Natchez Trace Parkway - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 791

Vicksburgin1863.AmongtheantebellumstructuresthatinspiredhisbenevolenceareOak
Square, a 30-room Greek Revival mansion (now a bed-and-breakfast inn) and the 1859
First Presbyterian Church. Its soaring steeple is topped with a gilded 10-foot-tall metal
hand pointing skyward, and its interior features chandeliers from the Robert E. Lee, one of
the most majestic steamboats ever to ply the Mississippi.
The dawn of the steamboat era, around 1812, marked the beginning of the end for the
Natchez Trace: river travel was so much easier and safer than the overland journey that,
by the 1820s, the pathway was virtually abandoned and forgotten. Not until the early 20th
century were efforts made to locate and mark the historic route.
6. Rocky Springs
Even at the peak of its popularity, the Natchez Trace was frighteningly lonely and remote,
a junglelike place where a traveler might walk or ride for hours without seeing a single
soul. Poisonous snakes, ruthless bandits, Indian warriors, treacherous terrain—these were
just some of the hazards that earned the trail its ominous nickname: the Devil's Backbone.
At mile 41.5 a portion of the original trace (one of a dozen sections that are accessible)
gives visitors a taste of what early travelers must have experienced. Worn deep into the
earth by countless footsteps and hoofbeats, this eroded tunnel is as spooky as ever. Span-
ish moss drips from tall trees, a chorus of crickets issues an almost deafening trill, and the
forest isoftenshroudedinasteamy haze. Upahead lies another eerie place, theghosttown
knownas Rocky Springs, where you'll find the southernmost campground onthe parkway.
7. Mississippi Crafts Center
At milepost 87 the drive detours around an incomplete section of the Natchez Trace Park-
way (via I-20, I-220, and I-55) through the capital city of Jackson. Just a mile after re-
turning to the parkway, you'll reach the Mississippi Crafts Center, housed in a dogtrot
log cabin. All of the objects on display here were created by members of the Mississippi
Craftsmen's Guild. On weekends from March through October, artisans demonstrate their
homespun skills in pottery, quilting, basket weaving, and many other crafts, both tradition-
al and contemporary.
8. Cypress Swamp
For several miles the parkway hugs the western border of Ross Barnett Reservoir, whose
shimmering blue waters attract waterskiers in summer and anglers year-round (bass and