Made it to Knoxville, TN

Yesterday we took a ride along the Natchez Trace Parkway.  The Parkway parallels the Old Trace Trail.  Originally the trail was probably a series of hunters' paths.  It was used by the Natchez, Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians following traditional ways of life.  The French and Spanish people began venturing into a world new to them and of people building a new nation.  By 1733 the French knew the land well enough to map it.  By 1785 Ohio River Valley farms began floating their crops and products down the rivers to Natchez or New Orleans.  By 1810 many years of improvements had made the trace an important wildrness road.  There is a lot of history on the Old Trace Trail.

I believe the trail is 444 miles long.  We only drove about 30 miles on the parkway on this trip.  We did see where Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark) died at milepost 385.9 in 1809 near the Grinder Stand (the cabin shown in the picture below where Ted is standing).  The picture in the bottom right corner is a memorial to Lewis.  The river is the Buffalo River and there was an ironworks nearby.  It is also the area where travelers crossed the river.

We  were really not alone in the campground!  It is one of our Thousand Trail Membership campgrounds and 840 acres.  Really big.

We made it to Knoxville late this afternoon and are looking forward to seeing Dottie tomorrow.

Visiting eastern friends..."Ain't Life Grand!"