Natchez Trace: Difference between revisions

[[Image:{{NatchezT}}]][[Image:{{NatchezTMap}}]]The '''Natchez Trace''', "Old Natchez Trace" or "Chickasaw Trail" was a 450 mile (725 km) long trail connecting what were originally American Indian settlements on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumberland_River Cumberland River] (Nashville, Tennessee) and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_River Tennessee River] ("Wawmanona" Indian site near Florence, Alabama) with settlements near the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_River Mississippi River] (Natchez, Mississippi, Grand Villiage of the Natchez Indians). European colonists had used the old Indian trail since at least 1742. In 1796 a new section called the [[Maysville Turnpike]] extended the Natchez Trace 275 miles (440 km) from Nashville, Tennessee to Maysville, Kentucky where it connected with [[Zane's Trace|Zane's Trace]] which continued through Ohio to Wheeling, West Virginia. This made it possible to go overland from the east coast to the Mississippi River. After the trace was upgraded to a road in 1801, the same could be done in a wagon for the first time. The Trace declined in importance after 1816 when rival roads and steamboats grabbed much of its traffic.  

Midwestern farmers called Kaintucks often used flatboats to float their agricultural goods, coal, or livestock down the Ohio-Mississippi River to market in Natchez, or New Orleans. Once downriver, their boats were of little use, so they often sold them as well, and the boats were dismantled for their lumber. One of the ways they could return to Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, or Indiana was by way of the Natchez Trace. An estimated 10,000 Kaintucks used the Natchez Trace in 1810.<ref>U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, "Natchez Trace Parkway-Kaintucks" in nps.gov at http://www.nps.gov/natr/kaintuck.htm (accessed 1 August 2010).</ref> However, because their pockets were loaded with money they were frequently preyed upon by gangs of robbers along the trail.<ref>The Story of the Historic Natchez Trace at http://library.thinkquest.org/6270/story_index.html (accessed 1 August 2010).</ref>  

The road not only carried settlers, but also their ministers. Methodist circuit riders were working the Trace as early as 1800 with many converts. Baptists and Presbyterians soon joined them. The Presbyterians worked their way from the Trace's south end, and the Cumberland Presbyterians from the north extension of the Trace.<ref name="NatchTWiki" />  

=== Route  ===

*Natchez, Adams, Mississippi  

*Maysville, Mason, Kentucky

=== Settlers and Records  ===

There is no known list of settlers who travelled the Natchez Trace. However, some of the early residents of Tennessee ''may'' have used the Natchez Trace to reach their destination, as well as several other routes like the [[Great Valley Road|Great Valley Road]], [[Wilderness Road]], [[Kentucky Road]], [[Avery's Trace]], or [[Georgia Road]]. For early Tennessee settlers see:  

{{Wikipedia|Natchez Trace}}  

=== FamilySearch Pages  ===

=== Other Wiki Pages ===

*Many of the [[:Category:US Migration Trails and Roads|US Migration Trails and Roads]]  

=== Internet Sites  ===

=== Sources  ===