13/02: The Last 180 Miles of the Trace
Category: General
Posted by: The Agnew Family
Back on the trace today. The plan is to finish driving the trace and drive up to Bowling Green, Kentucky. It's almost time to go home for more winter. Yup, I'm really looking forward to cold weather and snow.
Today was another day packed with beautiful views, interesting sites and interesting people. The Natchez Trace travels through three states, so far we've only seen Mississippi. Today we continue in Mississippi, cut through a corner of Alabama and finish up in Tennessee just below Nashville.
Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway is a 234-mile man-made waterway that extends from the Tennessee River to the junction of the Black Warrior-Tombigbee River system near Demopolis, Alabama. The Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway links commercial navigation from the nation’s midsection to the Gulf of Mexico.
The terrain is changing slightly as we drive up the trace. The flat lands of Mississippi are giving way to slight hills and some rocks. This is a cave that was used as a water source for Indians.
The longest bridge on the trace crosses the Tennessee River.
At Rocky Springs in Alabama we stop to see a natural spring. Stepping stones were built to aid in crossing the creek.
Looking for a geocache took us off the trace, just a few hundred yards and it led us to a rock wall. The wall is known as the Wichahpi Commemorative Stone Wall. Walking around the wall we met Tom Hendrix who has been building the stone wall for over 35 years 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 near here along the Tennessee River in the 1800s. Some history from the Internet: "Tom's grandmother (Teh-la-nay's granddaughter) told him the stories about his great-great-grandmother when he was a little boy. Later in life Tom knew he needed to do something to honor her memory. During a conversation with an elder of the Yuchi tribe he was told "All things shall pass. Only the stones will remain." It was then that he knew what he needed to do.
After walking the length of the wall, Charlie Two Moons, a spiritual person, said: "The wall does not belong to you, Brother Tom. It belongs to all people. You are just the keeper. I will tell you that it is wichahpi, which means 'like the stars'. When they come, some will ask, 'Why does it bend, and why is it higher and wider in some places than in others?' Tell them it is like your great-great-grandmother's journey, and their journey through life--it is never straight.""
Ed liked this section of rocks that looked like faces. Tom showed us rocks people have brought him from all over the world, the rock that makes women pregnant, about the people who come on a regular basis to sit and reflect and natives who come to play the flute among the stones. I think this stop was the highlight of my day. If you're ever driving the Natchez Trace stop in and see Tom, he'd love to see you and show you around.
In a couple of places along the Natchez Trace you can drive the "old" Natchez Trace. If the section we drove is any indication of what the road was like, it would have taken days to drive from Natchez to Nashville.
One of the water falls at Fall Hollow.
The Gordon House is the house of John Gordon who operated a trading post and ferry on the Dock River. The house was constructed in 1817-1818.
The Double Arched Bridge that spans Birdsong Hollow was completed in 1994 and received the Presidential Award for Design Excellence in 1995 for its innovative design that rises 155 feet above the valley.
Today was another day packed with beautiful views, interesting sites and interesting people. The Natchez Trace travels through three states, so far we've only seen Mississippi. Today we continue in Mississippi, cut through a corner of Alabama and finish up in Tennessee just below Nashville.
Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway is a 234-mile man-made waterway that extends from the Tennessee River to the junction of the Black Warrior-Tombigbee River system near Demopolis, Alabama. The Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway links commercial navigation from the nation’s midsection to the Gulf of Mexico.
The terrain is changing slightly as we drive up the trace. The flat lands of Mississippi are giving way to slight hills and some rocks. This is a cave that was used as a water source for Indians.
The longest bridge on the trace crosses the Tennessee River.
At Rocky Springs in Alabama we stop to see a natural spring. Stepping stones were built to aid in crossing the creek.
Looking for a geocache took us off the trace, just a few hundred yards and it led us to a rock wall. The wall is known as the Wichahpi Commemorative Stone Wall. Walking around the wall we met Tom Hendrix who has been building the stone wall for over 35 years 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 near here along the Tennessee River in the 1800s. Some history from the Internet: "Tom's grandmother (Teh-la-nay's granddaughter) told him the stories about his great-great-grandmother when he was a little boy. Later in life Tom knew he needed to do something to honor her memory. During a conversation with an elder of the Yuchi tribe he was told "All things shall pass. Only the stones will remain." It was then that he knew what he needed to do.
After walking the length of the wall, Charlie Two Moons, a spiritual person, said: "The wall does not belong to you, Brother Tom. It belongs to all people. You are just the keeper. I will tell you that it is wichahpi, which means 'like the stars'. When they come, some will ask, 'Why does it bend, and why is it higher and wider in some places than in others?' Tell them it is like your great-great-grandmother's journey, and their journey through life--it is never straight.""
Ed liked this section of rocks that looked like faces. Tom showed us rocks people have brought him from all over the world, the rock that makes women pregnant, about the people who come on a regular basis to sit and reflect and natives who come to play the flute among the stones. I think this stop was the highlight of my day. If you're ever driving the Natchez Trace stop in and see Tom, he'd love to see you and show you around.
In a couple of places along the Natchez Trace you can drive the "old" Natchez Trace. If the section we drove is any indication of what the road was like, it would have taken days to drive from Natchez to Nashville.
One of the water falls at Fall Hollow.
The Gordon House is the house of John Gordon who operated a trading post and ferry on the Dock River. The house was constructed in 1817-1818.
The Double Arched Bridge that spans Birdsong Hollow was completed in 1994 and received the Presidential Award for Design Excellence in 1995 for its innovative design that rises 155 feet above the valley.