Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness

Greenwood LeFlore

"Today we are at French Camp, Mississippi on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez to Nashville.

"The French Canadian, Lewis LeFleur, established the stand of French Camp along the old Natchez Trace in 1812. He married Rebecca Cravat, a French-Choctaw woman. Their son, Greenwood LeFlore, became a District Chief of the Choctaw Indians, and in the fall of 1830 was principal negotiator at the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek where the last of the Choctaw lands were traded away to the United States. In this treaty the Choctaw were given three years in which to leave Mississippi, but any Choctaw who would agree to submit to the white man's law could stay and receive 640 acres of land -- at least that was in principle, but in practice land agents made it very difficult for the Indians to stay and claim their land. LeFlore on the other hand was granted 2,500 acres of land for his role in the negotiations and others who negotiated for the Choctaw received similar rewards.

"LeFlore became a wealthy plantation owner near the city of Greenwood, Mississippi which was named for him. The county too was named for him, LeFlore, county. He built a beautiful antebellum mansion there, Malmaison, and served as a member of the Mississippi Senate.

"Join us next time when we'll travel on up the parkway and visit Jeff Busby Park. 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

Jeff Busby Park

"Today on our journey along the Natchez Trace Parkway we'll stop by a major campsite that was dedicated on November 7, 1965. This is JEFF BUSBY PARK named in honor of the U. S. Congressman from Mississippi, Jeff Busby, who introduced a bill in congress on February 15th of 1934 to authorize a survey of the Old Natchez Trace. Four years later, May the 18th, 1938, the Natchez Trace was designated a unit of the National Park Service.

"There's a service station and camp store located immediately off the road here and it makes a convenient stop for travelers to get gas and food and to rest.

"A road from the store will take you about 3/4 of a mile up to Little Mountain summit, one of the highest points along the parkway in the state of Mississippi, 603 feet above sea level. There is a nature trail, that takes about 15 minutes to walk, between the summit and the campground. This trail identifies more than two dozen food plants that grow in the area, and there are other trails located at the picnic area.

"Join us on our next program when we'll climb up to Little Mountain Summit at Jeff Busby Park and look at the exhibit that tells us about the Eastern Hardwood Forest. 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

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

Old Trace Exhibit

"Just north of Jeff Busby Campground is an Old Trace Exhibit that tells how in the early 1800s, it was feared that the Mississippi Valley region would become a separate nation simply because of poor communication. This prompted Congress to establish this road as a post route between Nashville and Natchez.

"The post road itself changed. In 1801 it ran south out of Nashville along this old Trace. In 1802 post riders leaving Nashville went south to Franklin, Tennessee and then over to the Old Trace. In 1808 riders continued to Columbia, Tennessee and by 1819 to Florence, Alabama and west to join the Trace at Buzzard Roost Spring. In 1821 the post road continued from Florence down the Jackson Military Road to Columbus, Mississippi. After 1824 the post followed the newly completed Robinson road to Jackson, Mississippi, then to Raymond and Rocky Springs.

"Not only the path changed, but the frequency of the mail changed too. When Mail service first started in 1800 there was only one trip each way every month. By 1816 there were 3 trips a week. It's clear that in the early 1800s post riders along the Natchez Trace played an important role in holding the frontier and the republic together.

"Join us next time when we'll visit Pigeon Roost. 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

Pigeon Roost

"Today on our journey along the Natchez Trace we come to Pigeon Roost which is just south of the junction of the Trace and Mississippi Highway 82.

"Pigeon Roost was the site of a trading post established before 1790, belonging to a New Englander named Nathaniel Folsom who was married to a Choctaw woman. Their son, David Folsom, followed in their footsteps operating the trading post, and was a strong supporter of both Indian education and of Christianity. In 1826 David Folsom was elected Chief of the Northeast District of the Choctaw Nation.

"PIGEON ROOST gets its name because passenger pigeons used to migrate through here by the millions. They roosted in the trees in this area. It is said that so many pigeons roosted here that their weight would brake the limbs of the greatest trees. In 1810 the ornithologist Alexander Wilson recorded that a flock observed by him was as much as 240 miles long, an estimated 2 and 1/4 billion pigeons. None of us traveling through here these days will see one of these birds, and more than likely you have never seen one, since the last known survivor of the species died in captivity in 1914.

