Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness

Old Trace Drive

"In building the parkway it wasn't possible to follow the Old Trace exactly. What worked for people traveling on foot and on horseback 200 years ago doesn't work well today in a car going 50 mph.

"We are 5 miles north of where the Natchez Trace Parkway intersects Tennessee highway 64 at an exhibit called OLD TRACE DRIVE. This is a 2.5 mile section of the Old Natchez Trace that you can drive along in your car. Visitors have to travel the old road at a slower pace and get to see it up close. It makes you think about the footsteps that have preceded you, about the roaming buffalo and the Indian's plight at the hands of the colonists, of the thousands of Kaintucks and boatmen carrying their goods by river to Natchez and returning home with everything they owned on their backs. They were likely prey for thieves and robbers who waited -- vultures feeding off the work of others. Imagine the weary post riders and troops of soldiers passing through here to build and defend this great nation -- circuit riding preachers, building missions and schools among the Indians.

"These were people like you and me, who swam the rivers and streams, waded swamps and fought disease, and animals, and insects and violent storms. They faced life threatening heat and cold. People did all this... and for what purpose?

"Join us next time When we will visit NAPIER MINE. 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

Napier Mine

"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting an exhibit called NAPIER MINE near the Buffalo River in Tennessee four miles south of the parkway junction with Tennessee highways 20 and 412.

"As people moved into the expanding frontier, it wasn't possible to bring everything they needed, and they couldn't afford to have it shipped from the East. Among the things pioneers settling these areas needed were items made of iron, like shoes for their horses and nails, plow points and hoes for tending the fields and cast iron pots and skillets for cooking their food. In 1805, Dr. Rush Nutt discovered Iron ore here, and that provided the raw material for iron making operations in this area from 1820 to 1923.

"NAPIER MINE was an open pit mine because ore deposits were shallow here. Miners dug this high yield ore with pick axes and hauled it out in wagons drawn by mules.

"The exhibit at NAPIER MINE has specimens of the ore dug from the mine and examples of the iron products that could be made from the ore. From the exhibit parking lot visitors can see the pit of the mine.

"Join us next time when we will visit METAL FORD. I'm Frank Thomas, your guide along the Natchez Trace a road through the wilderness."

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

Metal Ford

"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting an exhibit called METAL FORD at the Buffalo River in Tennessee.

"METAL FORD is a point where travelers of the old road waded across the Buffalo River when the water was low. One method of road construction in that era was known as 'metalling', which meant the road was built by placing stones on the surface to help it stand the wear in bad weather. As you can imagine, these road surfaces were hard and rough to travel. The stone bottom of the ford across the Buffalo reminded travelers of 'metaled' roads and so it came to be known as METAL FORD.

"In 1820 this ford was the site of Steele's Ironworks where nearby ore was smelted in a coal burning blast furnace. Air was pumped into the fiery coal to make it burn hotter, and this air-blasting machinery was operated by water taken from the Buffalo River by a channel, known as a millrace. The iron making operations lasted at Metal Ford for more than a hundred years until after World War I when the great depression brought operations there to a close.

"Join us next time when we will hear the story of Meriwether Lewis. 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

Meriwether Lewis

"Today we visit the location of Grinder's Stand at an exhibit called MERIWETHER LEWIS. Meriwether Lewis was President Thomas Jefferson's personal secretary when the United States made the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803. Meriwether became leader of the famous LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION and explored trails all the way to the pacific northwest. When Lewis returned, President Jefferson appointed Captain Lewis governor of upper Louisiana, replacing the controversial General James Wilkinson who had convinced President Jefferson to look into charges of treason against his vice president Aaron Burr.

"Meriwether Lewis had his headquarters in St. Louis, and in 1809 he left there headed for Washington to settle some accounts he felt were due him from the government. He traveled down the Mississippi River to Fort Pickering where Lewis and his traveling companions were joined by the U.S. Agent to the Chickasaws, James Neely . They went east through Chickasaw country and crossed the Tennessee River to join the Old Trace heading north.

"On October the 10th, 1809, thunderstorms hit them and Lewis made it into Grinder's Stand ahead of his companions. During that night Lewis was shot. He died as the sun was rising October 11, 1809. He was only 35 years old.

"On our next program we will look further at Lewis's death."

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

Pale Moon Rider

"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway we are visiting the Meriwether Lewis exhibit and are going to listen to part of Pale Moon Rider, a song written about the danger posed by robbers along this early National Road.

"Captain Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark Expedition died here in 1809. In 1848 the state of Tennessee erected a monument at Lewis's grave, which visitors can see at this exhibit. The monument is a broken shaft symbolizing the early death of a promising life.  The surrounding County is also called Lewis County.

"To this day there is some question about his death. Was it the suicide of a troubled young man? Or had Lewis, in his post as governor of Louisiana, discovered something about his predecessors, General Wilkinson and associates, that they wouldn't allow him to report to Washington? Too, the Trace was notorious for its criminals and bandits. Was Lewis robbed and murdered?

(SONG CLIP PERFORMED HERE)

Highwaymen are coming.
They're on a dead run through the cane break.
Hide all the women and the silver and the gold,
Highwaymen, on the road.
Don't you be fooled by all those fancy clothes,
He's a highwayman and he's a rogue.

