Natchez Trace Parkway trip with Mom and Dad - Day 2

Day 2 - Collinwood, TN to Northeast Mississippi and back

As mentioned in Day 1  we stayed at Miss Monetta's Country Cottage in Collinwood, TN last night and will be there tonight as well. We are using Collinwood as our home base to explore the Trace in Tennessee, Alabama and northeast Mississippi.

After breakfast at Chad's Family Restaurant in Collinwood we headed south on the Trace. Collinwood is located about 15 miles north of the Tennessee-Alabama stateline on the Natchez Trace Parkway. Just a few miles into Alabama and about 150 yards off the Trace sits one of the most unique memorials you will ever see and hear about. It is known as the Wichahpi Commemorative Stone Wall. The stone wall honors the great-great-grandmother of Tom Hendrix. Tom has been building the wall on his property for more than 30 years. Tom has placed by hand over 7 million pounds of rocks to create the curving waist-to-head high wall that represents the journey his Native American great-great-grandmother made from northwest Alabama to Oklahoma as part of the Trail of Tears and back to Alabama.

Our next stop took us over the Tennessee River to Colbert's Ferry at milepost 327. Today, Natchez Trace Parkway travelers drive over the river on this beautiful bridge. During the early 1800s George Colbert, who was half Chickasaw Indian, operated a ferry from this spot that took Old Trace travelers across the river.

Colbert's Ferry is one of the largest areas that is operated by the National Park Service on the Trace. There is a large picnic area overlooking the river, a boat ramp, the interpretive area where the ferry was located and a ranger/information station that is open except during the winter months.

Our next stop was barely into Mississippi at Cave Spring at milepost 308. Here we talked to a couple taking a break from riding their motorcycle. Mom wouldn't get any closer to the cave than she is here in this picture.

The weather was absolutely awesome for early November. Temperature around 70 degrees and lots of sunshine. September and October most of the Trace saw 2 to 4 times as much rain as normal. So far, November has been one sunny day after another.

Our next stop was Pharr Mounds at milepost 286.  Eight Indian burial mounds sit within sight of the Trace. We were now about 70 miles south of Collinwood so we decided to turn around and head back. This means that we were unable to see the southern 285 miles (64%) of the Trace. I'll try to talk Mom and Dad into coming back so we can see the Trace from Tupelo to Natchez.

We took a slight detour off the Trace so we could check out Bay Springs Lake. On the way down the Trace we had driven over the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway at milepost 293. The Trace bridge over the waterway is located just below the dam that holds back the huge lake. Dad likes to watch barges and boats go through locks. The dam has a huge lock that takes a vessel "down" from the lake to the river or "up from the river to the lake. As we made our way to the dam we saw a barge heading up the river towards the dam. Mom and I knew we were going to be here for awhile. We found the dam observation parking area and off Dad went with his camera. You can walk down to within about 75 feet of the lock. It really is impressive to see the lock fill up with water and lift the barge up to the level of the lake. The picture here shows the barge heading out into the lake. Three medium sized fishing boats then headed into the lock to be taken "down" to the river level. But we had to go. We assume they made it to the river.

We made our way back to the Trace and headed north to Collinwood and the comforts of Miss Monetta's Country Cottage.