MRC96B Natchez Trace - D

 

The bus capacity issue was resolved somehow, and Virginia and Ken continued on to the second bus stop at the Natchez Visitor’s Center.  The center provided tons of information on the area’s history and the Natchez Trace.  The Trace is a historic trail which extends roughly 440 miles from Natchez to Nashville, TN, linking the Cumberland, Tennessee, and Mississippi rivers.  Largely following a geologic ridge line, prehistoric animals followed the dry ground of the Trace to distant grazing lands, from the salt licks of today's Middle Tennessee, to the Mississippi River.  Native Americans used many early footpaths created by the foraging animals that could break paths through the dense undergrowth.  Even before the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, President Thomas Jefferson wanted to connect the distant Mississippi frontier to other settled areas of the United States.  The US signed treaties with the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes to maintain peace, and in 1801 the United States Army began trail blazing along the Trace.  By 1809, the trail was fully navigable by wagon, with the journey taking two to three weeks.