Walkway of the Counties / Mississippi River Valley

Walkway of the Counties, also, Mississippi River Valley. . , Walkway of the Counties , Welcome to the Walkway of Counties, a path that commemorates the 95 governmental divisions of Tennessee and the fascinating land and plants found in the state., The walkway is divided at points representing the three grand divisions of Tennessee - West, Middle East. Along the path are circular granite plaques, one for each Tennessee county. Beneath the plaques are buried time capsules containing memorabilia collected for the Bicentennial. These plaques and time capsules populate the walkway and provide a symbolic presence for the counties at the Bicentennial Mall. The capsules will be unearthed and opened on Tennessee's Tricentennial, June 1, 2096., The land of Tennessee is rich and diverse. To the west the state is bordered by the Mississippi River, the largest in North America, and to the east it is bordered by the ancient Appalachian Mountains which include the majestic: beloved Smokies. The north and south borders of the state are defined primarily by survey lines, as if the great parallelogram shape of Tennessee was established as slice of America, possessing an intriguing variety of land and nature from the southeastern part of the United States., The planting area adjacent to the walkway is essentially level at the south end and becomes progressively more rolling and hilly, rising to the highest mounds as the path reaches the northern terminus. These land forms represent the varied topography across the state from the west to the mountains of the east. Groupings of native plants have been selected to correspond to the land forms and their growth regions. Additional markers explain the character and significance of the state's nine physiographic regions each with unique geology, topography, and associated plant communities., Through topography, planting, rock outcrops, county markers, and interpretive signage, this area adds to the sense of place and awareness of the natural environment of Tennessee. Unlike the Pathway of History on the west edge of the park where the passage of events is recorded in stone, time here is marked by the slow change of the seasons: the first blooms of dogwood and redbud, the blossoms of summer, the blaze of maples and sumacs in the fall, and the holly berries of winter., Mississippi River Valley , This area of floodplain between the Mississippi River and the Chickasaw Bluffs covers about 900 square miles of Tennessee. The land is almost completely flat, dropping only about 80 feet as it slopes southward from the state's northern boundary to Memphis. The flatness is somewhat broken by low ridges that form natural levees built by the river. Between the levees are scroll-like, oxbow lakes and meanders. The Mississippi River Valley includes all or part of the following counties: Dyer, Lake, Lauderdale, Obion, Shelby, and Tipton., Geology , Between five and six hundred million years ago this area was the bed of a shallow inland sea. Great thicknesses of ooze were precipitated from the sea water in layers that hardened into solid limestone and dolomite layers up into a broad, low dome which eroded and sagged making a place for the invading sea to deposit thousands of feet of loose sediment. The sea retreated south approximately 40 million years ago, forming the Mississippi River and draining the lowest trough of the emerging embayment., Plants , This area has long been a vast complex of bottomland, hardwood, and swamp forests formed by the shifting course of the nearby Mississippi River. The levees, spoil banks, and hummocks provide drier sites for oaks, sweetgum, and elms. The margins of open water are dominated by bald cypress, black willow, red maple, water tupelo, and green ash., Plants native to the Mississippi River Valley include bald cypress, water oak, red maple, sweetgum, ironwood, buttonbush, horsetail. and deciduous holly.