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FALL 2017 ISSUE 02 / VOL. 02
TWO GREAT DAYS RIDING THE TRACE.
Rod Serling’ s words ran through my mind as I turned off Highway 61 to enter the southern portal of the Natchez Trace Parkway: Next stop, the Twilight Zone. Well, the Trace isn’ t quite that odd, but it is a world unto itself. This 440-mile strip of Mother Nature is devoid of commercial traffic and billboards. It’ s a sinuous, two-lane parkway, haunted by ghost towns and the graves of Confederate soldiers yet graced by abundant wildlife and natural beauty, that heads northwest from the Mississippi Delta, through a corner of Alabama to the rolling hills of Tennessee.
Main: Water tupelo and bald cypress trees thrive in this swamp. After taking root in summer, when the ground is nearly dry, the seedlings survive in water deep enough to kill other plants. Above, right: Mile zero of the Trace is found just northeast of Natchez, not far from the Mississippi River.
STORY AND PHOTOS BY STACY V. BEARSE