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Information kiosks and free-standing podiums tell the stories of those who used the Natchez Trace, of the inns and river ferries significant to its function, and of dramatic events such as the death of Meriwether Lewis that happened along the way.

To keep track, I used the NPS trip planner, which offers a complex history of the Natchez Trace.

I got up early for a trip to the Natchez Trace Parkway Visitor Center just north of town.

As I pulled away from the Loveless Cafe, near the northern end of the Natchez Trace Parkway, the rain clouds that had been brewing southwest of Nashville unleashed a shower over what, in the distance, looked to be tiny Bon Aqua, Tenn., where I once lived.

Nashville to Tupelo, Miss., 222 miles, is one half of the winding, verdant, 444-mile-long All-American Road known as the Natchez Trace Parkway.