Day Trip: Meriwether Lewis Historic Site

Meriwether Lewis Historic Site is located just off the Natchez Trace Parkway at Milepost 385.9. There is no fee to enjoy the park.

Meriwether Lewis Historic Site was added to the Natchez Trace Parkway in August, 1961. From 1925 to 1961, it was known as the Meriwether Lewis National Monument.

Lewis was buried on private property within sight of the place he died. When the government decided to erect a monument to Lewis, the owner of the property sold it to them with the stipulation that it would be a cemetery for others as well. Several bodies were buried there in the late 1840s and 1850s. When the burial ground became a National Monument in 1925, workers improving the area found

the limestone markers identifying the graves were eroded and damaged, making them unreadable. They were replaced with the small, square markers shown here.

Parts of the original Natchez Trace are shown to the right of the fence.

A newer monument erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 2006.

There is an annual festival here on the second weekend in October. We have been many times, and it is the perfect way to spend an October afternoon.

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