Seven segments of the historic

Natchez Trace The Natchez Trace, also known as the Old Natchez Trace, is a historic forest trail within the United States which extends roughly from Nashville, Tennessee, to Natchez, Mississippi, linking the Cumberland River, Cumberland, Tennessee River, ...

are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

(NRHP). Also there are additional NRHP-listed structures and other sites along the Natchez Trace, which served the travelers of the trace and survive from the era of its active use.

Segments

One segment within Tennessee is named simply "Old Natchez Trace". Additionally, several segments in

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

and

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

are listed with the name "Old Natchez Trace", followed by a secondary identifier in parentheses or by an additional name. These listings are:

Old Natchez Trace in Tennessee

The Old Natchez Trace in Tennessee, is a large length of the Natchez Trace spanning several counties of Tennessee. It is listed on the National Register under the name ''Old Natchez Trace''. The NRHP-listed linear district follows one route of the old Natchez Trace, but does not include other branches. For example, at

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

in Franklin, Tennessee, a different branch crossed Brown's Creek. The counties spanned by the listing are:

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

, Hickman, Wayne, Williamson,

Lewis Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * " Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohe ...

, Davidson, and

Maury County, Tennessee Maury County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee, in the Middle Tennessee region. As of the 2020 census, the population was 100,974. Its county seat is Columbia. Maury County is part of the Nashville-Davidson– Murfreesb ...

Old Natchez Trace (132-3T)

Old Natchez Trace (132-3T), located northeast of

Port Gibson Port Gibson is a city and the county seat of Claiborne County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,567 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is bordered on the west by the Mississippi River. The first European settlers i ...

Claiborne County, Mississippi Claiborne County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,135. Its county seat is Port Gibson. The county is named after William Claiborne, the second governor of the Mississippi Territ ...

, about 0.7 miles north of the Mangum Mound Site at milepost 45.7. The site is also known as the Grindstone Ford. It is an original segment of the

. (prepared September 9, 1974; received March 25, 1976; entered November 7, 1976) and According to history of Claiborne County, the name comes from "iron stone rock found especially suitable for mill stones. An early traveler on crossing the bayou over this ford spoke of his joy at hearing the heels of his horse ringing on the broad rocky pavement when ascending the bank of this stream from the water after passing more than two years in the stoneless soil of this region." & Mrs. Humphreys, mother of future Confederate general and Reconstruction-era governor

Benjamin Grubb Humphreys Benjamin Grubb Humphreys (August 26, 1808December 20, 1882) was an American politician from Mississippi. He was a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and served as Governor of Mississippi from 1865 to 1868, durin ...

, settled at Grindstone Ford in 1786. The British traveler Francis Bailey described it in his journal of 1797, "...about sundown got to Grindstone Ford. This is the principal branch of the Bayou Pierre, and is situated about fifty or sixty miles from its mouth. The settlements about are not very numerous. There was formerly a mill built across the stream ; but, owing to a curious circumstance, this has shared the fate of all other water-mills in the country: for it must be observed that there are a great many crayfish hereabouts, and these animals undermine all the dams which have ever been built, and soon make a vent for the water, which terminates in the total destruction of the dam. This place is situated about sixty miles from Natchez, and is the most northern frontier settlement in the district. From this place, then, we have to date our departure into the wilderness; and here we have to bid adieu to all marks of civilization till we arrive at the borders of the

Cumberland river The Cumberland River is a major waterway of the Southern United States. The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 8, 2011 river drains almost of southern Kentucky and ...

, in the state of Tennessee, a distance of about six hundred miles." There was post office at Grindstone Ford, initially minded by Daniel Burnett, beginning in 1815. According to Dr. James F. McCaleb writing in 1915, "During the threatened outbreak of the Choctaw and Creek Indians in 1813, the frontier committee erected the Grindstone Ford Fort near Willow Springs, Claiborne county, and the Mississippi panic of 1813 caused by the massacre of Fort Miner hurried the erection of block houses in the Natchez District. The Grindstone Fort became the property of George Lemon who converted it into a ball room in connection with his tavern sometimes called up to 1872, the Lemon Hotel. This fort or ball room had the port holes up to the time it was removed for outer buildings on the farm of J. H. Nelson, but its foundations can still be seen..." Grindstone Ford Battle of Port Gibson Vicksburg Campaign 1863 Bayou Pierre Mississippi photographed circa 1938

Grindstone Ford Battle of Port Gibson Vicksburg Campaign 1863 Bayou Pierre Mississippi photographed circa 1938

The presence of the Natchez Road figured in the May 1, 1863

Battle of Port Gibson The Battle of Port Gibson (May 1, 1863) was fought between a Union Army commanded by Major General Ulysses S. Grant and a reinforced Confederate States Army division led by Major General John S. Bowen. Though the outnumbered Confederate soldiers f ...

. In that battle, Union forces under General

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...

's command, having crossed from the Louisiana side of the Mississippi, below Vicksburg, fought their way through a determined resistance by Confederate forces which at first bottled them up. The Natchez Road was not located by the Union forces early in the battle. Confederate General Bowen was concerned throughout the day's battle that Union forces would locate the Natchez Road and march directly upon

, around Bowen's flank. Bowen committed forces to attack the much larger Union forces in order to prevent them from finding it. Eventually increasing numbers of Union troops threatened to overwhelm the Confederate forces and retreat was ordered, apparently without any flanking action along the Natchez Road taking place. The Union troops occupied Port Gibson on May 2.

