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ROCKY SPRINGS (Mile 55)
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THE OLD NATCHEZ
TRACE You are standing on a segment of the Old Natchez Trace. This southern portion of the Trace served as the main traveled road between Natchez and Jackson until the Civil War period. Due to a nearby "rocky spring," a town and station on the Old Natchez Trace were established here. |
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THE OLD NATCHEZ
TRACE This is the Natchez Trace. For many years it served man well, but as with many things when the usefulness period, it was abandoned. Over the years, this time-worn path has been a silent witness to honor and dishonor. It bears the prints of countless men. Walk down the shaded trail... leave your prints in the dust, not for others to see, but for the road to remember. |
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THE TOWN OF ROCKY
SPRINGS At the end of this trail is evidence of a once thriving rural community. |
| First settled in the late 1790's, the town grew from a watering place along the Natchez Trace, and took its name from the source of that water... the Rocky Spring. In 1860, a total of 2,616 people lived in this area covering about 25 square miles. The populations of the town proper included 3 merchants, 4 physicians, 4 teachers, 3 clergy, and 13 artisans, while the surrounding farming community included 54 planters, 28 overseers and over 2,000 slaves who nurtured the crop that made the town possible... cotton. |
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| ROCKY SPRINGS Springs were important to early travelers, providing relief from the dust and heat of the trail. Settlement was often determined by the location of dependable springs. A good spring saved the expense and hard work of digging a producing well. Rocky Spring got its name because it flowed from under a rock ledge. The name evolved to Rocky Springs and was adopted by the community which grew up nearby. The spring no longer flows, but the site may be reached by taking a 15-minute walk down the trail to your right. |
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ROCKY SPRINGS Called "the Rocky Spring" by early travelers, the town later became Rocky Springs, a rural community covering about 25 square miles. Settlement of the area began in the late 1790's and continued until about 1860, reaching a peak of approximately 2600 people. Several businesses were established at different times, among them carpenters, wheelwrights, a well digger, cabinet makers, a cotton gin maker, and blacksmiths. |
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DEATH OF ROCKY
SPRINGS The nearby spring no longer flows. Today only the church and cemetery, two rusting safes, and several abandoned cisterns mark the area. The Civil War, yellow fever, destructive crop insects, and poor land management brought an end to this once prosperous rural community. |
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EROSION From the time this land was settled in the early 1800's, few farmers practiced good soil conservation measurers. After 1820, subsistence farming gave way to a plantation economy where even the hillsides were cleared and planted. Erosion scars, slow to heal, can still be seen today. |
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SLOPE RESTORATION
PROJECT The slope ahead of you is composed of loess (lo'es) soil, a type of wind-blown soil deposited here many thousands of years ago. Being very fine grained, this soil erodes easily, both from natural and man-made causes. The National Park Service is trying to preserve the trees with a vegetative restoration project. You can help by not climbing the slope. |
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CIVIL WAR During the four years that the Civil War rages, many areas in both North and South would experience its devastation. A letter written in 1863 stated, "My slaves, horses, and mules are carried off, my fences torn down, and my crops destroyed..." |
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YELLOW FEVER During the summer and fall of 1878, yellow fever struck the area. Pastor J W Sandwell on November 18, 1878, wrote that there were 180 yellow fever cases and 43 deaths. He added, "... none but the allusive God can see it is all for our good and His glory." |
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BOLL WEEVIL Although Rocky Springs tried to recover after the yellow fever epidemic of 1878, in the early 1900's the boll weevil struck, devastating the cotton crop. After this final disaster, the population declined rapidly and the last store in the area closed its doors during the 1930's. |
| THE TOWN SITE Across the bridge is a loop trail through the town site. A short walk up the hill will bring you to the Rocky Springs Methodist Church. You are invited to visit the quiet sanctuary. |
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THE CHURCH This church was built in 1837 by the Methodist congregation of Rocky Springs. Earlier the town had been a station for a circuit riding preacher who stopped by only once or twice a month. |
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CISTERN This cistern may mark the site of one of several local blacksmith shops which served the surrounding farmsteads and plantations. Here, horses were shod, and farm implements, tools, and other metal items were made or repaired, as replacements normally had to be shipped in from distant points. |
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SAFE The first post office at Rocky Springs was established in 1821. Postal receipts were listed as $82,52 in 1827, $57.06 in 1828, and $49.23 in 1830. In comparison, nearby Port Gibson, the second largest postal facility in the state after Natchez, averaged about $1,400.00 a year during this same period. |
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SAFE AND CISTERN During the mid-1800's the existence of a church, post office, a Masonic Lodge, two or more stores, several artisan's shops and possibly a school made it desirable to live within a mile of the spring. Perhaps Drexler's Store was located at this site. |
LOWER CHOCTAW
BOUNDARY (Mile 61)
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| LOWER CHOCTAW