"Join us next time when we will visit PHOSPHATE MINE. I'm Frank Thomas, Your guide along the Natchez Trace a road through the wilderness."

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

Phosphate Mine / Fall Hollow

"Today we will look at a couple of exhibits near Swan Valley, where the Natchez Trace Parkway crosses Tennessee highway 412. The first exhibit is PHOSPHATE MINE. A 5 minute walk there takes visitors to a collapsed mine shaft and an abandoned railroad bed.

"This is a region where the limestone has rich deposits of phosphate. There was a lot of mining activity in this area at one time, and there are many abandoned mine shafts like this one.

"Just past PHOSPHATE MINE is a bridge that takes travelers across Big Swan Creek.  Beyond the bridge is FALL HOLLOW. A short trail goes over to a waterfall and down to a small pool below. This water is making its way down toward Swan Creek.

"Join us next time when we will climb up out of the valley and visit SWAN VALLEY OVERLOOK. I'm Frank Thomas, your guide along the Natchez Trace, a road through the wilderness."

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

Swan Valley Overlook

"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are just north of the parkway intersection with Tennessee highway 412 at the exhibit, SWAN VALLEY OVERLOOK, where you can get a good look at the terrain in the direction south.

"The change in elevation here along the parkway gives it a different feel. Boatmen and Kaintucks returning from Natchez would have been keenly aware of these hills and valleys and would have sensed their journey along the old road coming to an end. Their thoughts must have turned toward home as we hear in this RoadMusic® selection.

(SONG CLIP PERFORMED HERE)

Words that seem so hard to say, they do come easy,
When you are far away.
But when our chance arrives,
We let our chance go by.
This time's the last time
I'm giving up all my holding back.
I'll say all these things to you,
When I get back home.

"On our next program we will look more closely at this land that was once home to the Chickasaw Indian Nation, and we will hear stories of the Indian's forced removal and the 'Trail of Tears.' 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

Old Trace Exhibit

"HEMONA KA ONAHLÍ TÖK. This is Chickasaw, meaning, 'Once I was there.'

"Today we are in land that belonged to the Chickasaws before the tribe's removal along the "Trail of Tears" in 1837.

"Possibly the worst events of the Indian Removal from the Southeast in the1830s occurred to the Cherokee Indians, removed at bayonet point by the American army in the dead of the winter 1838-39; There were 645 wagons filled with a freezing human cargo. It was so sudden that many were barefoot and without blankets against the cold. 4000 Cherokee died of starvation and exposure and disease along the infamous trail. Today few remember. And when we do, the memory is cloaked with the romantic title THE TRAIL OF TEARS -- Tears without pity -- tears of sorrow and pain and suffering -- tears of loss.

(SONG CLIP PERFORMED HERE)

Never will my spirit ever drift so far away
You will not find me in the wind and the silence.
You will not think of me each day,
And never know my name;
But I was there, once I was there,
And I walked upon the water.

"Join us next time when we visit Sheboss Place. 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

Sheboss Place

"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting SHEBOSS PLACE near Columbia, Tennessee.

"By comparison to the forced removal of the Cherokee and the Choctaw Indians from the southeastern United States, it must appear the Chickasaw had an easy time of it. Beginning in 1837 some of the Chickasaw traveled west to Oklahoma with Government escort while others took up their lives and traveled at their own expense. By the fall of 1839 the enrollment of Chickasaw in the west was 5,947. Others moved between 1840-47.

"The Chickasaw became a unique culture, establishing their own schools, and courts and legislature based upon the model of the whiteman.

"SHEBOSS PLACE was the location of another of the inns along the Old Trace. According to the agreement with the Chickasaw that allowed travel through their lands these 'Inns' or 'Stands' along the way had to be owned by Indians. The Widow Cranfield ran this inn along with her second husband who was an Indian who spoke very little English. The legend of how the inn got its name tells of travelers coming by asking the Indian about lodging there. He would point to his wife and say, 'SHE BOSS.'

"Join us next time when we visit a TOBACCO FARM. I'm Frank Thomas, your guide along the Natchez Trace, a road through the wilderness."

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

Tobacco Farm / Old Trace Drive

"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting a Tobacco Farm exhibit near Columbia, Tennessee where we will ride and walk along the original Old Trace.

"There are two recorded messages at this exhibit that tell how tobacco is grown, cut and dried. Visitors can take a short walk through the field, and the barn built by Mr. Leland Greenfield in 1959. In the summer you can see the tobacco growing and in the fall, see it drying in the barn.

"This section of the parkway parallels the Old Natchez Trace very closely, and from the tobacco farm exhibit it is possible to take a one way ride north along the original Old Trace.  This Drive is about a mile and a half long, and only the last half mile of the road is paved.

"For those wanting an even closer look, a mile beyond where the Old Trace Drive reenters the parkway is an exhibit where visitors can take a 15 minute walk along a 2000 foot section of the original Trace that follows a ridge 300 feet above the Duck River.

"Join us next time when we will visit JACKSON FALLS. 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