The Blue
Ridge Parkway…every rider in the southeastern US and other parts of the country
has heard of it and probably has ridden at least a part of it. But, have you
heard of The Natchez Trace Parkway?
I have found that many bikers and travelers have not.
The Natchez
Trace Parkway is 444 miles of beautiful scenery, from the delta region of
Mississippi to the foothills of southern Tennessee. It is loaded with 10,000 years of North
American history. Native Americans used
the old Trace for thousands of years as a trading path, settlers used it as a
way west and future presidents used it for traveling through the region. Lewis Meriwether of Lewis and Clark fame died
along the trace and his gravesite is located along the Parkway. The Trace has played an important part in
American history.
The only
difference between The Natchez Trace and The Blue Ridge Parkway is location and
scenery and I realize that statement may have just made you laugh. But, if you take away the obviously fantastic
scenery of the Blue Ridge Parkway, is The Trace just another road? Maybe, but the Trace is 444 miles long with
no stop lights or stop signs, no billboards and usually you can’t see many
signs of civilization other than the road you’re on or maybe a few farms or old
houses.
And if the 444 mile long
uninterrupted ride isn’t enough, maybe Indian burial mounds, a ghost town, a
burned down 1800’s mansion with lonely Romanesque columns left standing, modern
architectural wonders or even the 200 year old home of a captain of spies may
interest you. But the best thing you’ll
find is a great road to ride that sometimes makes you feel like you’re the only
person around for miles. The Trace was
just rated #11 in the AMA’s Fifteen Best Motorcycling Roads in America.
Traveling
from Atlanta, GA, I met my riding partner Jimmy in Nashville, TN. Other than
the fact that the northern terminus of the road is located just south of
Nashville, there is one main reason for using Nashville as a starting
point. I’m from North Carolina and we
take BBQ seriously there. Nashville has
a BBQ restaurant that has what I think is the best beef brisket outside of
Texas.
I found Jack’s BBQ years ago
while shooting at the CMA awards for a national broadcast service. Jack’s is located downtown on Broadway St.
and if the lines are any indication, everyone pretty much knows about it
already. The brisket melts in your mouth
and the sides are deliciously what you would expect in a down home southern
restaurant in the heart of Tennessee.
After dinner you can wander the neon streets of Nashville looking for
that perfect cold beverage, while listening to some great local talent that may
just be the next big thing in country music.
At night the streets of Nashville seem to breathe music, with every bar
opening their doors to new talent just itching to be heard.
The first
morning of the trip began at another famous place for enjoying great southern
food. Yeah, I know, it already sounds
like we love to eat on our trips. But,
Jimmy and I have made a deal that we never eat at a chain restaurant if
possible. Nothing will help you get to
know more about the country you’re traveling through than sitting down and
eating with the locals.
Not only is the
food usually much better than most chains, but you never know who you’ll meet
that could make your trip even more memorable. The Loveless Café has been
serving up biscuits, country ham and red-eye gravy since 1951. Usually I don’t like to start the day off
with a big breakfast, but the food at this Café makes me think, why not start
our trip down The Trace with a breakfast that will take us miles to recover
from?
The northern
part of The Natchez Trace Parkway begins in the southern foothills of Tennessee
and travels through a bit of Alabama before entering Mississippi. The road has
broad sweeping curves with small hills leading down to open meadows surrounded
by hardwood forests. The Trace’s
corridor is a National Park, so the only signs of civilization are cotton
fields or pastures rolling over a roadside ridge.
The first must stop and see is the Natchez
Trace Parkway Bridge. This bridge is a
1600 feet long double arch bridge that will carry you almost 150 feet above the
valley floor. The valley below is
spotted with homes on one side and a horse ranch on the other. The surrounding
mountains are covered with hardwood forests that I’m sure would be beautiful in
the fall. The bridge, which is sometimes known as the Natchez Trace Parkway
Arches, is the first segmental constructed concrete arch bridge in the United
States.
Meriwether
Lewis, of Lewis and Clark Expedition fame, died traveling on the Trace. While
serving as governor of the Louisiana Territory, he was traveling to Washington,
DC from his office in St. Louis, Missouri. Lewis stopped at Grinder's Stand, a
tavern and inn, for an overnight stay in October, 1809. For months his friends
had worried about his state of mind and while staying at the inn it is said he
committed suicide with a gun to his head.
A monument has been erected at his gravesite along the Trace. The
surrounding Lewis Meriwether Park offers a reconstructed cabin from the time of
his death, as well as picnic tables and free camping.
Unlike The
Blue Ridge Parkway, most of the time on The Trace you rarely see other
vehicles. Commercial vehicles are not
allowed, but you may need to slow down a bit when you come upon a tractor or
other farm vehicles.
Only when you get
close to Tupelo or Jackson will you experience much traffic anytime of the
year. Of course Tupelo, MS is the
birthplace of Elvis Presley, so some may want to pull off The Trace here to see
where The King was born. Now keep in
mind, because the Trace is a national park, there are no road services like gas
stations or restaurants. You have to
actually get off the parkway to find these services. If you pick up a park service map, it will
show you where you may find the best pull-offs to gas up or pig out.
Once you
pass Jackson, MS, now you’re beginning to enter the Mississippi River delta
region. More and more cotton fields are
along the road and the hardwood forests start to give way to an occasional
cypress swamp. There are places here
where you can pull off to see signs of the original Trace when Native Americans
were using it as a trading route. In
some places, after thousands of years of foot traffic and then a few hundred
years of wagon and horse traffic, the trail has cut 40 feet through rolling
hills.
One of the
most surprising stops we made on the Trace, and my personal favorite, was the
Windsor Ruins. Built in 1861, in the brief
history of this plantation mansion, it is said to have been used by Mark Twain
to view the Mississippi River from the rooftop observatory and its doorway was
stained with the blood of a Union soldier.
But in 1890 a visitor left a cigar burning on an upper balcony and the
mansion burned to the ground leaving only tall Romanesque columns and iron
stairways standing. The sight of these
tall columns from another era over the sea, surrounded by tall Mississippi Oak
trees, really makes this site worth the short trip off of the Trace.
Our ride
down the Trace ended along the Mississippi River in Natchez, MS. Our timing was impeccable. As we followed the sun to the center of town,
we found a small park with a walkway along the river. The view the park offered as the sun set
behind the bridge that crosses the river into Louisiana was spectacular. A river boat was moored along the riverbank
and the lights from the bridge illuminated the waves of the Mississippi River as
it passed on its way to the Gulf Coast.
I’ve only
touched on a few of the many historical, cultural and natural sites along the
Natchez Trace Parkway. The road itself
is really worth the trip, everything else is just a bonus. Sometimes while riding on the Trace, the
engine of my Road King would hit that certain tone and the road would be
stretching out with something new around every curve. I had found that zone that so many of us
bikers are riding to find.
