Witch Dance

"We are taking a journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee and today we have reached the site of Witch Dance near Houston, Mississippi on the southern border of a unit of the Tombigbee National Forest.

"The National Forests in Mississippi are an important resource for the state and while this unit of the Tombigbee National Forest contains mostly watershed lakes that are built to control flooding, there is one exception, the 200-acre recreational Davis Lake built in 1937 which sits amidst stands of pine trees and hardwoods and offers visitors the opportunity to camp, picnic, swim, and water ski as well as enjoy fishing and boating.

"Near Davis Lake and still within the forest are the Owl Creek Indian Mounds and village complex that's listed on the National Register of Historic Places and dates from the Mississippian Period (1000 to 1300 A.D).

"The Witch Dance exhibit along the Natchez Trace Parkway is the access point for two horse riding trails within the Tombigbee National Forest, one six miles and another 9 miles long.

"There's a myth about the witch dance site, that once witches gathered and danced here, and where their feet touched the ground, the grass would die and never again grow.

"Join us on our next program when we will visit the Chickasaw Agency. 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