Guide to the Natchez Trace Parkway

by Tim Jackson, Taryn Chase Jackson

Overview

The Best Road Trip Through Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee

In the heart of the Deep South, the Natchez Trace Parkway traverses 444 miles from Natchez, Mississippi, to its northern terminus near Nashville, Tennessee. Rolling hills, historic sites, beautiful scenery—the historic byway is peppered with some of the region’s best food, lodging, and attractions. It is a drive that everyone should make.

With the Guide to the Natchez Trace Parkway, you can explore parts of the route or its entire length—and you won’t miss any of your favorite discoveries along the way. The nearly 100 possible milepost stops are sorted into categories, so you can choose the places that interest you most. Plus, with information ranging from parkway rules and best safety practices to tips about when to travel, this guidebook is essential in planning the perfect trip for yourself, your friends, or your entire family. Those who wish to experience the terrain on foot, bicycle, or horseback will appreciate the practical advice and details on trail locations.

Whether you’re exploring a few miles or a few hundred, maximize your enjoyment with the full-color Guide to the Natchez Trace Parkway. There’s a visual delight at every turn.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781634042826
Publisher:	Menasha Ridge Press
Publication date:	02/11/2020
Series:	Nature's Scenic Drives
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	223,150
File size:	22 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Tim Jackson met Taryn while in a creative nonfiction MFA program in 2004, and they have been married since 2009. They live in Northwest Alabama—about 20 miles from the Natchez Trace Parkway—with their two dogs and a rabbit. Both are writers and editors who love to travel and explore. Both love music. They lived in the area of Asheville, North Carolina, for seven years before moving to Alabama in 2018.

Taryn Chase Jackson writes grant proposals for nonprofits but has also worked in universities, museums, and educational technology. Her writing has been published in Southern Living, The Roanoke Times, The Laurel of Asheville, New River Voice, Chautauquan Daily, and Guide to Phone Apps magazine. Tim and Taryn met at Goucher College where they both earned MFAs in Creative Nonfiction. This is their second co-writing effort. The first, Images of America: Weaverville, was a pictorial history of a North Carolina town near Asheville, released by Arcadia Publishing in September 2015. Taryn has also taught workshops on memoir writing and social media for small businesses. She enjoys singing with the Shoals Chamber Singers, making mixed media art, and shopping at estate sales.

Read an Excerpt

The historical riches, cultural avenues, and exploratory possibilities of the Natchez Trace Parkway are numerous. This park’s natural beauty doesn’t come from dramatic mountainous overlooks. Instead, you will find mostly flat terrain rendered in a balanced, subtle palette. In the spring, roadside stretches of clover, wildflowers, grassy fields, and dogwood blossoms wave. Summer is often crowned with pure blue skies and a healthy green, divided only by the yellow-striped roadway. In the fall, the soft, gray Spanish moss gives way to the russet of maples and oaks. In winter, the sturdy dark green of mature cedars takes on promising significance. The road alternately holds you in the close embrace of its shady refuge or shoots you into the light-filled pastures and croplands. This is a hypnotic environment, a soothing melody of forest and field.

The most famous period for this path was from around 1790 to 1820, when it served as one of the primary passageways through the southwest territory of what was then a relatively new country. Farmers, boatmen, diplomats, ladies, preachers, bandits, soldiers, murderers, and slaves tramped it to travel between Nashville, Tennessee, and Natchez, Mississippi. By 1800 it was also a United States postal route ridden on horseback by courageous men who risked their lives at breakneck speeds. But the Trace has been around for much, much longer than a mere two centuries.

Table of Contents

List of Mileposts by Category

Map Legend and Icon Key

Maps

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Overview

How to Use This Guide

Chapter One: Traveling Your Own Trace

Chapter Two: The Nuts and Bolts of Traveling the Trace

Chapter Three: The Many Ways to Travel the Trace

Chapter Four: A Chronology of the Natchez Trace

Chapter Five: Sight-seeing by Milepost

Resources

Appendixes