Natchez Trace
"The Devil's Backbone"
People
Mississippi was, and still is, inhabited by Cherokee, Chickasaw and Choctaw people descended from a pre-Columbian people who lived there between 800 and 1600 CE.
“Kaintucks”, a pejorative for white northern traders, regularly floated their goods down the Mississippi to the Port of New Orleans. Before steamboats, the men walked or road horses back home for roughly 35 days on the 500 miles of the Trace. The road was remote and populated by highwaymen, causing the travelers to call it “The Devil’s Backbone”. In about 1812, the steamboat made it practicable to travel north on the Mississippi River. The Trace was largely abandoned.
Location
The Natchez Trace we know today is actually the Natchez Trace Parkway National Park, designated a such in 1938. Its construction was completed in 2005. It roughly follows the original road, itself roughly following a disjointed set of Native American hunting paths.
In about 1812, with the advent of steamboats, the Trace was largely abandoned.
Beginning in 1930, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) began placing markers along the road to keep the Trace’s history intact. In 1938, President Roosevelt designated the Natchez Trace as a National Park.
Today’s Trace is about 440 miles and traverses Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. The great majority is in Mississippi.