Natchez Trace–Part 3: Into Alabama and Tennessee

We went almost 200 miles today and stopped at Meriwether Lewis campground, mm 385.9 at about 3:00.    We didn’t stop at all of the signs since I found the website Natcheztracetravel.com and am able to read them from there. Curt doesn't want to stop and start with the rig constantly. For those that are interested in the historical signs and pictures that I didn’t take today are located:                  French Camp area                Houston/Mantee area                 Tupelo MS area                      Tishomingo/Belmont MS area      Alabama Trace           Waynesboro Tennessee area              Hohenwald/Summertown area

There was a tornado in this area in late April 2011.  It followed the Trace for about 10 miles.     

There is a visitor center at mm 266.0 that has an exhibit and a 15-minute video regarding how the Natchez Trace came to be. It would have been good to have this at the beginning of the Trace. The Mississippi DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) started campaigning to commemorate the Trace in 1905. There was research to see if making roads was feasible and the history research for the information. The Natchez Trace Parkway does not follow the Old Trace trail exactly because there were areas they weren’t sure where the old trail was. They also used some of the roads available and had to go around towns or dams, etc. that weren’t there before. There are a few signs that point to the original trace trail. There are some places along the way where you can hike the trail.
 
 


We can see the difference in the “spring” trees, or lack thereof, as we’ve gotten further north. Not near as many flowering trees or trees budding. They must have had a lot of rain too, as there’s water setting in a lot of the fields and ditches.

Happy birthday to our son, Keith, for yesterday!

Natchez Trace, Part 2

I found another web site, Natcheztracetravel.com, which tells more information about the stops along the way. It’s really mostly for bikes. This part of the trail is at Jackson/Raymond area, Canton/Jackson area,  Kosciusko area, French Camp area. I’ll probably defer from pictures of just the signs and only put pictures of places we stopped at instead.

The beginning of this part is very bumpy and bouncy. The part yesterday was much better.

I liked the Tupelo-Bald Cypress swamp. It didn’t smell, easy for pictures. The Cole Creek swamp was dirty, smelled bad.
We didn’t realized there was a visitors center across the road until we drove past it.  It’s for the town of French Camp. The information on the National Park Service map doesn’t give information for the surrounding area. There’s a couple of places we’ve found after the fact.

We stopped at Jeff Busby Campground, mm 193.1 on the Trace.  We only went about 100 miles, and it’s only 1:30 in the afternoon, but if we go all the way to the next campground on the Trace, about 200 miles, I don’t think there would be any room left by the time we get there today. It looks like the campgrounds start filling early. There are 3 free campgrounds along the Trace. This one has a  restroom, water fountains, picnic table, fire pit, grill and food hanger. We walked up Little Mountain, 630 feet elevation, from our campground at 450 feet elevation. (They don’t have much for mountains in this area of the valley.) Weather permitting, we might stay here for a few days.
I don’t know what kind of snake this is. I only had my small camera and couldn’t zoom in, and didn’t want to get in close in case it was venomous. There are three kinds of venomous snakes in this area, but we think it’s just a water snake.