Audio
“10,000 Years of History,” Old Trace Exhibit Shelter, Milepost 8, Panel A
Transcript
[08A An Introduction to the Natchez Trace Parkway Old Trace Exhibit Shelter]
You are inside an exhibit shelter that has four panels mounted on the back wall. This is the first panel on the left. Parking and the Natchez Trace Parkway are behind you. There are low brick walls along both sides of the shelter. A mowed clearing with several shade trees surrounds the shelter. A forest borders the clearing.
This exhibit, titled “10,000 Years of History,” has a large color photo of the Natchez Trace Parkway, a Parkway map, an illustration of a river flatboat, brief histories of the Natchez Trace and the Parkway, and three smaller photos with safety messages.
[Text] The Natchez Trace Parkway is a gift waiting to be enjoyed. The highway’s graceful curves and lower speeds slow down the pace of daily life.
A sense of discovery replaces everyday concerns. Up ahead, around that bend, nestled in the Parkway’s tunnel of trees are dozens of scenes from 10,000 years of history.
Take time to stop and explore. Rediscover the past. Accept this gift, and meet the people and cultures forever linked to the Natchez Trace.
On the map, the Parkway runs from Natchez, Mississippi, diagonally across Mississippi and a small corner of northwest Alabama, before continuing to Nashville, Tennessee. You are near the southern end of the Parkway.
[Text] Trails to Trace The Natchez Trace Parkway is the last of many names given to one of North America’s most historic transportation corridors. Each name suggests who traveled this ancient, braided ribbon of trails first created by animals.
Some called portions the Chickasaw Trail or the Path to the Choctaw Nation. In the early 1800s, it became the Boatmen’s Trail and the Mail Road. When trade and travel shifted to river steamboats, sections of the Trace became local roads while others faded into the natural landscape.
There are three photos on this panel. The caption for a photo of a deer says, “Watch for Wildlife.” A second photo shows a driver holding a cell phone with the caption, “Avoid Distracted Driving.” A third photo shows two bicyclists on the Parkway with the caption “Share the Road.”
[Text] Please Travel Safely While traveling the Natchez Trace Parkway, be prepared and aware.
Obey the speed limit, and stay alert.
When you stop along the way, be aware of: · Poison ivy. · Ticks. · Fire ants and · Snakes.
There also is a historical sketch of a flatboat midstream in a wide river. The wood boat is a rectangular raft topped by a cabin and steered by rudders protruding off the back and front. The boat carries about a dozen travelers and a few horses and cattle.
Kaintucks—farmers or boatmen from the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys—floated cargoes to market, sold their flatboats as lumber, and walked home along the Natchez Trace.
Trace to Parkway It was local residents who kept the history of the Natchez Trace alive. In the 1930s, their interest in preserving the legacy of the Trace captured the attention of Congress. First, the federal government approved a survey of the meandering path. Then, in 1938, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the law creating the Natchez Trace Parkway.
Completed in 2005, the Parkway is the latest chapter in centuries old stories of trade, travel, and homeland. Preserved by the National Park Service, those stories live on. Discover them for yourself.
Description
This exhibit, titled “10,000 Years of History,” has a large color photo of the Natchez Trace Parkway, a Parkway map, an illustration of a river flatboat, brief histories of the Natchez Trace and the Parkway, and three smaller photos with safety messages.
Duration
4 minutes, 3 seconds
Credit
NPS
Date Created
07/13/2017
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