Mountain time.

Expect to be awed at Pharr Mounds, a 90-acre complex of eight different burial mounds built around 2,000 years ago. While they are not tall mounds, their number and sheer size are magnificent.

After the mounds, travel over the Jamie L Whitten Bridge crossing the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway. You may want to take some time to explore the Tenn-Tom—but that’s another story. The story here on the Trace, you’ll notice, is growing more dramatic, hills giving way to sharper peaks. You’re in the foothills of the Appalachians now, and it shows. It also captivates, at the Tishomingo State Park.

Constructed by Civilian Conservation Corps around the same time as the Parkway itself, Tishomingo State Park offers scenery unlike any other in the state. Canyons, boulders, sandstone ledges make an arresting backdrop for canoeing, hiking, picnicking, fishing, swimming and camping. There’s even a swinging bridge. The early Native tribes came here to quarry the rock for tools, and park buildings constructed by the CCC with local sandstone are both nostalgic yet also timeless.

After all the fun and excitement of Tishomingo State Park, there are only a few more miles of Mississippi Hills. Enjoy them, and please, come back anytime. The Natchez Trace will always be here, and we will, too.