Our first stop this morning was at Tupelo Tire.  With all the miles we’ve been driving, another tire is done and needs replacing:

We drove north to the visitor center for the Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail:

The trail is paralleled by the NPS’s Natchez Trace Parkway:

The visitor center had some great displays.  Of particular interest were the “Kaintucks”.  These traders would build or buy a boat, fill it with merchandise and float it down the Ohio or Mississippi river.  At the end of the trip, in Natchez or New Orleans, the goods were sold.  Since the boats couldn’t be floated upstream, the boats were sold for lumber and then the Kaintucks would walk for 35 days the 500 or so miles back to their homes in the Ohio River valley.  It was the Kaintucks who created the Natchez Trace:

After viewing the park film, the kids completed their Junior Ranger workbooks and received their badges:

The kids also completed a workbook which focused on sustainability:

We drove north on the Natchez Trace Parkway:

We hiked the old Natchez Trace for a bit to a point where unknown Confederate soldiers died and were buried:

Continuing north, our next stop was the Corinth Battlefield, a unit of Shiloh National Military Park.  It was here in late April of 1862 that Confederate forces managed to escape destruction by superior Union forces:

The visitor center was very well done and had several multi-screen video presentations which were excellent:

Replica fortifications:

The kids completed their Junior Ranger workbooks and received their badges:

Our last stop of the day was the Shiloh unit of Shiloh National Military Park:

Here at Shiloh, two days of fighting in early April of 1862 left over 24,000 dead, wounded, or missing:

We drove around the park and viewed the various memorials:

The kids completed their Junior Ranger workbooks and received their badges:

From Shiloh, we drove southeast to overnight at the Walmart of Iuka, Mississippi.  See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.