NATCHEZ TRACE PARKWAY

Celebrate the recent completion of the Natchez Trace Parkway. It took 71 years to finally finish the entire 450-mile road that is full of history, natural beauty and wildlife. We’ll bike past fields of corn and cotton, small country stores and grand antebellum homes, waterfalls and the great Mississippi River. We’ll see vestiges of prehistoric peoples, the Choctaw Indians, and southerners who lived through the Civic War. We could see armadillos, bobcat, red-tailed hawks and white-tailed deer. All while traveling on a road first established hundreds of years ago and today administered by the National Park Service. Come celebrate our nation’s cultural and natural heritage while experiencing the best of small-town southern hospitality.

Day 1: We meet in the capital city of Jackson, Mississippi at a hotel just two short miles from the Natchez Trace Parkway. Bike assembly and fitting takes place at 3:00, then an orientation meeting at 5:30pm and dinner together at 6:30pm. 0 miles.

Day 2: After a delicious breakfast, we’ll start out by cycling north along the Natchez Trace Parkway. The humidity of the southern summers is gone and we should enjoy a cool, but sun-filled day. We’ll pass the tranquil Ross Barnett Reservoir, formed from the Pearl River. Its banks are usually dotted with blue herons and bright white egrets. Then we’ll stop for a picnic lunch at the eerie Cypress Swamp. A short boardwalk allows you to get up close to the water tupelos draped in Spanish moss. After lunch, we’ll leave the Trace as we loop back around to head south through quiet suburban Jackson. A bike path from the Trace takes us by the renown Mississippi Crafts Center, founded to preserve and promote the folk and contemporary crafts of the south. Then it’s back to our hotel for dinner together. 23 or 49 miles.

Day 3: We return to the Natchez Trace to continue our trek south. Along the way, we’ll learn how the Choctaw lands shrank in the face of pioneer settlements. We’ll read how one of these pioneers, Cowles Mead, first became a tavern owner in the area, then became acting governor of the state, and then ordered the arrest of the country’s vice president Aaron Burr for treason. (He was later acquitted.) We’ll leave the Trace for a detour along meandering country roads to our overnight destination — the famous civil war town of Vicksburg. 35 or 57 miles.

Day 4: We’ll enjoy a layover day in Vicksburg to give us a chance to explore the Vicksburg National Military Park and bask in the luxury of the Cedar Grove Mansion Inn. The loop through the park shows us why Vicksburg was an important stronghold during the Civil War. Control of the town dictated control of commerce and transportation along the Mississippi River. The many monuments along the park loop pay tribute to the 20,000 men who lost their lives fighting on either side for that control. Built in 1840, our Mansion Inn was also used by General Sherman as a military hospital during the war and still has a Union cannonball embedded in a parlor wall. Its original furniture, beautifully restored carriage house, and formal gardens remind us of the elegance and romance of an earlier time. Lunch and dinner are on your own today. 20 miles.

Day 5: We say good-bye to Vicksburg in the morning, cycling quiet back roads over the Big Black River back to the Natchez Trace. We’ll stop in the ghost town of Rocky Springs for a picnic lunch and then ride past Mangum Mound, dating back 1000 years. We’ll overnight in Port Gibson, the small town General Grant declared “too beautiful to burn.” 27 or 44 miles.

Day 6: We complete our tour of the Trace today with a beautiful ride into the town of Natchez. Much of today’s miles are on the newest portion of the parkway. We’ll feel as if it were newly paved smooth just for us. We’ll glimpse a section of the original Trace, now sunken from years of use and erosion deep into the earth. We’ll pass the Elizabeth Female Academy, the state’s first college for women. Then we’ll enter one of the oldest and most historic cities of the South – Natchez. We’ll stay in the heart of the historic downtown area. 44 miles.

Day 7: After breakfast, take a short ride through town to see antebellum mansions and historic churches. Antiques Row is within walking distance of our hotel. Say good-bye to another time, before we shuttle back to the Jackson airport to say our own good-byes by 1:00pm. 7 miles.