Traveling the Trace: A Complete Tour Guide to the Historic Natchez Trace from Nashville to Natchez

Copyright © 1995 by Cathy and Vernon Summerlin

All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotations in critical reviews and articles.

Published by Rutledge Hill Press, a Thomas Nelson Company, P. O. Box 141000, Nashville, Tennessee 37214.

Typography by D&T/Bailey Typesetting, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee

Design and map by Bruce Gore, Gore Studio, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee

Mile markers on map are approximate.

Photograph Credits

© Bryan Curtis

(© Robin Hood), (© David Wright), (© David Wright), (© 1992 Bob Schatz) courtesy of Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau.

© Dana Hickman.

courtesy of Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association.

courtesy of Tupelo Convention and Visitors Bureau.

courtesy of Starkville Visitors and Convention Council.

courtesy of Kosciusko-Attala Chamber of Commerce, © Branning Photography.

courtesy of Canton Convention and Visitors Bureau.

(© Kathleen McClure), (Mississippi Archives and History), (© Kathleen McClure), (© Kathleen McClure) courtesy of MetroJackson Convention and Visitors Bureau.

courtesy of Monmouth Plantation.

All other photographs are by the authors.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Summerlin, Cathy, 1953–

Traveling the trace / Cathy and Vernon Summerlin.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 1-55853-340-0 (paperback)

1. Natchez Trace—Guidebooks. 2. Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail— Guidebooks. I. Summerlin, Vernon, 1943– . II. Title.

F217.N37S86 1995

917.62—dc20

95-3793

CIP

3 4 5 6 7 8 — 05 04 03 02 01 00

Information about External Hyperlinks in this ebook

Please note that footnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication.

To our mothers, Bobbie McAllister and Georgia Summerlin

To my mom, who showed me the joys of traveling our mountain backroads as a child and for her boundless love and understanding.

A special remembrance for my grandmother who was always ready to grab her purse and go anytime we were going anywhere.

They taught me to seek the next horizon.

CSS

To Mom, who taught me the love and value of books, and for her encouragement and compassion.

A special remembrance of Dad for taking on the most difficult task of trying to prepare me for life, and instilling the thoughts that personal honor and integrity are life’s greatest goals.

VSS

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1 Natchez Trace Interpretive Markers

2 Nashville: Athens of the South and Music City USA

3 Franklin: Where Past and Present Converge

4 Leipers Fork: Small Town, Big Heart

5 Loop Tour I: Columbia/Lawrenceburg/Waynesboro/

Hohenwald/Centerville/Lyles

6 Loop Tour II: Savannah/Crump/Shiloh/Pickwick

Landing/Iuka

7 Alabama: Sampling the Shoals

8 Tupelo: The Place to Go

9 Loop Tour III: New Albany/Pontotoc/Houston

10 Starkville: Stop along the Road Less Traveled

11 Jeff Busby and French Camp: Two for the Road

12 Kosciusko: Treasure of the Trace

13 Canton: Flea Markets and More

14 Madison: Hometown, Mississippi

15 Jackson: From Chimneyville to the Bold New City

16 Vicksburg: The South’s Friendliest River Town

17 Loop Tour IV: Port Gibson/Grand Gulf Park/Lorman/

Fayette/Church Hill

18 Natchez: Mississippi’s First City

19 Tennessee Outdoor Recreation

20 Alabama Outdoor Recreation

21 Mississippi Outdoor Recreation

22 Tips for Bicyclists

Index

Acknowledgments

We thank all those who opened the doors of their homes and businesses to us, graciously sharing their time and knowledge and providing the information we needed for this book.

Special thanks to the Natchez Trace Parkway unit of the National Park Service for answering our questions and supplying the materials essential to portray accurately the many facets of the Trace. Of the many helpful souls we encountered, we want to mention the special help we received from Assistant Superintendent Don Thompson, Superintendent Dan Brown, and Chief of Interpretation and Visitor Services Sara Amy Leach at the Tupelo Headquarters, and ranger Eric Chamberlain for sharing his unique perspective on Mount Locust.

