Colbert Ferry

"For early travelers, the Tennessee River was the biggest obstacle along the entire Natchez Trace.

"At the COLBERT FERRY stop, down by the edge of the River, there's a taped message that tells what it was like crossing the Tennessee River in the early 1800s and before. The river wasn't as wide as it is today. It was swift moving and a little more than a quarter mile across (about a third the distance it is now). What you'll see there today is a lake created in the mid 1930s when the Tennessee Valley Authority build Pickwick Dam, down river from this site about 25 miles to the northwest.

"After the Natchez Trace became a national road in 1800, George Colbert, a powerful Chickasaw Indian Chief and a brother to Levi Colbert at Buzzard Roost Spring, operated a ferry and stand at the river. Visitors at this exhibit can see where George Colbert's stand was located and an old photograph of the stand itself. George Colbert was a clever businessman, and it is said that he once charged Andrew Jackson $75,000. to ferry the Tennessee army across the river.

"Join us next time when we will cross the Tennessee River on the JOHN COFFEE MEMORIAL BRIDGE. For Natchez Trace a road through the wilderness, I'm Frank Thomas."

For more about Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness, visit eddieandfrank.com