Park Service, keeping it relatively non-commercial. The trace began as a series of Native American trails about 8,000 years ago that were gradually joined together and used by Spanish and French explorers, the British army and settlers.
During the early 1800s boatmen would float their goods down the Mississippi River from the Ohio River Valley, bringing livestock, farm produce and coal to Natchez and New Orleans. After they sold their boats for lumber, they would travel the trace back home on foot or horseback. Andrew Jackson and his troops traveled the Old Trace from Nashville to the Battle of New Orleans. The steamboat led to the demise of the trace as a trade route and it became just another local road. In 1937 the Natchez Trace Parkway was begun as a road to follow the path of the original trail. It took 67 years to finish.
by John Kloster
Courtesy of Leisure Group Travel