In our travels we have met several people who stand out in their professions. As we traveled the Trace, we found many people who were eager to share their knowledge with us. We want especially to acknowledge Susann Hamlin of North Alabama Mountain Lakes Association, Lenore Barkley of Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Willa Sanders of Kosciusko-Attala Chamber of Commerce.

Mary Current, with Jackson’s Convention and Visitors Bureau, was a wonderful and exuberant source of information, as were Ann Mohon in Natchez and Cindy Ford-Sanders in Nashville.

Special gratitude to Kathie German for keeping the home fires burning while we were on the road, and to Dana Hickman, Margaret Kyser, and Libby Oldfield for their patience and support.

We appreciate Judy Butler Criss for sharing her love and extensive knowledge of antiques, and to friends from Middle Tennessee State University’s Historic Preservation Department for introducing us to the mystery of history.

Thanks to Ron Pitkin and Larry Stone of Rutledge Hill Press for their faith in our book and to our editor, Amy Lyles Wilson.

Introduction

When we first set out to travel the Natchez Trace Parkway, one fine autumn day in 1991, we were immediately drawn both to its beauty and history. The Natchez Trace led us down the dusty roads of time to glimpse cultures ranging from prehistoric to Reconstruction, urban to rural, antebellum to modern. During that first trip, stopping to read the interpretative markers, we began to see a land spreading out before us much as it did when the Chickasaw used the Trace on the way to hunting grounds in Middle Tennessee.

Then we learned about the postriders who maintained communication between the last outpost of the United States at the western frontier town of Nashville, and the sophisticated river town of Natchez with its vestiges of French, Spanish, British, and finally American settlement.

Cathy and Vernon Summerlin in front of the Natchez Trace Parkway entrance.

At Natchez and Nashville, Andrew Jackson and Rachel Donelson Robards met and began a love affair that would stretch through the years to become interwoven with the history of our young nation. Andrew Jackson traveled this road many times: coming home to Nashville with his young bride; completing negotiations with the Indians to open lands for expansion of settlement into the Southwest; and returning in triumph after the Battle of New Orleans.

Thieves and murderers also traveled the Trace, terrorizing hapless travelers as they returned overland from the markets at Natchez and New Orleans. With the arrival of the steam engine, the boisterous road settled peacefully into well-worn ruts awaiting rediscovery.

That was the Old Trace. As you travel the Trace today, slipping into those other times, you can easily forget that today’s communities lie just beyond the trees sheltering the parkway from their presence. All the sites we describe are within 30 miles of the Natchez Trace, and each has something unique to offer travelers. We hope you will take time to visit, because you will be rewarded with some memorable experiences and beautiful sights.

In this book we bring you the very best the communities along the Natchez Trace Parkway have to offer in the way of museums, antiques malls, state parks, bed and breakfasts, restaurants, specialty shopping, and outdoor recreation. Nashville offers music from country to classical, bluegrass to blues. Jackson, Mississippi, has wonderful family museums and parks. Learn about Vicksburg’s history while taking up blackjack. Rest your head in delightful bed and breakfasts in Natchez.

Several communities are joined here in what we call loop tours. For example, in northeast Alabama you can visit the homes of Helen Keller and W. C. Handy, visit Mrs. Rosenbaum in her Frank Lloyd Wright home, record your own version of a Roy Orbison hit, eat crêpes for breakfast in your own private dining room at a Victorian bed and breakfast, and see tiny creatures that glow in the dark at the bottom of an ancient canyon.

Or perhaps you’d rather travel to the Tennessee corridor and sample great country barbecue while you listen to some music in a small old-time picking parlor, then travel to several antiques malls and specialty shops in a historic town that was the site of a major Civil War battle. How about having dinner on a riverboat, or a train, or overlooking the Mississippi? Visit an antiquarian bookstore, view a galaxy, meet a rising country-music star, or watch a touring Broadway production. Want to see a Picasso, bring a mule to market, or learn to weave baskets? Within these pages you’ll find these experiences and many, many more.

