A road trip along the Natchez Trace Parkway, which stretches 444 miles across the Deep South, reveals fascinating historic sites and fun woodland adventures.
I was walking through the blufftop park in the French colonial town of Natchez in southwest Mississippi. Far below, the Mississippi River ran high and muddy from recent storms. I paused at the railing to peer through some mounted binoculars. Everywhere I looked, the woodland foliage was blooming with the vibrant colors of early spring.
Today, Natchez is a little-known river town at the southern terminus, aka Milepost 0, of the 444-mile Natchez Trace Parkway. Managed by the National Park Service, this scenic roadway follows a historic Native American path across Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee on its way to Nashville.
Unlike its mountain sibling, the Blue Ridge Parkway, the NTP winds through rolling foothills. While it’s mostly known for history and cultural sites, there are also hiking trails, cycling routes, and nearby park units. Plus, the NTP sees less than half the annual visitors, around six million, compared to over 16 million for the adventurous BRP, which continues to incrementally reopen after damage from Hurricane Helene. I’d long been curious about how the NTP compares, so last spring I set off with my camper to find out.
Natchez, Mississippi
Before driving north, I spent a few days exploring Natchez, which was one of the most important early settlements in the Mississippi Valley. At the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians, a state-run archeological park and museum, I learned about the powerful tribe that ruled these bluffs before European contact brought devastating diseases. Outside, I wandered around three preserved mounds, essentially flattop earthen pyramids, with the largest originally housing a ceremonial temple. Countless mounds were constructed by Mississippian tribes throughout the region, and many surviving examples can be found along the NTP.
At Fort Rosalie in Natchez National Historical Park, I viewed the blufftop ruins of the French settlement established in 1716. After a decade of relative peace, rising tensions led to a merciless war. The French and their allies prevailed, and the Natchez were forced to flee as refugees. The French were later defeated by the British, and then the United States assumed control after the Revolutionary War. This ushered in the plantation-era across the South, making Natchez a commercial hub for steamboats, slavery, and cotton. Also preserved by Natchez NHP is the infamous Forks of the Road slave market and several historical homes from the antebellum era.
In addition to walking the blufftop paths, I wandered around the colonial downtown, which is frequently used as a filming location for movies set in French Louisiana. Afterward, I stopped by the Natchez Brewing Company for an excellent calzone and pilsner.
Southern Natchez Trace Parkway
My southernmost camp was in a hardwood forest at Natchez State Park near Milepost 11. Around here, there’s a cluster of worthwhile sites. Loess Bluff at Milepost 12.3 is a cliff-face of the dark wind-blown soil that blankets this region, giving rise to the Natchez Bluffs and the soft dirt that the Natchez Trace passes through. Just down the road at Milepost 15.5 is Mount Locust, a historic French home and farm.
One of my favorite spots on the entire parkway was Emerald Mound, an ancestral Natchez site a few miles west of Milepost 10.3. Rising between three and six stories high, with a base 770 feet long and 430 feet wide, this is the second-largest platform mound in the United States. The largest is Monks Mound at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Illinois. Cahokia is impressive, but it’s also surrounded by industry and an interstate. Meanwhile, Emerald Mound is in the middle of empty woodlands.
Driving north one morning, I found myself in the middle of a caravaning Airstream club. When the lead driver came across a fallen tree blocking the parkway, the chummy members went to work with an electric chainsaw, clearing the path in 20 minutes. I ended up joining this group at Sunken Trace (Milepost 41.5) for a walk through a trench worn into the loess by centuries of travelers.
Next came Rocky Springs at Milepost 54.8, a short hike to a frontier townsite from the early days of the United States. Back then, boatmen called Kaintucks transported goods down the Mississippi River on makeshift flatboats, which were sold off as lumber at markets like this one. Then the Kaintucks walked north along the Natchez Trace and did it all again.
If you’re willing to venture an hour off the parkway, consider Vicksburg National Military Park. This NPS unit houses the USS Cairo, an ironside that was sunk during the Civil War and buried in mud for over a century before being raised. You can walk aboard the reassembled Cairo and tour a fascinating museum displaying numerous artifacts recovered from the wreckage.
Jackson, Mississippi
My second campground on the NTP was at LaFleur’s Bluff State Park, a unique lakeside spot within the shadow of downtown high-rises in Jackson. City highlights include the state-owned Two Mississippi Museums. One is focused on regional history, from Native Americans to the present. The other focuses on civil rights, with a series of powerful and eye-opening exhibits about abuses toward African Americans, including slavery and segregation. The brutality of the Jim Crow era is exemplified at the nearby Medgar and Merlie Evers Home National Monument, where civil rights activist Medgar Evers was assassinated in his front yard by a white supremacist in 1963.
In contrast to its heavier history, modern Jackson has several outdoorsy highlights. The Museum Trail is a paved multiuse path that leads from LaFleur’s Bluff State Park past the Natural History Museum and its nature trails to the Belhaven Trail System, a short network of singletrack in the woods near downtown. Additional fun biking can be found north of the city at the Richland Trails, a singletrack MTB park. Or the Chisa Foka Trail is a 10-mile paved multiuse path maintained by the NPS and linking up several parkway sites, including Barnett Reservoir and the Choctaw Agency.
