The Emerald Mound – Natchez Trace (March 14, 2014)

The Place

All along the Natchez Trace there are ceremonial mounds by the Mound Builders from the Mississippian Period.  None compare to the vast Emerald Mound near Natchez, Mississippi.  In fact, it is the second largest of these ceremonial mounds in the country.  If you want figures, it is 770 feet long by 435 feet wide.

You leave the Trace and drive a mile down an increasingly rural county road to get to the Emerald Mound, and there it is sitting in the middle of a field.  It is a vast 8 acre 35 foot tall earthen structure in a precise rectangular shape.  On top of it, at either end are 2 30-foot tall mounds.  

It is absolutely stunning.  It was built by hand by people who carried the soil for the structure in baskets after having dug it up with a stick.  The scope of the project is mind-boggling, the results amazing.  By the way, even though the Mound is covered by dark green grass, it gets its name from being located at one time on the Emerald Plantation.

Resources:  Emerald Mound by NPS

Natchez Trace Parkway - Part Deux (March 13-14, 2014)

Some History 

Just imagine you are a farmer in the early 1800’s who has been harvesting and preserving your crops and you need a place to sell them.  There isn’t a big population center near you, but you know that the lower Mississippi is a good place to sell your goods.  So you build a wooden flatboat, and load it with your year’s bounty and drift down the Ohio River to the Mississippi River and down the Mississippi to Natchez.  There you sell everything, including the timber from your boat.  Carrying your years’ income, you commence the 30+ day, 444 mile walk up the Trace to Nashville TN, and from there to wherever you call home.

This ancient trail used by prehistoric Native Americans and animals has over the years been trampled into a clearly marked path by other travelers. Then in 1801, the US government widened it into a road so that postal riders can carry mail and government documents, thus binding a fractious territory closer to the government.  As thousands of people have walked or ridden on this highway, their feet have worn down the path, so that in places it is a trench through the woods.  

Your way is not necessarily safe.  It goes through the lands of 3 Native American tribes who have an uneasy peace with the white men.  You may travel with other Kaintucks (though you may not actually be from Kentucky) to help protect yourself from bandits.  Every day or so you come to a “Stand” where a settler will sell you a place to sleep and some food.  

Mount Locust - Only Remaining Original "Stand" on the Trace.

Eventually, the riverboat will be invented and travelers will have the option to return North by boat.  The number of travelers along the Trace will dwindle and disappear.  The Trace will be reclaimed in places by nature.  Then in the 1930s efforts will start to revive the memory of the Trace and a beautiful parkway will be built following along its path.

Resources:  
Guide to the Natchez Trace Parkway by F. Lynne Bachleda.
Mount Locust Inn and Plantation by National Park Service

Natchez Trace Parkway (March 12, 2014)

The Place

The Natchez Trace Parkway follows an ancient foot highway that was used by pre-historic and more recent Native Americans, by military during the War of 1812 and the Civil War, by Kaintucks who floated their goods from the Ohio River down the Mississippi River to Natchez MS and then walked home, and by postal riders.  It is 444 miles long, running from Nashville TN to Natchez MS.  We entered the Trace at Crocket AL near MP 320 and headed South into Mississippi.

The Adventure

Today, we saw two notable sites.

The Pharr Mounds are 9 burial and religious mounds in an area  inhabited as early as the Late Archaic period with the mounds built during the Woodland period (CE 1-200).  They sit in a 90 acre site.  You can see 6 mounds from the parkway.  They are lovely, large mounds built by hand on a large flat plain.  The site has a quiet beauty to it.  There are other mound sites along the Trace and the surrounding area.

The Confederate Grave Sites can be seen along the “Old Trace”.  We no longer know who is buried there, their graves are marked with more recent stones.  In the photo you can see the track of the “Old Trace” to the left and the headstones to the right.

 

Cold weather arrived along with the predicted wind storm.  Tonight we are camping at Davis Lake, a beautiful gem of a campground run by the Forest Service.  It is located just a few miles off the Natchez Trace Parkway with its own exit off the Trace.  The shaded campsites are dotted among the trees along the banks of Davis Lake.  Most of the sites are right on the water, all of them have great lake views.  It is very lovely and peaceful, and Tiki got to swim.

Resources:

USA's Best Trips from Lonely Planet

Guide to the Natchez Trace Parkway by F. Lynne Bachleda.