The first chapter consists of the interpretive markers placed by the National Park Service at points of interest along the Natchez Trace Parkway. The subsequent chapters take you from Nashville to Natchez as the postriders did nearly two hundred years ago.

Each chapter begins with directions from the parkway to the community, followed by a brief history of the area. A narrative recounts the sites we recommend visiting. Places in boldface are those that we found to be exceptional in one way or another. At the end of each chapter are lists of places to eat, sleep, shop, and have fun. We have provided sources for additional information; we urge you to contact them for brochures and maps. Three special sections concentrate on outdoor recreation, and the closing chapter offers brief information of interest to cyclists traveling the Trace.

Whether you drive a car, bring your camper, ride a horse, float a canoe, or pedal your bike, we hope you’ll be as enchanted with these national treasures as we are and return often to visit.

Although we tried to be as thorough as possible in our coverage of the Trace, we feel sure that we missed some noteworthy spots along the way. And we weren’t able to include every place we toured—part of the fun is exploring and discovering on your own. So if you see a back road that strikes your fancy, take it!

Traveling the Trace

1 Natchez Trace

Interpretive Markers

The following information comes from the large wooden signs and other interpretive markers erected by the National Park Service. (Note: Signs and markers along the Trace are updated and revised as necessary. The information here reflects the signs and markers as they appeared in 1994, with slight changes for clarity.)

For tourist information about the Natchez Trace Parkway, call 1-800- 305-7417 or 601-680-4025.

The Gordon House—Construction of the house began in 1817 and was completed in 1818. John Gordon operated a ferry across the nearby Duck River until his death in 1819.

407.7 GORDON HOUSE/FERRY SITE One of the few remaining buildings associated with the Old Natchez Trace, this was the home of ferry operator John Gordon. In the early 1800s, Indian scout Gordon made an agreement with the Chickasaw chief George Colbert to operate a trading post and ferry on the Duck River. Military expeditions with Gen. Andrew Jackson kept Gordon away from home much of the time. His wife, Dorothea, supervised construction of the present house in 1817–18. John Gordon died shortly after its completion, but Mrs. Gordon lived here until her death in 1859.

Old Natchez Trace: The 500-mile-long Natchez Trace of the early 1800s, then known as Natchez Road, connected Nashville on the Cumberland River with Natchez on the Mississippi River. This historic wilderness road crossed the Duck River one-quarter mile south of here.

In 1800, stream crossings were critical to the operation of the Natchez Trace. Small trees would bridge small streams, but rivers were greater barriers. Large-scale bridge-building wasn’t practical in the wilderness, and rivers like this could be forded only during dry periods. A ferry was the best solution. John Gordon opened a ferry here in 1803, sharing the profits with Chickasaw chief George Colbert, who by treaty controlled ferries on Indian land. Gordon’s ferry crossed the Duck River for more than ninety years, until the opening of a bridge in 1896.

Baker Bluff—A 2,100-foot trail leads from the scenic overlook to Jackson Falls.

A ten-minute walk beginning at the Gordon House leads to a section of the original Natchez Trace and the Duck River Ferry site.

405.1 BAKER BLUFF The Family Farm Working in Harmony with the Environment. The plaque is a depiction of what you see from the bluff of farm land, river, and fields. A trail leads from Baker Bluff to Jackson Falls.

404.7 JACKSON FALLS A steep trail nine hundred feet long takes you to a clear pool at the base of these falls.

Duck River Overlook: A gentle one-fourth-mile trail leads to a viewpoint three hundred feet (thirty stories) above the Duck River. (The overlook is north from the sign. Waterfall trail is a concrete sidewalk.)

Jackson Falls—The trail descends nine hundred feet to the base of the cool cascade.

