Tag Mississippi

The End of the Road

Driving through Natchez, along the Mississippi shoreline and the end (or beginning) of the Natchez Trace.

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.

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Emerald Mound

Many mounds dot the Natchez Trace, constructed by ancient stone age tribes. But none compare the the sheer size of the Emerald Mound.

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.

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Mount Locust Inn

Mount Locust Inn is one of the few remaining stands along the Natchez Trace.

By modern terms, the Mount Locust Inn is a modest structure with four small rooms for guests and the resident family. But in the days of the "Kaintucks" traveling along the Natchez Trace, Mount Locust Inn offered some of the finest accommodations a traveler could hope for.

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The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. BY ROBERT FROST

As late in the fall as it may have been, leaves the color of sunshine clung to the trees. The less tenacious littered the ground. This portion of the Natchez Trace is so worn by centuries of use that it is now a deep gully. We climbed down into the ancient footpath and looked up at the walls. They rose above our heads to flatten out at the natural ground level. This is a path so tied to tradition that to walk it literally blinds you to all other directions.

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Waylaid By Goats

Nothing is safe when a roving gang of goats blocks to road and wants the shirt of your back. Seriously, these guys will eat anything.

Today, we were waylaid by a gang of goats. After gaping at the limited remnants of Rocky Springs, we wandered to the Magnus Mound. Well we were headed in that way. We slowed to a stop while twenty unaccompanied goats blocked the road.

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Rocky Springs Ghost Town

We turned on the radio this morning. It isn't something we often do. We mostly rely on podcasts and music. But for this rare excursion onto regional airwaves, we came across a Jackson station where the radio host was shoveling the burden of content creation onto his listeners: asking them to call in with their favorite places to visit near Jackson. Some called in to recommend restaurants. Others calling in about museums. But one caller caught the host's attention when they described the haunting remains of Rocky Springs Ghost Town. I giggled, "that's our next stop!"

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Mounds of the Natchez Trace

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.

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