Natchez Trace was an important commercial and military route between Nashville, Tennessee, and Natchez, Mississippi, in the early 1800’s. Pioneers who floated their goods on flatboats down the Mississippi River to New Orleans often returned on horseback along this route. Settlers moving into Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, or Texas frequently traveled south on the trace. In 1800, Congress made it a post road (mail route). In 1938, the Natchez Trace National Parkway was established.