Old Natchez Trace (170-30)

Old Natchez Trace (170-30), a area listed in 1976. It preserves two separate remnants of the old Trace near milepost 104.5 and includes the site of Brashears' Stand, an inn operated by Turner Brashears from 1806 on. and It is located just outside the eastern city limits of

Ridgeland, Mississippi Ridgeland is a city in Madison County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 24,340 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Jackson metropolitan area. History In 1805, the Choctaw Indian Agency, headed by Silas Dinsmoor, was located ...

. After 1850 it was known as King's Inn.

Old Natchez Trace (212-3K 213-3K)

Old Natchez Trace (212-3K 213-3K), located northeast of Kosciusko in

Attala County, Mississippi Attala County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,889. Its county seat is Kosciusko. Attala County is named for Atala, a fictional Native American heroine from an early-19th-c ...

, near milepost 174.

Old Natchez Trace (230-3H)

Old Natchez Trace (230-3H), located southwest of Mathiston in

Choctaw County, Mississippi Choctaw County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,246. Its northern border is the Big Black River, which flows southwest into the Mississippi River south of V ...

, near milepost 199. It is located south of Mathiston at

Natchez Trace Parkway The Natchez Trace Parkway is a limited-access national parkway in the Southeastern United States that commemorates the historic Natchez Trace and preserves sections of that original trail. Its central feature is a two-lane road that extends 44 ...

milepost 198. It is a segment of the

located at a

interpretive stop., National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form for Federal Properties, prepared October 1, 1974; received March 25, 1976; entered November 7, 1976

Old Natchez Trace (310-2A)

Old Natchez Trace (310-2A), a area listed in 1976 located 15 miles northwest of

Florence, Alabama Florence is a city in, and the county seat of, Lauderdale County, Alabama, Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States, in the state's northwestern corner, and had a population of 40,184 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Florence is l ...

, off

Alabama State Route 20 State Route 20 (SR 20) is a state highway in the northern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. It travels from the Tennessee state line, where it continues as Tennessee State Route 69, northwest of Florence, east to Interstate ...

near milepost 336. It preserves a 400-foot section of the old Natchez Trace that had not been paved as of the mid-1970s, and an 850-foot section that has been paved. The paved portion is part of Lauderdale County's County Route 5. The location is near to, and just southeast of, the Little Zion Church and the Cloverdale School, which in turn are south of the hamlet of Threet, Alabama. Beyond the listed segment, the construction of Highway 20 "obliterated" evidence of the historic Natchez Trace. and

Old Natchez Trace and Choctaw Agency Site

Old Natchez Trace and Choctaw Agency Site, in Ridgeland, Mississippi located at milepost 100.7. This is located between

Interstate 55 Interstate 55 (I-55) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The ...

and Livingston Rd., west of Ridgeland, in Madison County, Mississippi. It includes a 3.3-mile segment of the

(partially in the

right of way) and an archeological investigation site at the location that from 1811 to 1823 housed a government agency to the

Choctaw The Choctaw ( ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States, originally based in what is now Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choct ...

., National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, November 22, 1994 According to the 1941 Natchez Trace Parkway survey report, "Before the Treaty of Doak's Stand, the Choctaw Agency was located on the Trace, about 10 miles north of what is now Jackson, or about two miles west of Ridgeland on United States Highway 51. The Agency is not different from other Indian agencies in its historical background. It was the residence of the United States Agent, who, in addition to numerous other duties, for a time at least, checked the passports of travelers over the Trace. Before the inns were established on the Trace, the agencies were havens for the sick and weary travelers. The Choctaw Agency is closely associated with the history of the Trace. No remains of the old agency exist but a modern dwelling marks the site."

Related NRHP-listed places

Also there are additional NRHP-listed structures and other sites along the Natchez Trace. These include: *

Franklin, Tennessee Franklin is a city in and the county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. About south of Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, it is one of the principal cities of the Nashville metropolitan area and Middle Tennessee. As of 2020 Uni ...

, once the site of a Mississippian mound complex and Native American village located adjacent to the Trace and the

Harpeth River The Harpeth River, long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 8, 2011 is one of the major streams of north-central Middle Tennessee, United States, and one of the major ...

. and more recently the location of an 1801 bridge built to carry the Natchez Trace road across Brown's Creek and a

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

built in the 1840s or 1850s. All three properties are listed on the National Register. * Col. James Drane House, an

antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern US ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum architectu ...

house located at mile marker 180.7 on the Natchez Trace Parkway, at French Camp in Choctaw County, Mississippi. The history of this house, from 1846, is mixed up with the history of the trace itself, and the home is a visitor's attraction along the modern

, which it adjoins.

* Boyd Mounds Site (22MD512), a mound complex near Ridgeland in Madison County, Mississippi, at Mile 106.9 on the

, listed on the National Register as an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

. It has six mounds and is situated next to a parking area off the

, accessible to visitors. * Janet's Mound, also listed as an archeological site with a restricted address, located at or near French Camp in Choctaw County, Mississippi

References