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Picnic tables available Natchez Trace Hiking Trails

Old Trace
Natchez Trace

Old Trace is located on the Natchez Trace Parkway at milepost 426.3.

The U.S. Army cleared this section of the "Natchez Road" in 1801-02 and continued clearing southward with the consent of the Chickasaw Nation.

This is the northernmost intersection of the old "Natchez Road" and the new "Natchez Trace Parkway". Heading north, the old path lies east of the modern parkway as it headed towards what is now downtown Nashville. The new roadway goes a little west towards the southwest corner of Nashville.

This dirt path running along the ridge is a remnant of the original Natchez Trace. In the early 1800s it was the most direct route northward from the port of Natchez on the Mississippi to Nashville. In between were 500 miles of wilderness.

Boatmen, mail riders, traders, soldiers, Indians and outlaws passed here. On horseback and on foot - later with wagons - they followed the serpentine trail into the deep woods of Indian country. By the mid-1800s cross country travelers turned to other means of transportation - steamboats, railroads and roads connecting developing towns. As the wilderness began to fade, so did the old wilderness road. Today only pieces of the Old Trace remain.


Locator Map for Old Trace and other Natchez Trace points of interest!
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Natchez Trace in Tennessee

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Biking the Trace

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