ROAD TRIP! Natchez Trace Parkway, Part 2, Tupelo to Natchez, MS
Channel: Southeastern Frontiers
Date: 2022-11-28

Part two of my drive down the Natchez Trace Parkway from Tupelo, MS to Natchez, MS with stops at view points and historic sites.

The Natchez Trace Parkway is a 444 mile (715 km) long scenic drive through the states of Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi.  It was established by the National Park Service in 1938 and besides scenic views, the parkway is loaded with thousands of years of history from the first Native American Indians to establish trade routes to the Gulf of Mexico to America’s westward expansion and the famous 19th Century Americans who traveled its paths.

For Part 2 of this road trip, my wife and I started just north of Tupelo, MS and headed south. Almost immediately, we stopped to see the sites the where large Chickasaw Indian villages once stood as Tupelo is in the heart of the Chickasaw ancestral homelands.  We also stopped in to see the Bynum mounds, which are a pair of 2000 year old Woodland Era Indian mounds in a beautiful park-like setting.

We had a picnic lunch at the Little Mountain at Jeff Busby.  This is one of the highest points in an otherwise topographically challenged Mississippi.

After driving across a long stretch of beautiful farmland, we reached the Tupelo-Baldcypress swamp, just north of Jackson, MS. Here we got out and explored a loop trail and managed to spot some alligators!

We then drove on through the Mississippi State Capital of Jackson, past the lower boundary of the Choctaw ancestral homelands, and stopped at the Rocky Springs campground area. Here, I hiked a mile long section of the Old Trace to get a feel for what this road would have been like for travelers of old.

After running out of daylight, we stopped for the night by exiting at about mile marker 20 and then on the 3rd day we visited the historic Mount Locust Stand, where we had a great tour. We followed this up by a stop at the amazing Emerald Mound, which unlike the older Indian mounds we have seen previously is of the 800 year old Mississippian Era and is the second largest mound of that type in the country.

Finally, we reached our destination at the Southern Terminus of the Natchez Trace in the beautiful town of Natchez, MS.

Natchez Trace Parkway info:  https://www.nps.gov/natr/index.htm
Natchez Trace Maps: http://npmaps.com/natchez-trace/

Equipment:
Camera: GoPro Hero8 Black: https://gopro.com/en/us/shop/cameras/hero8-black/CHDHX-801-master.html
DJI Mini 2 Drone: https://www.dji.com/mini-2
Car: 2018 Nissan Murano: https://www.caranddriver.com/nissan/murano-2018

Title card music by Lobo-Loco: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lobo_Loco/Welcome/Glueworm_Blues_ID_994
Background music by Lobo-Loco:
https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lobo_Loco/my-favorite-blues-country-compilation-remastered-1
* Work Wonders (ID 999)
* All Night Long (ID 775)
* Place on my Bonfire (ID 1170)
* Traveling to Louisiana (ID 1174)
* Speedy Delta (ID 917)
* You got my Horses (ID 1338)

#roadtrip 
#scenicdrives 
#waterfall 
#hike 
#historicalplace
#historicalplaces 

Chapters:
00:00 Intro and Start of Day 2
00:35 Map
02:20 Old Town and Chickasaw Village
05:58 Black Belt Farmland
06:37 Hernando De Soto
07:32 Bynum Mounds
09:19 Old Trace
10:37 Jeff Busby
12:11 Tupelo-Baldcypress Swamp
16:21 Rocky Spring
20:05 Sunken Trace
22:11 Start of Day 3
22:35 Locust Stand
28:45 Emerald Mound
32:29 Elizabeth Female Academy
33:34 Southern Terminus
34:22 Natchez, MS