BOUNDARY The line of trees to your left has been a boundary for 200 years. It was established in 1765 and marked the eastern limits of the Old Natchez District. This boundary ran from a point 12 miles east of Vicksburg southward to the 31st parallel. First surveyed in 1778, it was affirmed by Spain in 1793, and by the United States in 1801. Since 1820, it has served as the boundary between Hinds and Claiborne Counties, Mississippi. |
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RED BLUFF STAND "John Gregg at the lower Choctaw Line respectfully informs the public, and travelers particularly, that he keeps constantly on hand a large and general supply of GROCERIES, ground coffee ready to put up, sugar biscuit, cheese, dried beef, or bacon, and every other article necessary for the accommodation of travelers going through the nation, on very reasonable terms. He is also prepared to shoe horses on the shortest notice." Established in 1802, this hostelry on the Indian boundary was for several years the last place a northbound traveler could get provisions. |
DEANS STAND (Mile
73)
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| DEANS STAND The treaty of Doaks Stand, 1820, opened this land to white settlement. Land was quickly claimed, and pioneer families established themselves in this wilderness. William Dean and his wife Margaret settled near here on the Old Natchez Trace in 1823. The Deans supplemented their farm income by offering lodging to travelers. The clientele was a cross section of the advancing frontier... the homeward-bound boatman, the hurrying mail riders, the trader in land and horses, the fugitive, or the itinerant preacher. On the night of May 12, 1863, General U S Grant made his headquarters here after the Battle of Raymond. |
BATTLE OF RAYMOND
(Mile 79)
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BATTLE OF RAYMOND By the time of the Civil War, the Natchez Trace had lost its significance as a national road. One of the sections ran from Port Gibson toward Jackson but the route veered from the original Trace to reach Raymond.. In the spring of 1863, General U S Grant marched his Union army over this route after crossing the Mississippi and taking Port Gibson. |
| On May 8, Grant's forces draw fire from a Confederate brigade, commanded by Brig General John Gregg, located on the southern edge of Raymond three miles east of here. After a day of bitter fighting, the Confederates retreated toward Jackson, leaving their wounded in the county courthouse. This setto convinced Grant of the need to take Jackson in order to assure success of his forthcoming siege of Cicksburg. |
MISSISSIPPI CRAFTS
CENTER (Mile 102)
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| After the American Revolution, frontiersmen from the Ohio Valley carried their products down stream to Spanish controlled New Orleans and Natchez. Returning home, boatmen followed a series of Indian trails from Natchez to Nashville... trails which evolved into the Natchez Trace. After the United States acquired Natchez in 1798, the government decided to clear a road between the newly-created Mississippi Territory and the State of Tennessee as an important communication link between the national capital and the Old Southwest. |
OLD TRACE (Mile 104)
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OLD TRACE Two portions of a nearly 200 year old wilderness road, the Old Natchez Trace, are preserved here. Nearly 500 miles long, it grew from Indian trails to a national road and communications link between the Old Southwest and the United States to the northeast. A short 5-minute loop walk to your left lets you see both sections and lets you stroll down a deeply eroded, sunken part of the old Natchez Trace. |
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RESERVOIR OVERLOOK
(Mile 105)
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RESERVOIR
OVERLOOK This 50 square mile reservoir is formed by an earth filled dam. It is administered by the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District, an agency of the State of Mississippi. Information concerning recreational facilities may be obtained at the marinas. Access from the Parkway is by way of State and county roads. |
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BOYD SITE (Mile 106)
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BOYD SITE Archeologists tell us that there was a house here sometime around 500 AD and that the pottery found in the mounds was made before 700 AD. Likely, the population was continuous over centuries with customs being handed from generation to generation, relying on field, forest, and stream for food. The simple social system was probably based on the family and close relatives. |
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THREE MOUNDS IN
ONE In this 100-foot long mound archeologists found the remains of 41 burials. The mound is really three mounds in one. Differences in the types of pottery found in each indicates that the construction of the mounds was separated by a considerable lapse of time. |
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WEST
FLORIDA BOUNDARY (Mile 108)
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WEST FLORIDA
BOUNDARY At the end of the French and Indian War in 1763, Great Britain gained control of the territory between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River except for the New Orleans area. The northern boundary of West Florida was first established at 31 north latitude. It was soon determined that settlement was too restricted. In 1764, Great Britain moved the boundary north to 32' 28' into the lands of the Choctaws and Creeks. |
CYPRESS SWAMP (Mile
121)
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TUPELO - BALD
CYPRESS SWAMP Water tupelo and bald cypress trees can live in deep water for long periods. After taking root in summer when the swamp is nearly dry, the seedlings can stay alive in water deep enough to kill other plants This trail leads through an abandoned river channel. As the channel fills with silt and vegetation, black willow, sycamore, red maple, and other trees will gradually replace the bald cypress and tupelo. Don't hurry. The change will take several hundred years. |
