Some stops we plan. Others we do not. We were speeding along highway 8 to the California border so it was not as if we were anticipating any stops. Then I saw the sign for the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site and we had to stop.
It has only been a few, cloudy days from Nashville to Natchez, but here we are. The Natchez Parkway ends just outside of Natchez, Mississippi but we continue through town for our first view of the Mississippi River. At the shore line, we meditate on tradition, history, and natural wonders along the Natchez Trace. We have traveled the entirety of the Natchez Trace Parkway.
The Mississippian Period Mound Builders perfected their art by 1250 AD when ancestors of the Natchez tribe began to sculpt a natural hill into the second largest Pre-Columbian earthwork in the country. Named after a 19th century plantation that surrounded the ancient earthworks, Emerald Mound's history represents what might as well have been another world. The mound's base stretches 770 by 435 feet. While the main portion of the mound is 35 feet high, two secondary mounds on top of the main body elevates it another 30 feet. Here was the cultural center of this region. Chieftain and cultural leaders lived in structures on the mound. Ceremonial rights were conducted here up until 1730s. The descendants of these Mound Builders, the Natchez, continued to use the mound until the late 1730s. By then, the Natchez had moved their ceremonial center 12 miles north to the Grand Village of the Natchez.
When I was a wily ankle biter set loose in the school yard, I had little interest in the play set or sports games raging around me. Instead, I would race up and down the steep hills that flanked my school, much to the chagrin of liability minded school administrators. Some friends and I would dig in the dirt and ferry water from the drinking fountains to mini construction sites. We mixed dirt and water into mud and heaped it into mounds. I have no idea where the idea originated. We just preferred making things over playing games or waiting in line for the slide.
Last night, we slept near a grave. The clouds lay thick over the night sky. Even the moon could not penetrate the blanket of mist. Leafless trees stretched skeletal limbs dimly etched against the night. A bitterly cold wind searched for any gap in our truck camper and the campground bathrooms were heated! We were camping at the Meriwether Lewis Monument.
At the 438 mile post of the Natchez Trace, in Williamson County, Tennessee, is the Double Arch Bridge. This elegant work of engineering also known as the "Natchez Trace Parkway Arches" spans 1,572 feet and 145 feed over the valley floor. It was opened on March 22, 1994, and cost $11.3 million to build.
The Natchez Trace connects Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee. The 444 mile route roughly traces the historic dirt path that "Kaintucks" annually traveled.* These were farmers from the Ohio River valley who had loaded rafts with their produce and traveled with it down the Mississippi to sell in Natchez or New Orleans. There, they would also sell the lumber that made up the raft and then return, on foot or by horse, to their home via the Natchez Trace.
There are several ways to approach the breathtaking waterfall of Cummins Falls State Park. One can stroll to the scenic vista. There is the relaxed trail to the top of the falls. Or, one can take on a mile long trudge through a creek to the base of the falls. My feet are wet, so you can guess which way we took.
Roughly half way between Nashville and Knoxville, Tennessee, a series of magnificent waterfalls bisect the state in a line running North to South. Given their position, they make for excellent day trips from both major cities in Tennessee.* We ventured out to hit as many as we could in one day. That number wound up being two. But they were an amazing two and were accompanied by pleasant hikes through the fall foliage. First stop was Burgess Falls State Park. Which has not one, but four beautiful waterfalls.
Alum Cave was first referenced in a land grant application by three North Carolina farmers in 1837. The resulting Epsom Salts Manufacturing Company mined alum, Epsom salt, saltpeter, magnesia, and copperas in the area until the salts were depleted in the mid 1840s. Today, it is part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and a popular destination along the Alum Cave Trail.