August 2017
Far left: • Visitors can walk a section of the Old Trace at milepost 41.5 near Port Gibson. Called the Sunken Trace, its deep erosion is due to centuries of use by humans and animals, and the loess soil. NPS photo Left, from top: • Mount Locust, a farmhouse built in 1780, served as an inn for Trace travelers before the steamboat era. The site includes a cemetery where the plantation’s enslaved African American workers were buried. NPS photo • The Pharr Mounds site comprises eight mounds on 85 acres in Tishomingo County. NPS photo • Emerald Mound, located north of Natchez at milepost 10.3, was built by the Natchez Indians over the course of some 500 years, starting around 1200. NPS photo
educational programs tailored for all ages at the Tupelo Visitor Center, including school field trips. She encourages students’ “emotional and intellectual connections” with the parkway, thus helping to preserve and protect it for future generations. “There’s something more to it than a road, and there’s something special about why this road was put where it was,” Sander said. For more information, news and updates, visit the Natchez Trace Parkway on Facebook and at www.nps.gov. Download a visitor’s guide at www.ScenicTrace.com.
Below right: • The new interpretive exhibit at Chickasaw Village, located south of Tupelo, includes artwork and audio recordings describing the tribe’s history and daily life. A nature trail features plant species used by the Chickasaws.
The Natchez Trace Parkway ranks among the top 10 most-visited National Park Service sites in the country. In August 2016, the parkway attracted more than 536,000 visitors, up from 492,000 in August 2015, according to the National Park Service.
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