Eastern Hardwood Forest

"Today on our journey along the Natchez Trace Parkway we are visiting Jeff Busby Park, located near Ackerman, Mississippi.

"Above the campground here is Little Mountain Summit where you'll find a large nature and history exhibit that tells of the Great Eastern Hardwood Forest, by far the greatest hardwood forest in the world. Before Columbus came to this hemisphere, the Eastern Indians lived in this forest. It was vast, extending from the Gulf Coast up into Canada. There's a quotation at the exhibit that says, "A squirrel could travel from Maine to Texas without touching the ground." This forest is virtually all gone now as are a great many species of animals that made this unique forest their home.

"The exhibit also shows the life of the Indian hunters who lived in the great forest. It explains how they hunted, how they made tools and how they used plants and animals to survive. Then the European explorers came, and settlers followed, cutting down the forest, clearing the land for farming. Field animals survived where forest animals had once flourished. Farming slowly worsened as crops depleted the nutrients in the soil, as poor farming practices and erosion took their toll. The days of Eastern Hardwood Forest with its Indian hunters are gone.

"Join us next time when we'll learn how this ancient trail became a post road. 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