(Marker #1)
A National Road
Natchez in the extreme south-western corner of the United States was threatened by Spain in 1800 and later by France and Great Britain.
President Jefferson in 1801 decided that a road from Nashville . . . — — Map (db m87267) HM
Around 800 years ago, native peoples in this region began to transform a natural hill into what we call Emerald MoundThey followed a visionary plan and built this flat-topped sacred mound over perhaps 300 years. Covering eight acres, this . . . — — Map (db m108887) HM
Emerald Mound was the product of a complex society organized to serve and sustain the welfare of its people beginning eight centuries ago. Life revolved around family relationships and well understood rules. An elite family, the Suns, held special . . . — — Map (db m115638) HM
Before you is the second largest temple mound in the United States. Only Monks Mound in Cahokia, Illinois, is larger. This eight acre mound, constructed from a natural hill, was built and used from about 1300 to 1600 by the Mississippians, . . . — — Map (db m61974) HM
Before you is a 30 foot secondary mound on which once stood a temple containing sacred Indian images.
Archeological evidence indicates that at least two small mounds stood along the North and South sides of the primary platform. These mounds . . . — — Map (db m87272) HM
Covering roughly eight acres, Emerald Mound is the second largest Mississippian mound north of Mexico. The main platform was constructed in three stages beginning ca. AD 1350. Archaeological excavations have confirmed that the first and second . . . — — Map (db m97256) HM
This bluff shows a deep deposit of windblown topsoil known as loess (pronounced LOW–ess). It was formed during the Ice Age when glaciers covered the northern half of the United States.
At this time nearly continuous duststorms swept in . . . — — Map (db m62182) HM
Deep cut here is part of famed Indian trail taken over by U.S., 1803. Until the coming of steamboats, it was post route, & chief artery of travel between Natchez & Nashville. — — Map (db m143324) HM
Across the Parkway behind you is a portion of the Old Natchez Trace - - a wilderness road that originated from a series of trails used by the southeastern Indian tribes. The Natchez Trace was politically, economically, socially, and militarily . . . — — Map (db m87265) HM
Trade, art, and ideas linked Emerald Mound, both physically and spiritually, with mound sites throughout the eastern half of North America. Mound building, as a practice, was widespread. Over thousands of years, the native peoples who built mounds . . . — — Map (db m115945) HM
Emerald Mound's size is impressive. Scholar James Barnett Jr. called it the region's "crowning mound-building achievement" of the Mississippian era (1,150 to 300 years ago). only a complex society mobilized for a massive multi-generational project . . . — — Map (db m115946) HM
(Marker #1)
Mount Locust as an Inn
Growing traffic on the Trace gave Ferguson opportunity to develop Mount Locust.
After 1795, the Mississippi was legally opened for American traffic. Settlers floated their products downriver . . . — — Map (db m87276) HM
Constructed ca. 1780, this home is one of the oldest structures in Mississippi. It functioned as both a working plantation and as an inn, where travelers on the Natchez Trace could rest for the night. Mount Locust is the only surviving inn of the . . . — — Map (db m87277) HM