"Join us next time when we'll visit Line Creek, the boundary between the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians. 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

Line Creek

"Today on our journey along the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we visit an exhibit called LINE CREEK.

"To the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians, private land ownership had no meaning. Land was something for the good of the group and was held in common by the tribe. Understandably then, property lines were not familiar and had little importance in the everyday lives of Indians and the tribes. Even between tribes, boundaries were seldom distinct. But the Chickasaw and the Choctaw tribes were not friendly, and over the years the two tribes came to accept a stream that flowed through this valley as the dividing line between their two lands. It remained a boundary until these two tribes were forced to move to Oklahoma in the 1830s.

"At this boundary was another one of the stands along the Old Trace. It belonged to Noah Wall and his wife.

"So, after we cross Line Creek near this exhibit we'll be leaving the old Choctaw Indian territory and entering what was the land of the mighty Chickasaw.

"Join us next time when we'll journey on up into the old Chickasaw lands and visit Bynum Mounds, burial mounds from the Woodland Indian Culture. 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

Bynum Mounds

Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness.

"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway we'll visit BYNUM MOUNDS just north of Houston, Mississippi.

"We are now in Chickasaw Territory, and while the Chickasaw did settle here, the Bynum Mounds date form the Woodland Indian Period. This site dates back over 1500 years. There's a recording there that tells of Indian village life, of their living from the land gathering berries, nuts and fruit from the wild. They also fished, hunted wild game and farmed.

In the summers the Woodland Indians lived in lean to shelters and in the winter they lived in more permanent circular houses built from timbers, interwoven with reeds and willow and plastered on the outside with mud.

"Special houses were built where in a small pit the bodies of the dead were cremated. After the site had been used for some time, the entire house was burned and the remains of the cremations along with bodies that had not been cremated were laid around the edge of the burned house. After tools and ornaments had been placed with the burials the entire site was covered high with earth, creating the mounds we see there today.

"Join us next time when we'll hear the myth of Witch Dance on the southern border of the Tombigbee National Forest. 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

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

Chickasaw Agency

"On our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway we are about 20 miles south of Tupelo, Mississippi. Today's exhibit is called Chickasaw Agency.

"From 1802 until 1825 the United States Agents to the Chickasaw Indian Nation lived several miles west of this exhibit on the original Old Natchez Trace itself.

"During the Spring and Summer thousands of Kaintucks and Boatmen would float the produce from their farms down the Mississippi River to Natchez or New Orleans and then journey along the old road from Natchez back to their homes in the Ohio River Valley.

"While the United States had gained permission for pioneers to use this old buffalo trail by signing treaties with the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians, during the early 1800s this land still belonged to the Chickasaw. It was the U.S. Agent's responsibility to keep the peace through the Chickasaw territory, and the job involved capturing fugitives, recovering stolen horses and collecting debts, and many of the travelers along the old road expected the agents to provide them with food, medicine and a good night's rest.

"On our next program we'll stop by the exhibit called Hernando Desoto and look at events that occurred in these lands almost 300 years before the days of the U.S. Indian Agents, as the first European explorers made contact with the native American Indians. 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

Hernando Desoto

"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are stopping by an exhibit 17 miles south of Tupelo, Mississippi. It is called HERNANDO DESOTO.

"Desoto was the Spanish explorer who came through this region from 1539-1541. When he and his men visited Emerald mound just north of Natchez, they not only brought beads and trinkets to trade with the native Indians, they also brought disease to the Mississippian Indians who lived there, disease, that may have aided in the early demise of this highly advanced Indian culture.

"During the same expedition Desoto and his men crossed the Tombigbee River in December of 1540 and spent that winter with the Chickasaw Indians to the east of today's exhibit. It's along here that Desoto would have crossed this famous old Indian trail in 1541, and in June of that year, just south of what is now Memphis, Tennessee Desoto is given credit for being the first European to discover the Mississippi River.

"Join us next time when we'll visit Monroe Mission. 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