Fall Along the Natchez Trace
From Bert’s book on the Natchez Trace, available either from us or from American Geographic. (A modified version appeared in Airstream Life magazine.)
Natchez Trace
©Stretching from historic Natchez, Mississippi, to Nashville, Tennessee, is a highway that parallels an old trail, a trail which once was a major thoroughfare for an emerging nation. Stepping from a pull-out on the modern highway, we walked down a short path that ended where the much older trail began. Spanish moss on the trees above drooped over this pathway, while along the ground lay dense carpets of darkening leaves. Deeply eroded, the trail appeared ancient. Here ran the old Natchez Trace highway, a trail of sublime beauty that once had seen the passage of Meriwether Lewis, Andrew Jackson, Aaron Burr… as well as countless others, whose faces remain nameless. Fate smiled kindly on many of these travelers, but not all. One black night Lewis was mortally and mysteriously wounded.
The Old Natchez Trace harbors many serets, and we took a few more steps, to learn about the lives of those who had preceded us and to absorb the path’s pristine beauty…
The Trace is well known for its fishing, antebellum homes, alligators, bicycling and for its superb scenery. Our book will help you to better enjoy your travels; it will reveal some of the wonders we discovered after we took those first tentative steps. Illustrated with many color photographs, the book is available from the National Park Service in Tupelo, Mississippi–or from us.
