Natchez Trace Parkway

Natchez Trace Parkway
Natchez Trace Parkway highlighted in brown
Route information
Maintained by NPS
Length444 mi (715 km)
ExistedMay 18, 1938 (1938-05-18) –present
RestrictionsNo trucks
Major junctions
South endLiberty Road in Natchez, MS
Major intersections
North end SR 100 in Nashville, TN
Location
CountryUnited States
Highway system
  • Alabama State Highway System
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The Natchez Trace Parkway is a limited-access national parkway in the Southeastern United States that commemorates the historic Natchez Trace and preserves sections of that original trail. Its central feature is a two-lane road that extends 444 miles (715 km) from Natchez, Mississippi, to Nashville, Tennessee. Access to the parkway is limited, with more than 50 access points in Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. The southern end of the route is in Natchez at its intersection with Liberty Road, and the northern end is northeast of Fairview, Tennessee, in the suburban community of Pasquo, at an intersection with Tennessee State Route 100. In addition to Natchez and Nashville, larger cities along the route include Jackson and Tupelo, Mississippi, and Florence, Alabama. Historian and preservationist Paul Hardin Kapp describes the Parkway as "the most enjoyable and romantic way to arrive in the city," and the "greatest legacy" of the Natchez Garden Club activist group, but "not the real Natchez Trace," rather a "masterpiece in both landscape design and narrative" constructed of "carefully planned vignettes...rolling topography, landscaped with live oaks and hanging Spanish moss."