Natchez Trace Alabama Blog Articles

It won't be long until the leaves start turning colors. Fall foliage color along the northern half of the Natchez Trace Parkway (Tupelo, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee) is generally at or near its peak from mid-October to the first week of November. South of Tupelo to Natchez, MS fall colors usually arrive mid to late November.

Shown below is a slide-show of fall pictures taken during the 2008 and 2009 fall seasons from the northern terminus of the Trace south to the Tennessee River crossing in Alabama.


For additional fall pictures from 2008 and 2009 and...

The 444 mile-long Natchez Trace Parkway starts in Natchez, Mississippi and goes northeast through Mississippi, northwest Alabama and middle Tennessee before ending in Nashville, TN. There is quite a difference in climate from the southern terminus of the Trace at Natchez, MS (latitude 31.5) and the northern terminus at Nashville, TN (latitude 36.0).

NatchezTraceTravel.com has divided the Natchez Trace Parkway into fifteen geographic sections, each approximately 30 miles in length. The first nine sections are in Mississippi, one section in Alabama and the last five sections are located in Tennessee. Each section is named after nearby towns and cities.

We have written an article about...

This 33 mile section of the Natchez Trace Parkway travels through the northwest corner of Alabama from milepost 341.8 at the Tennessee-Alabama state line to milepost 308.9 at the Alabama-Mississippi state line.

Traveling south to north you will encounter several sites that are part of the Natchez Trace Parkway and are overseen by the National Park Service:

• Bear Creek
  A large, shady picnic area with several picnic tables and grills sits next to Bear Creek.
• Freedom Hills Overlook
  A steep, 1/4 mile paved trail takes you to the overlook.
• Buzzard Roost Spring
  Named Buzzard Roost in...

The Natchez Trace Parkway generally follows the route of the Old Natchez Road for 31 miles through the northwest corner of Alabama. Along the Alabama section of the Trace, the parkway offers 7 historical and/or natural attractions. During 2009 the most popular attractions along this section of the Natchez Trace Parkway were (ordered south to north along the parkway - mileposts start at zero in Natchez, MS):

• Colbert Ferry - milepost 327.3 (near Cherokee AL)
  George Colbert operated a ferry across the Tennessee River from 1800 to 1819. Today, a half-mile long bridge transports Natchez Trace travelers across the...

On November 21, 2009 the Charlotte Observer wrote an article about the Natchez Trace Parkway titled "The Southeast's other parkway", comparing it to the Blue Ridge Parkway:

"Unlike the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Natchez Trace is flat, uncrowded and snow-snarl free."

Click here to read the entire article.

Day 2 - Collinwood, TN to Northeast Mississippi and back

As mentioned in Day 1  we stayed at Miss Monetta's Country Cottage in Collinwood, TN last night and will be there tonight as well. We are using Collinwood as our home base to explore the Trace in Tennessee, Alabama and northeast Mississippi.

After breakfast at Chad's Family Restaurant in Collinwood we headed south on the Trace. Collinwood is located about 15 miles north of the Tennessee-Alabama stateline on the Natchez Trace Parkway. Just a few miles into Alabama and about...