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its abundance of shortleaf and loblolly pines, the forest remains green in winter and shady
on sultry summer days.
TheWitchDanceHorseTrail,atmilepost233,takesitsintriguingnamefromalocalle-
gend about mysterious bare spots on the forest floor. Witches once gathered here to dance,
the story goes, and wherever their black-slippered feet touched the ground, the plants
withered and died, never to grow back again. A few miles ahead, a spur road leads west to
200-acre Davis Lake, a good spot for swimming and boating.
12. Tupelo
This part of Mississippi was once the floor of an ancient sea, yielding a limy black soil
that, centuries later, would prove ideal for growing cotton. Cattle now graze on many of
the prairies near the parkway as it approaches Tupelo, the largest city in the northeastern
part of the state. Although Tupelo's history is as rich as its cropland—a Chickasaw Indi-
an village was located nearby, and the town is the site of the last major Civil War battle
fought in Mississippi—people now flock here from all over the world because of an every-
day event that occurred on January 8, 1935. On that date, in a tiny two-room house built
with $180 worth of materials, twin sons were born to Gladys and Vernon Presley. One boy,
Jesse Garon, died at birth; but the other, Elvis Aaron, grew up to become the King of Rock
'n' Roll. His fans, whose worship has never waned in the years since his death in 1977,
visit Tupelo by the thousands each year to glimpse his boyhood home, his elementary and
junior high schools, and the hardware store where he bought his first guitar.
The Natchez Trace Parkway has its headquarters about five miles north of town at the
Tupelo visitor center, where travelers will find a scenic nature trail and a museum chronic-
ling the history of both the old Natchez Trace and the modern parkway.
13. Donivan Slough
The20minutesittakestowalkthetrailatthisimposingbottomlandforest(locatedatmile-
post 283) are well rewarded. Water oaks, sycamores, sweetgums, bald cypresses, beeches,
and river birches thrive here, but among the most splendid specimens are the tulip trees,
tall and arrow-straight. Often called yellow poplars—though they're more closely related
to magnolias—these woodland giants flaunt beautiful greenish-orange tuliplike flowers in
spring. Farther north, at milepost 287, sprawl the Pharr Mounds, the largest archeological
site in Mississippi. Built around 100 b.c., these earthworks cover some 90 acres.
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