page_title: Historic roads and trails
section_title: United States
hierarchical_section_title: Historic roads and trails / North America / United States
caption_attribution_description: Sunken part of the Old Trace Photo by Jan Kronsell, 2002 Comment by Doncram, 31 March 2010: The location appears to be the "Sunken Trace" at milepost 41.5 on the Natchez Trace Parkway, as identified by National Park Service photo similar to Jan Kronsell's, available at http://www.nps.gov/natr/planyourvisit/natchez-to-jackson.htm as of 31 March 2010. The National Park Service site states the sunken trace is "caused by thousands of travelers walking over the easily eroded loess soil." Mileposts on the 414-mile Natchez Trace Parkway are numbered from zero at the southern terminus, in Natchez, Mississippi.
context_page_description: Historic roads are paths or routes that "have great historical importance or fame". Examples exist from prehistoric times until the early 20th century. They include ancient trackways, tracks, and roads that existed in "the period of history before the fall of the Western Roman Empire" in 476 AD. "The first roads were paths made by animals and later adapted by humans." Many historic routes, such as the Silk Road, the Amber Road, and the Royal Road of the Persian Empire, existed before the Christian era and covered great distances.
  The Post Track, a prehistoric causeway in the valley of the River Brue in the Somerset Levels, England, is one of the oldest known constructed trackways and dates from around 3838 BCE. The world's oldest known paved road was constructed in Egypt some time between 2600 and 2200 BC.
  The Romans were the most significant road builders of the ancient world. At the peak of the Roman Empire there were more than 400,000 kilometres of roads, of which over 80,000 kilometres were stone-paved. Another empire, that of the Incas of pre-Columbian South America, also built an extensive and advanced transportation system.
context_section_description: A complex system of prehistoric trails are located at Tumamoc Hill near Tucson, Arizona where archaeological traces have been found including petroglyphs, pottery shards and mortar holes. Chaco Canyon in northern New Mexico consists of fifteen major complexes and a system of trails. Timber beams used to construct the cliff dwellings were hauled long distances to the site along the trails. The sixty-mile long ancient Great Hopewell Road of the Adena, Hopewell and Fort Ancient cultures of Ohio connected the Newark Earthworks to the mound group at Chillicothe.
  The Natchez Trace, also known as the "Old Natchez Trace", is a historic forest trail within the United States which extends roughly 440 miles (710 km) from Natchez, Mississippi, to Nashville, Tennessee, linking the Cumberland, Tennessee, and Mississippi Rivers.
  The trail was created and used by Native Americans for centuries, and was later used by early European and American explorers, traders, and emigrants in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Today, the path is commemorated by the 444-mile (715 km) Natchez Trace Parkway and Bridge, which follow the approximate path of the Trace, as well as the related Natchez Trace Trail.  Parts of the original trail are still accessible and some segments are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  In the American Old West, the Oregon Trail was a 19th-century pioneer route from Illinois to Oregon. The Santa Fe Trail was a major commercial and military artery from Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
  In modern times, the Lincoln Highway (dedicated 1913) was the first road for the automobile across the United States of America, spanning 3389 miles coast-to-coast from New York City to San Francisco.
  The Mojave Road (also known as Mohave Trail) was a historical footpath and pack trail used by pre-contact desert-dwelling indigenous people that was later followed by Spanish missionaries, explorers, colonizers and settlers. Its course ran across the Mojave Desert between watering holes approximately 60 miles apart.
caption: Sunken stretch of the Natchez Trace
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