After riding these local trails over several days, I found excellent dinner options around Jackson. Fertile Ground Beer Co. is a friendly hangout spot serving an excellent Forgotten Space IPA. Pig and Pint offers impressive BBQ amidst an outdoor/indoor setting of a renovated diner. Plus, the Iron Horse Grill was a blast, serving delicious southern dishes during live blues performances on certain nights.
Central NTP and Tupelo, MS
Continuing north, I stopped at Cypress Swamp (Milepost 122) and crossed a boardwalk to hike a section of unpaved trail. This is one of many shorter and longer sections of the Old Trace and Natchez Trace National Historic Trail that parallels the parkway. Next, the Busby Lookout at Milepost 193.1 was…interesting. The view from the top of the hill was the same as the view from the roadway below: endless shades of green.
I decided to push on early to Davis Lake Campground in Tombigbee National Forest near Milepost 244, which was my favorite camp on my trip. After kayaking around the clearwater reservoir, I checked out the nearby Owl Creek Mounds, a smaller ancestral site.
Driving to Tupelo for dinner, I stopped at Milepost 261.8 for the interpretive walk around the former Chickasaw Village Site. In town, I passed by Tupelo National Battlefield, an NPS monument that is basically a grassy street corner. Then I stopped at the intriguing Queen’s Reward Meadery, which makes wine from honey. The friendly owner Jerri poured me several tasters. I liked the few dry options, especially the Riesling, and I agreed to return someday with my wife, who would love their many sweet varietals and smoothie concoctions.
However, the fun evening was cut short when Jerri’s husband called. A tornado watch had just gone to a warning. A twister had touched down near New Albany. Another panhandle hook, the same storm pattern that had raised the Mississippi River and dropped trees, was whipping across the Deep South.
Driving south in the dark, I glimpsed towering thunderclouds to the west, briefly illuminated by lightning flashes. When I arrived, the campground was also pitch black. Everyone was inside their RVs with the power off, watching the storm. I followed the radar on my phone, planning to pull my camper east if needed. Luckily, the squall line stayed northwest before breaking up.
The next day, I rode my gravel bike through the fortunately mild aftermath—mostly downed branches and trees—on the paved Tanglefoot Trail. I did about 50 miles total as an out-and-back between Algoma and New Albany. The rural hills on the southern section were my favorite, while the northern path had more neighborhoods and towns. I got in some sprint training, in both directions near Highway 278, when I was chased by three particularly aggressive dogs.
Northern NTP: Alabama and Tennessee
Continuing north, I stopped to view exhibits at the Parkway Visitor Center at Milepost 266. This was followed by the impressive Pharr Mounds, grassy pyramids in a golden sea of wild wheat at Milepost 286.7. I continued off parkway for a brief stay at JP Coleman State Park in Tennessee, which was within striking distance of Shiloh National Military Park. The next day, I started at the NPS museum, which tells the story of this pivotal battle and a Civil War that led to the abolishment of slavery. Then I biked the battlefield road and walked through an ancestral mound site rising above the Tennessee River.
The morning that I returned to the parkway, drifting fog enshrouded the iconic Colbert Ferry Bridge, found on the 30-mile stretch through Alabama. Beyond that, the short hike to Rock Spring at Milepost 330.2 was my favorite trail along the NTP, driving home the importance of water sources during early overland travel by foot and horse.
My final camp was another short off-parkway stay, this time at David Crocket State Park in Tennessee. I biked several park trails and roads, training my legs for an upcoming cycling trip with friends. I also walked a preserved section of the Trail of Tears, used in early 19th century when the U.S. Government forcibly relocated regional tribes like the Chickasaw and Choctaw to Oklahoma.
While driving the northern parkway, limestone bluffs appeared, and the landscape became increasingly hillier. I stopped at Grinders Stand (Milepost 385.9), a replica log cabin and NPS museum at the site of the historic inn where Meriwether Lewis mysteriously died in 1809.
Just a few years after Lewis and Clark’s expedition across the Louisiana Purchase, the famous explorer stopped for the night here on his way to meet with President Jefferson in Washington. The next morning, he was found dead in his room from two gunshot wounds, one each in his stomach and head. With Lewis known to be increasingly troubled by melancholic depression, the prevailing view remains suicide. However, some observers have questioned if Lewis might have been murdered.
As I pushed onward toward Milepost 444 near Nashville, I came across scattered cyclists from a supported group ride. The northern parkway is popular for road biking. My final stop was at Leiper’s Fork, a historic village outside Franklin, Tenn. I had an awesome celebratory meal at the beloved Fox and Hen, known for its food, drinks, and live music. My 10-day road trip along the Natchez Trace Parkway had been a surprising success—a mix of mellower adventures and fascinating history.
