During spring break this year, my wife and I spent a fair amount of time in the state of Mississippi. Last week, I reviewed the Mississippi petrified forest. After leaving the petrified forest, we decided to drive on the Natchez Trace Parkway (from Jackson, MS to Tupelo, MS). Yes, Tupelo is the birthplace of Elvis (in case you didn’t know). We only drove a part of the Parkway – it is a total of 444 miles in length (and passes through 3 states). If you are interested in history, President Thomas Jefferson (in 1801) designated the Natchez Trace a national post road for mail delivery between Nashville and Natchez. Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark fame) died on the Trace in 1809. Let’s learn a little more about the Trace.
In the early 1800s, individuals from the Ohio River Valley used rivers to transport their livestock, crops, furs and related items to New Orleans or Natchez. They would sell their boats for lumber and walk (or ride a horse) home along the Trace. The Parkway allows you to drive from Tennessee to Mississippi. No commercial trucks are allowed. The National Park Service also closely monitors the speed limit. If you follow this road, don’t even go 1 mile over the speed limit. You have been warned. We saw deer, turkeys and a number of other birds and plants as we drove along. There have been roughly 1,500 species of plants, 33 mammals, 134 bird species and 70 different kinds of reptiles and amphibians reported along the Parkway. There are places where you can park and walk on the original trail.
Yes, I walked a bit on the original trail. It was impressive to see how eroded the trail was (due to all the traffic over the years). In some places, the trail was worn down almost 15 feet from the surface. On this section, it was worn down only a few feet from the surrounding surface.
I used my GoPro camera to capture time lapse images (every 10 seconds) as we drove along the Natchez Trace. I stitched these together into a video using Photoshop. I also added a bit of music (thanks to Soundzabound). I thought you might enjoy this video.
All told, this was a fantastic way to enjoy spring break.
As always, I am interested in your comments.
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