Natchez Trace Parkway: Tupelo to Natchez

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Tupelo

   Tupelo is where the Natchez Trace Parkway keeps its headquarters, and it is a fitting place to begin or end a day on that road. The Trace itself is older than any highway in the country, a path worn into the earth by bison, then by the Chickasaw and Choctaw, then by boatmen who floated cargo down the Mississippi to Natchez and walked home through the woods. The modern parkway follows that line for 444 miles to Nashville, a ribbon of smooth asphalt with no trucks, no billboards, no traffic lights and a speed limit of 50 miles an hour that rangers take seriously.

   Read the complete Tupelo write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Tupelo is where the day begins. Next is French Camp.

2. 2. French Camp

   French Camp is a tiny settlement on the Natchez Trace Parkway in central Mississippi, and it holds more history than its size suggests. In the early nineteenth century, a French-Canadian named Louis LeFleur established a stand here, a place where travellers on the old Trace could find a meal and a bed, and the community took its name from him. The site lay in Choctaw country, and LeFleur's family had Choctaw connections, which made the place a meeting point between peoples. Later, in 1822, a school was founded at French Camp, and it grew into a boarding academy that still operates today.

   Read the complete French Camp write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   French Camp comes up about 316 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jackson Mississippi.

3. 3. Jackson Mississippi

   Jackson, the state capital of Mississippi and a city of nearly two hundred thousand people, sits on the Pearl River, and the Natchez Trace Parkway skirts it along the shore of the Ross Barnett Reservoir, a big artificial lake to the north and east. It is a southern city of broad avenues, heavy heat and deep history, and it is not an obvious tourist destination, but it rewards a curious visitor. The state capitol, a grand building finished in 1903 with a copper dome, is a good place to start, and it still stands over the downtown.

   Read the complete Jackson Mississippi write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 651 km into the recorded legs you reach Jackson Mississippi. Next is Natchez.

4. 4. Natchez

   Natchez sits on a high bluff above the Mississippi, the southern end of the long, gentle ribbon that is the Natchez Trace Parkway. About fifteen thousand people live in town now, but in the decades before the Civil War it was among the richest places in the country, home to cotton planters whose mansions still stand along the quiet streets. Many of those houses are open to visitors, and the old river landing at Natchez Under-the-Hill, once a rowdy port, sits below the bluff with a view of the huge brown river and the bridge to Louisiana.

   Read the complete Natchez write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Natchez closes the day.