Jackson Branch: A stolen stream. This trail descends to Jackson Falls, a beautifully sculptured cascade that seems ageless. For thousands of years before the falls existed Jackson Branch flowed into this high valley isolated from the Duck River below. Then in a classic case of stream piracy, the Duck River captured Jackson Branch. The flooding river and other erosional agents wore away at the bluffs, cutting a new channel through faults in the rock. At the site of Jackson Falls the diverted stream slips down into the Duck River Valley abandoning its former course.

403.7 OLD TRACE WALK Preserved here is a 2,000-foot-long section of the old original Natchez Trace, which follows a ridge 300 feet above the Duck River. A ten- to fifteen-minute stroll will take you to the end of the trail and back and provide a change of pace from driving. As you walk the Old Trace, imagine the ordeal of the 1800s travelers who had to make 20 to 30 miles a day on foot or on horseback.

401.4 TOBACCO FARM You see here a typical early 1900s tobacco farm. A ten-minute loop walk takes you through a field to the barn where you see tobacco hanging to dry.

Old Trace: From here you may drive north on a narrow two-mile section of the old original Natchez Trace and meet the parkway on the other end. Your slower pace may take you back in time and let you enjoy views of the valley below .

400.2 SHEBOSS STAND Travel on the Natchez Trace was an adventure in the early 1800s. The 500-mile Trace transversed a sprawling wilderness where only Indians, outlaws, and wild animals were at home. Travelers needed a place to find food, supplies, and shelter. At government request the Chickasaw tribe permitted an establishment of inns or stands at one-day intervals through their lands, but only if Indians were the proprietors. One such stand, known as Sheboss, operated near here although the exact location is unknown.

Tobacco Farm—Tobacco is one of the few cash crops suited to the smaller homesteads that were once typical of much of this section of Middle Tennessee.

A widow Cranfield operated an inn here with her second husband, an Indian who spoke little English. According to legend, when travelers approached with questions about accommodations he would only point to his wife and say, She boss.

397.3 OLD TRACE/LANDS OF THE CHICKASAW Before 1805 the Chickasaw owned all the land in this vicinity. Only the Natchez Trace, part of which remains here, made inroads into tribal territory. When the Indians ceded the land to the United States in the early 1800s the Natchez Trace became a boundary. The land behind you became government property under the 1805 treaty. In 1816 the tribe ceded a much larger tract including the land in front of you. Eventually the Chickasaw left their homeland. In 1837 the government removed them to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma over the tragic Trail of Tears. Despite the dissolution of their lands, the Chickasaw evolved a unique culture based on the American model. As hunting ranges shrank and the Chickasaw became farmers, they established their own schools, courts, and legislature.

During the Civil War the tribe joined the Confederacy. Tishomingo was the last of the Chickasaw war chiefs. Winchester Colbert was a mixed-blood governor of the Chickasaw Nation.

392.5 SWAN VALLEY OVERLOOK From here you can see the water tower in Hohenwald, the highest town between New Orleans and Chicago. This is a grand vista.

392.0 FALL HOLLOW WATERFALL No interpretive marker but a path leads to an overlook of the waterfall and a steep trail takes you to the bottom of the falls.

390.7 PHOSPHATE MINE From here north for approximately 40 miles the parkway passes through or near a geologic region of limestone rich in phosphate deposits. Abandoned mine shafts and limestone ledges on both sides of the parkway in this immediate area are silent reminders of mining activity. A five-minute walk to your right leads to an abandoned railroad bed and a collapsed mine shaft in a limestone outcrop.

Swan Valley—The rolling Tennessee countryside presents a seasonal show at the Swan Valley Overlook.

Fall Hollow—A steep 630-foot trail leads to the waterfall overlook at Falls Branch.

385.9 MERIWETHER LEWIS/1774 TO 1809 Beneath this monument erected under the legislative act by the state of Tennessee, A.D. 1848, reposes the dust of Meriwether Lewis, captain in the U.S. Army, private secretary to President Jefferson, senior commander of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and governor of the Territory of Louisiana.