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CYPRESS SWAMP You are entering a realm of trees, water, and reflections. Its subtle beauty and peaceful setting can soothe a tired soul. The trail is easily walked in twenty minutes, but a relaxed pace improves the likelihood of seeing wildlife. Along the way, you may experience the wonderment of discovery. Allow enough time for the magic to work. |
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BULGE Growing in the water are bald cypress and water tupelo. To compensate for shallow roots, their trunks bulge near the bottom. This gives the trees added support in the soft soil. Most of the trees are tupelo. They are identified by oval-shaped leaves and a grayish-colored trunk. |
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REFLECTIONS Some creatures are mesmerized by their own reflection. A cardinal pecks at a mirror to attack the competitor that it sees. A goldfish placidly gazes for hours at the identical twin at the edge of a bowl. And if the wind is calm and the pond water clear, you may see someone you know staring back at you. |
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WATER TUPELO Water tupelo thrives in lowlands and swamps because it can survive with its roots completely submerged under water. The swollen base, called a buttress, helps support the tree. |
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BALD CYPRESS Another swamp lover, the Bald cypress is easily recognized by its "knees." It was once thought these "knees" were breathing organs, but it is now believed that they merely give additional support to the towering tree. |
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BALDNESS Bald cypress can live eight hundred years and reach over one hundred feet in height. They have a reddish-brown, deeply ridged trunk and feathery, needle-shaped leaves. The leaves are shed in the winter when the trees "go bald." |
RIVER
BEND (Mile 122)
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PEARL RIVER In 1689, the French explorer, Pierre Le Moyne Sieur d'Iberville, sailed into the mouth of this river and found Pearls. He named it "River of Pearls." The Natchez Trace, a hundred years later, avoided the marshy lowlands by following the ridge between the Pearl and the Big Black for 150 miles. The last 75 miles of the rivers course have served since 1812 as a boundary between Mississippi and Louisiana. |
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Across the Pearl River along the inside of the bend, the current is slower. There it drops its load of sediment. There the river gives to the land. There a beach is built. Here, along the outside of the bend, the current swiftly sweeps against the shore. Here the water is fast and deep and dangerous. Here it takes the shoreline. Here an unsuspecting person can easily drown. |
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| Look for evidence of the retreating shoreline where the National Park Service has been forced to relocate the trail. |
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RATLIFF FERRY (Mile 124)
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CHOCTAW BOUNDARY (Mile 128)
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ROBINSON ROAD (Mile 136)
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ROBINSON ROAD This road crossing the Parkway follows the Robinson Road which was built in 1821, nearly all of it passing through the country of the Choctaw Indians. It joined Jackson, Mississippi and Columbus, center of the "Settlements on the Tombigbee." There, it connected with Andrew Jackson's Military Road through Florence, Alabama, to Nashville. |
| Designation of the Robinson Road as the mail route in 1822, drew much of the traffic from the northern Mississippi section of the Natchez Trace which quickly lost importance. No longer was the Trace the only direct "road through the wilderness" from the East to the old Southwest. |
RED DOG
ROAD (Mile 140)
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MYRICK CREEK (Mile 145)
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KOSCIUSKO INFORMATION CENTER (Mile 160)
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COLE CREEK (Mile
175)
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COLE CREEK Forests are fascinating places... whole new worlds unfold to anyone who takes time to explore them. Across Cole Creek you will find a typical mixed hardwood forest. Here you can discover for yourself the many marvels in a bottom land forest which are more intriguing than you might suspect. Time means little in a forest, but a 15-minute adventure along this short trail will take you through the last stage of a tupelo-bald cypress swamp and into the first stage of a mixed hardwood bottom land forest. |
BETHEL MISSION (Mile 176)
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BETHEL MISSION About half a mile northwesterly, Bethel, meaning "House of God" was opened in 1822 as one of thirteen Choctaw mission stations. Indians, slaves, and squaw men "labored hard during four weeks... frequently till 10 o'clock at night, by the light of the moon or large fires" to clear the forest and erect the buildings. The missionaries who took the gospel to the wilderness also taught farming, carpentry, weaving, and housekeeping as well as reading, writing, and arithmetic to Choctaw and other area children. In 1826, people moved from the Trace to new roads and Bethel was closed. |
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Blackhaw viburnum and "red dogwood" provided arrow shafts. | Bows were made of osage orange of black locust |
FRENCH
CAMP (Mile 180)
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FRENCH CAMP Kiyus Kefkire first traded with the Choctaw Indians at a bluff, now part of Jackson, Mississippi. About 1812, he established his stand 900 feet to the northwest on the Natchez Trace. Because of the storekeeper's nationality, the area was also called French Camp, a name retained by the present village. Laflore married a Choctaw woman. Their famous son, who changed his name to Greenwood Leflore, became a Choctaw Chief and a Mississippi State Senator. For him are named the city of Greenwood and the county of Leflore. |
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