May 25, 2024 – Natchez Trace Parkway, AL & TN

 Saturday morning, we drove back on the Natchez Trace Parkway to Alabama where we left off on Tuesday.  We stopped at the Wichahpi Commemorative Stone Wall – Te-lah-nay’s Wall.  Tom Hendrix spent over 30 years building a wall in memory of his great-great-grandmother’s journey. His great-great-grandmother Te-lah-nay was part of the Yuchi Indian tribe that lived along the Tennessee River in the 1800s.  Her journey began when she was a teenager and was sent to the Indian Territory of Oklahoma as part of the removal of native peoples from the southeast.  Her tribe called the Tennessee River the Singing River because they believed a woman who lived in the river sang to them.  When Te-lah-nay arrived in Oklahoma she said the streams and rivers did not sing to her and she longed for home.  After spending one winter in Oklahoma, she decides to head home.  Even though she was alone the lessons that her grandmother taught her as a little girl helped her overcome every peril and obstacle along the way.

Tom knew he needed to do something to honor her memory and during a conversation with an elder of the Yuchi tribe he was told “All things shall pass.  Only the stones will remain” which inspired him to build the longest un-mortared wall in the US.  The wall is over a mile long and has many seating areas built in – like in this picture. Both sides of the walls were between 5’ to 6’ wide.  It was amazing to walk along this tribute to his great-great-grandmother. He also wrote a book about her journey titled: If The Legends Fade. 

We crossed the state line back into Tennessee and stopped at another section of The Sunken Trace.  At this site there were three cuts made to avoid mud into which oxcarts and wagons sank, making progress slow, dangerous, or even impossible.

We hiked along a couple of these cuts.

Our next stop was Sweetwater Branch which got its name from the clean and fresh, or “sweet” flavor of its water.

We took a short hike through this beautiful area.

                                The trail followed this creek.

Tacky needed to cool his paws in the creek.

We stopped for lunch at Glenrock Branch and ate our picnic lunch by this balanced rock.

After lunch we stopped at Dogwood Mudhole.  A mile to the south the Old Natchez Trace crossed a depression in the flat, dogwood-covered ridge.  After heavy rains it became almost impassable for carts and wagons.  Its name “Dogwood Mudhole” recalls the ordeals of frontier travel.  It shows too how place names arising from local conditions of long ago are carried down through the years.

We turned off on Old Trace Drive where we were able to drive along 2½ miles of the Old Trace.  This one lane section was paved sometime in the past so our trip was a lot smoother than in the 1800s – and no mud holes.

It was a beautiful drive.

We stopped at The Napier Mine, an open pit iron ore mine and furnace.  When in full production the company employed 60 men in the mines and 100 men at the furnace.  All that remains is evidence of the open pit mine.

The next stop was at Metal Ford along the Buffalo River.  Around 1820 a charcoal-burning furnace used to manufacture pig iron was located here.  We hiked a short trail that took us to the ford site.

Here travelers on the Natchez Trace crossed the Buffalo River which was fordable except after heavy rains.  The ford takes its name from its stone bottom which reminded frontier travelers of stone-surfaced or “metaled” roads of the day.

The trail circled around and followed the Mill Race that once brought water from the Buffalo River to the furnace.

Our last stop of the day was at Meriwether Lewis.  This is the gravesite of Meriwether Lewis, a Captain in the United States Army, Private Secretary to President Jefferson, Senior Commander of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and Governor of the Territory of Louisiana.

In September of 1809, Meriwether Lewis began his journey to Washington, D.C., to document and defend his spending of government funds, publish the expedition journals, and meet with former President Thomas Jefferson. While traveling, he wrote his will, leaving his possessions to his mother Lucy Marks.  He traveled through the remote wilderness along the Natchez Trace north to Grinder’s Stand, an inn run by the Grinder family. Mrs. Grinder prepared a meal that evening and made up a room for Lewis.  Later that evening gunshots were heard, and Lewis was found with two gunshot wounds: one to the head, and one to the chest. Lewis’s life ended on the morning of October 11, 1809, at the age of 35. Many who knew Lewis at the time of his death believed he had taken his own life. Recorded circumstances of his death indicate the probability of suicide; however, some accounts dated 1848 and later suggest Lewis may have been murdered.  The Grinder House is no longer standing but was located at the site of this museum and information cabin.

The Old Natchez Trace runs beside the ruins of the Grinder House.

Another long, but enjoyable, day on the Parkway and now the end is in site as we only have about 58 more miles to go.