In the Grinder House, the ruins of which are still discernible 230 yards south of this spot, Lewis’s life of romantic endeavor and lasting achievement came tragically and mysteriously to its close on the night of October 11, 1809. The report of the committee appointed to carry out the provisions of the Monument Act contained these significant statements: Great care was taken to identify the grave. George Nixon, Esq., an old surveyor, had become very early acquainted with the locality. He pointed out the place; but to make assurance doubly sure the grave was reopened and the upper portion of his skeleton examined and such evidence found as to leave no doubt this was the place of interment.

Plainly visible though long deserted, here is a section of the Natchez Trace that evolved from buffalo and Indian trails into the first national highway of the Southwest. Cut and opened under authority of the U.S. government after treaties negotiated with the Chickasaw and Choctaw in 1801 and designed to meet early necessities of trade between Nashville and the country of the lower Mississippi, it is an abiding footprint of the bold, crude commerce of the pioneers. Yet it is not without military significance in the history of our country. Over it passed part of the Andrew Jackson army in his campaign against the Creek Indians in 1813 and again on his return from the battlefield of New Orleans in 1815. But before Talladega and New Orleans—before the soldiers of Jackson had given renown to the Natchez Trace—it received its immortal touch of melancholy fame when Meriwether Lewis, journeying over it on his way to Philadelphia to edit the story of his great expedition, met here his untimely death on the night of October 11, 1809.

Grinder House: Site and ruins of the Grinder House in which Meriwether Lewis met his death on the night of October 11, 1809.

Meriwether Lewis Monument—The broken column symbolizes Lewis’s untimely death while traveling from St. Louis to Washington. The circumstances of his death continue to generate controversy.

Grinder House—Many believe Meriwether Lewis committed suicide while staying overnight at the Grinder House, while others remain convinced of foul play. Today the Grinder House contains interesting exhibits. The 2.3-mile Little Swan Trail is near the campground.

Metal Ford—Once the site of a natural crossing for the Buffalo River, Metal Ford is presently a favorite put-in for canoeists on the Buffalo.

Inside the Grinder House are exhibits depicting the significance of the Trace through its history and its chronology beginning in 1765, including the creation of the parkway in 1938 by an act of Congress.

382.8 METAL FORD STEELE’S IRONWORKS. Here, about 1820, stood a charcoal-burning furnace used to manufacture pig iron. All that remains of this pioneer enterprise are the slag pile and the evidence of a millrace used to bring water from the Buffalo River to operate the furnace’s air blasting machinery.

On the banks of the Buffalo River is another plaque that reads, A five-minute stroll beyond Metal Ford leads you beside the Buffalo River to the McLish stand exhibit and then back to this point by way of the historic mill trace.

381.8 NAPIER MINE Just a few feet to your left was an open pit mine that provided most of the ore for the nearby iron-making operations. John Catron, circa 1786 to 1865, was a principal promoter of the activities here in the 1820s and 1830s. Catron later became the associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The mine took its name from Catron’s predecessors, the Napiers.

Napier Mine—Napier Mine was in operation for nearly one hundred years and produced some of the highest grade iron ore in the area.

377.8 JACK’S BRANCH RANCH Picnic area with restrooms, no marker.

375.8 OLD TRACE DRIVE One way to north, 2 1 . 2 miles with overlooks.

Not for travel trailers!

367.3 DOGWOOD MUDHOLE A mile to the south, the Old Natchez Trace crossed a depression in the flat, dogwood-covered ridge. After heavy rains it became almost impassable for wagons. Its name, Dogwood Mudhole, recalls the ordeals of frontier travel. It shows too, how place names arising from local conditions of long ago are carried down through the years.

365.1 AND 364.5 GLENROCK PICNIC AREA These trails lead to picnic sites by the stream below. They continue along the stream to Glenrock Branch Area on the parkway two-thirds of a mile to the south.

