Scenic Outdoors

Discover Alabama’s scenic portion of this popular three-state, 444-mile designated National Scenic Byway and All-American Road. 

BY LAURA MCGILL

Whether you are traveling the Natchez Trace Parkway by bike, car, motorcycle or RV, you are on the road to a history-packed, nature-filled adventure. The parkway, which roughly follows the historic Natchez Trace between Franklin, Tennessee, and Natchez, Mississippi, has been under the care of the National Park Service since 1938, but the stories it shares date back more than 10,000 years.

The trace long served as a vital travel path for Native Americans, European settlers, slave traders, soldiers and many others, both nameless and famous (Meriwether Lewis, John James Audubon and Ulysses S. Grant, for example), who used the corridor first for following game and later for commerce. As the number of travelers increased, inns, or stands, popped up to provide places to rest and to eat. The comforts were few, and the way often was fraught with danger due to bandits and highwaymen.

Traveling the modern parkway’s 33 miles in Alabama, with a 50 mile-per-hour speed limit for most of the route and pretty views, provides an opportunity to imagine all those souls who journeyed here before you and to contemplate the beauty of Alabama’s northwest corner. Plan to stop at six sites to enjoy small...