Tennessee's Natchez Trace Parkway: A Road Trip From Natchez to Nashville

Tennessee’s Natchez Trace Parkway: A Road Trip From Natchez to Nashville

from The Most Scenic Drives in America | 217

16. Colbert Ferry
At Colbert Ferry the parkway crosses Pickwick Lake via the mile-long John Coffee Memorial Bridge. Well over a century before the bridge was built, the site’s namesake, a mixed-blood Chickasaw chief named George Colbert, operated an inn and ferry here for Natchez Trace travelers. A shrewd businessman, Colbert reportedly charged Major General Andrew Jackson $75,000 to ferry his troops across the Tennessee River on their return from the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. A section of the old trace leads past the site of Colbert’s house. At the north end of the bridge, near milepost 329, is a picnic area and a boat ramp.

17. Sunken Trace
Rather than following one unvarying line, the original Natchez Trace had paths that often shifted — the result of changes in terrain, weather, or the whims of Spanish Colonial rule. At Sunken Trace, located at a spot just nine miles beyond the Alabama-Tennessee border at milepost 350, visitors can spot three distinct trails, evidence that early travelers changed course at various times to skirt miring mudholes.

18. David Crockett State Park
Just past milepost 370, Rte. 64 leads eastward from the Natchez Trace to David Crockett State Park, named for the legendary Tennessee pioneer who died at the siege of the Alamo in 1836. (Despite the words of a popular song about the “king of the wild frontier,” he was known in his time as David, not Davy.) Crockett established a powder mill, gristmill, and distillery here on the bank of Shoal Creek in 1817; all were washed away by a flood in 1821. Today campers can catch a bass for supper on Lindsey Lake, and hikers on the park nature trail can pause to enjoy the delightful scene at Crockett Falls, a series of cascades on Shoal Creek. Back on the parkway continue to milepost 375, where an unpaved, forest-fringed section of the old trace — unsuitable for large trailers and recreational vehicles — climbs to a high ridgeline with fine views of the surrounding hills and valleys.

19. Meriwether Lewis Site
As the drive winds northward past the Buffalo River, keep an eye peeled for woodchucks, foxes, coyotes, and — where the road passes through fields and pastures — bluebirds perched on roadside fence wires. The Meriwether Lewis Site, at the junction with Rte. 20, is one of the region’s most popular recreation areas, with camping, hiking trails, and a section of the old trace leading down to Little Swan Creek. Lewis, co-leader of the historic Lewis and Clark expedition to the Pacific Northwest, was only 35 when he died of gunshot wounds at an inn here in 1809. Though believed to have been a suicide from the outset, murder and conspiracy theories have circulated since soon after his death. His gravesite is marked with a broken stone column, symbolic of a life cut short by tragedy.

20. Jackson Falls
At milepost 404 a precipitous trail descends from the parkway to the base of a waterfall on Jackson Branch, where springtime freshets create a shimmering silvery cascade that splashes down glistening dark rocks. The falls are named for Andrew Jackson, the renowned general who became the seventh president of the United States. At the parkway’s northern terminus in Nashville, you’ll find the Hermitage, Jackson’s white-columned home and the site of his tomb.

About 20 miles past the falls, the Natchez Trace reaches its highest point — 1,100 feet above sea level. This long ridge, the Tennessee Valley Divide, once marked the boundary between the United States and the Chickasaw Nation, its neighbor to the south.

21. Garrison Creek
Named for an army garrison that was established nearby in 1801, the parkway’s northernmost picnic site is the trailhead (at mile 427.6) for a 24 1/2-mile hiking and bridle path that meanders across the Tennessee highlands. The old trace was designated an official postal route at the beginning of the 19th century; as a result, army troops made improvements to the roadbed in this area — at mile 426.3, just over a mile to the south — to try to speed up the pace at which mail was delivered between Nashville and Natchez. Trusting that the mail carriers would know the shortest and easiest way and would provide companionship in case of danger, newcomers often accompanied these seasoned riders on their journeys. The post rider was adopted by the National Park Service as the official symbol of the Natchez Trace Parkway, and today you’ll find the silhouette of a horse and rider adorns the signposts along the entire route, a recurring reminder of the roadway’s frontier heritage.