363.0 SWEETWATER BRANCH This small branch receives its name from the clean and fresh or sweet flavor of its water. Thousands of years of erosion and flooding have gradually built up the fertile bottom lands you see under cultivation near here. The branch is still carving and shaping the valley. You may follow the struggle of trees and other vegetation to gain a hold in the shallow rocky soil of the bottom in a fifteen-minute stroll along the nature trail.

Jack’s Branch—A grove of hardwoods shades the picnic area beside the stream at Jack’s Branch.

352.9 MCGLAMERY STAND In frontier language a stand was an inn or a trading post, sometimes both, and usually located on a well-traveled route. Such a place was established on the Old Natchez Trace near here in 1849 by John McGlamery. Although the stand did not outlast the Civil War, the name did. The nearest village is known as McGlamery’s Stand.

350.5 SUNKEN TRACE This early interstate road-building venture produced a snake-infested, mosquito-beset, robber-haunted, Indian-pestered forest path. Lamented by the pious, cussed by the impious, it tried everyone’s strength and patience. When the trail became so waterlogged that wagons could not be pulled through, travelers cut new paths through the nearby woods. Here you see three cuts made to avoid mud into which oxcarts and wagons sank, making progress slow, dangerous, and sometimes even impossible.

Old Trace Drive—A one-way narrow, paved road leads travelers along a section of the Old Trace.

Dogwoods are among the earliest harbingers of spring, blooming from March to May.

Fields of goldenrod greet fall travelers along the Natchez Trace.

346.2 HOLLY Picnic area, no markers.

343.5 CYPRESS CREEK Picnic area, no markers.

341.8 ALABAMA STATE LINE In 1663 King Charles II of England granted the colony of Carolina all land between thirty-one and thirty-six degrees north latitude from the Atlantic Ocean west in a direct line as far as the South Seas. The separation of North and South Carolina fixed the boundary between them at thirty-five degrees in 1735. North Carolina’s release of land claims west of the Appalachian Mountains permitted establishment of the state of Tennessee with the same southern boundary. John Coffee, one of Andrew Jackson’s generals at the Battle of New Orleans, supervised the surveys of the line between 1817 and 1822.

330.2 ROCK SPRING A nature trail offers you an opportunity to explore a small natural spring as it bubbles forth from the ground. Small fish dart about in the deep pools created as the stream wanders through the rich bottomland soil and limestone rock. Vegetation and trees change as you move through an abandoned field past the stream into a rocky hillside. After completing the twenty-minute walk you may decide to pull off your shoes and dangle your feet in the swift cool water.

The trails and stepping stones in the area lead you across Colbert Creek past Rock Spring and through the woodlands. Since 1977 numerous beaver dams have been built, then abandoned, by the beaver or destroyed by high water. Walk the trails and enjoy a changing environment of this once free-flowing, spring-fed stream.

327.3 COLBERT’S STAND George Colbert operated a ferry across the Tennessee River from 1800 to 1819. His stand, or inn, offered travelers a warm meal and shelter during their journey on the Old Trace. Colbert looked after his own well-being and once charged Andrew Jackson $75,000 to ferry his Tennessee army across the river. The site of his stand is a short fifty yards up the path. An additional twenty-minute stroll will take you along the Old Trace to the bluff overlook and back.

Pickwick Lake, an impoundment of the Tennessee River near the site of Colbert’s Stand, is known for small-mouth bass.

Shrewd, talented, and wicked thus a traveling preacher characterized George Colbert, the half-Scot half-Chickasaw chief who operated a stand here between 1801 and 1820. But for more than thirty years he helped negotiate with the United States for Chickasaw rights as the tide of settlement advanced from the east. His successful farm showed his people the way of the future. The short path will take you to the site of his stand and along the remnants of the Old Trace that it served.

Wilderness Haven: After a venison supper, one guest at Colbert’s Stand spent the night in an outbuilding with not less than fifty Indians, many of them drunk. Here, and in about twenty other stands along the Trace, Kaintucks (men from Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Tennessee who brought their wares to Natchez via the river), money-laden businessmen, Indians, and outlaws shared