Editing Natchez Trace (section)

{{Short description|Historic trail in the southern United States}}
{{Use American English|date=April 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2014}}

[[File:Original portion of the Natchez Trace IMG 6998.JPG|thumb|right|Part of the original Natchez Trace near [[Natchez, Mississippi|Natchez]], Mississippi]]
[[File:Old Trace sign of Natchez Trace IMG 6999.JPG|thumb|right|Old Trace historical marker]]

The '''Natchez Trace''', also known as the '''Old Natchez Trace''', is a historic forest trail within the [[United States]] which extends roughly {{convert|440|mi|km}} from [[Nashville, Tennessee]], to [[Natchez, Mississippi]], linking the [[Cumberland River|Cumberland]], [[Tennessee River|Tennessee]], and [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] rivers.

[[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] created and used the trail for centuries. Early European and American explorers, traders, and immigrants used it in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. European Americans founded inns, also known as "stands", along the Trace to serve food and lodging to travelers. Most of these stands closed as travel shifted to steamboats on the Mississippi and other rivers. The heyday of the Trace began in the 1770s and ended in the 1820s, by the 1830s the route was already in disrepair and its time as a major interregional commercial route had come to an end.<ref>{{Cite book |author-last1=Bunn |author-first1=Mike |title=Old Southwest to Old South: Mississippi, 1798–1840 |author-last2=Williams |author-first2=Clay |date=2023 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi for the Mississippi Historical Society and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History |isbn=978-1-4968-4380-7 |series=Heritage of Mississippi Series, Vol. IX |location=Jackson |pages=188–189 |lccn=2022042580 |oclc=1348393702 |id={{Project MUSE|109599|type=book}}}}</ref>

Today, the path is commemorated by the {{convert|444|mi|km|adj=on}} [[Natchez Trace Parkway]], which follows the approximate path of the Trace,<ref name=Devoss>{{cite journal | last =Devoss| first =David| title =End of the Road| journal =[[Smithsonian Magazine]]| volume =39| issue = 2| pages =72| date =May 2008| url =https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/end-of-the-road-38356859/| access-date =May 10, 2020}}</ref> as well as the related [[Natchez Trace Trail]]. Parts of the original trail are still accessible, and some [[Old Natchez Trace segments listed on the National Register of Historic Places|segments are listed on the National Register of Historic Places]].