"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting the TUPELO VISITOR CENTER, which also houses the parkway headquarters.

"Outside the center there's a half mile loop trail, the BEECH SPRING TRAIL. This gentle grade trail passes through an area of forest regrowth. Inside the center there is an orientation program as well as exhibits that take visitors from ancient times through Indian and white man settlements up to modern times. You can see Indian artifacts recovered from within the park boundaries, along with exhibits of equipment used by pioneers and
Kaintucks in the 1800s. There's also a scale model of a flat boat like those the boatmen used to float their products down the Mississippi River to Natchez and New Orleans.

"The visitor center is the best place to purchase books about the history of the Natchez Trace and about the Indians who first lived here, and about local and regional history around Civil War times. And of course there's a ranger on duty to answer questions about the Old Trace and the parkway.

"Join us next time when we will visit the graves of 13 unknown Confederate Soldiers. For Natchez Trace a road through the wilderness, I'm Frank Thomas."

For more about Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness, visit eddieandfrank.com