Taking in the Trail ® Carved by the Mighty Mississippi and Once the Western Boundary of America
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memphis area self-guided driving tour Welcome to the Great River Road National Scenic Byway & Trail. SEE THE DRIVING TOUR MAP ON PAGE 12. Make your way along the western border of Tennessee taKing in the trail ® carved by THE mightY mississippi and once the western boundary of America. The Great River Road National Scenic • These 240 miles are full of historic sites, preserved homes and museums that bring the stories of the Great River Byway & Trail starts in Memphis, the southwestern most Road to life. Many of them require advance reservations, point in the state, and travels to the northwestern border admission or both to experience our history. at legEndarY Reelfoot Lake. The route from corner to • Many historic buildings, like Alex Haley’s boyhood home, corner is a part of the larger Great River Road National Scenic open their doors to visitors. Many properties remain Byway, a designated route spanning 10 states, from the as they have for over a century: private residences. Please be respectful of the private land and homeowners Mississippi River’s headwaters in Minnesota all the way to on our tour. the Gulf of Mexico. RIP? We’ve got • This is a drive that promises an off-the-beaten-path READY FOR A TENNESSEE ROAD T On the Tennessee portion, you’ll encounter small towns Tennessee experience. What we can’t promise is steady you covered on the new, self-guided driving trails of the full of history, local fare bursting with flavor, and Discover Tennessee Trails & Byways. On the Cotton Junction cell phone service. Don’t be surprised if you don’t always Trail, you’ll learn about the railroad legend of Casey Jones, natUral areas brimming with wildlife. But perhaps the have a signal. visit Rock ‘n’ Roll Queen Tina Turner’s hometown, make a stop at the Teapot Capital of the World and so much more, all biggest attraction on this trail is the drive itself — a journey • The Great River Road National Scenic Byway features surrounded by West Tennessee cotton country. Pick up a self- long, beautiful stretches of scenic driving. Make sure you or visit through high bluffs, alluvial forest, and intriguing bottom- guided map at theMemphis Welcome Center fill your tank and use the restroom in the towns along You’ll find the directions, land that borders the Mississippi. This isn’t your ordinary CottonJunctionTrail.com. the way. There will always be a “next town” on the route, stops and stories that make the Cotton Junction Trail a tourist attraction. Out here, the story is in the cotton fields but it may not be within the next few miles. one-of-a-kind Tennessee road trip you won’t want to miss. and the generations that have tended them; the tensions and • Don’t forget to visit your favorite online review sites conflicts of the C ivil War; the lakes, rivers, and dramatic (like tripadvisor.com or yelp.com) and help us blaze a trail natural events that have shaped this part of the country. to these wonderful hidden gems. Listen to the rushing water of the river and learn about the The colorful stories and interesting facts you’ll find along the life and commerce it has carried; hear Delta blUes with Great River Road Byway & Trail have been uncovered with the roots as deep as native crops. This is the story and the face invaluable help of of the land touched by “Old Man River”, always changing county tourism partners, the Mississippi River with the flow of time and season. Corridor in Tennessee, and historians in these communities. Visit Symbol Key: Great NatiOnal Register Msrivertn.org for more OUtdOOrs OF HistOric Places information. African- American Land TRUst PictUre SPOT Heritage FOR Tennessee Live MUsic state-Owned Civil War VenUE HistOric site Tennessee Pictured on cover: Reelfoot Lake State Park, Tiptonville; Owl at Meeman-Shelby Forest Festivals LOdging Main Street State Park, Millington; Mud Island River Park, Memphis. Pictured above: Bald eagle at PROgram Reelfoot Lake State Park, Tiptonville; DeSoto Bridge across Mississippi River, Memphis; For complete visitor information Paper contains FOOD & Wine MOTOrcycle Dr. Walter E. David Wildlife Museum, Dyersburg; Downtown Covington; Alex Haley on Tennessee, call 1-800-GO2-TENN 10% recycled ROUte (R) RIGHT (L) Left Museum & Interpretive Center, Henning. content. or visit tnvacation.com. Find more information at GreatRiverRoadTrail.com. 1 perfect for jogging or biking alongside the Riverside Dr. Ashburn-Coppock Park Overlook – This memphis Mississippi River. Memphis small, shaded park is connected to the mud island Beale St. & S. Bluff Tom Lee Park – South Bluff with a pedestrian bridge. The city of Memphis was originally settled by the Spanish in the Memphis Spanning a mile Check out the stone lookout point. The name “Mud Island” is a little misleading; it’s actually a late 1700s. It was officially founded in 1819 by a group of property and a half, this Riverside Blvd. & Chickasaw Heritage Park – Enjoy this peninsula between the Wolf River and the Mississippi River. But investors that included Andrew Jackson, and named for the ancient park has great Metal Museum Dr. city park located on the fourth Chickasaw even before it was a peninsula, it first appeared as a sandbar in the capital of Egypt. The area proved tough to develop, with natural Memphis views of the river Bluff, the former late 1890s and increased in size during the floods of 1912. Legend disasters, epidemics, and competitions with neighboring cities and is the site site of the Civil says that the sandbar emerged as a buildup of silt around a sunken presenting challenges to the first residents. When the railroad came of Memphis in May, the city’s War’s Confederate Civil War gunboat battle. By the Great Depression, squatters began to town in 1842, Memphis began to grow, and by the 1860s, the famous BBQ contest, and Fort Pickering as living on the island, though it flooded almost every year. Public city’s railroads connected it to the Southeast and Midwest. The city other festivals throughout the well as home to discussion centered on whether grew to 12 times its size in those 20 years, with many German and year. It’s named for Tom Lee earthen mounds to use the island or to blow it Irish immigrants shaping the culture. Once a slave trading center (pictured), a man who saved 32 created by pre- up, and eventually an airport was in the 1850s, the city has been an important landmark for African- people from a sinking steam- historic peoples. installed in the 1960s. Now the American cultural experience as boat in the 1920s, despite his inability to swim. island is home to a river park, well as a crucial battlefield in the Stairs to parks are across Vance Park and Butler Park – Take in amphitheater and museum. It’s also Riverside Dr. fight for civil rights. Memphis is Iowa Ave. Crump Park Overlook – Get a great view the incredible views atop the Mississippi a great place to rent canoes and Memphis Vance Ave. & Butler Ave. the birthplace of Holiday Inn and of the I-55 bridge from the gravel road River bluffs at this pair of beautifully land- kayaks during the summer months. FedEx, the famous home of Elvis through this small, shaded city park. Memphis scaped parks. Presley and Beale Street, and a N of I-55 bridge. Martyrs Park – Between Jefferson Ave. Confederate popular destination for visitors Channel 3 Dr. This city park and & Court Ave., Front St. Park – This park Downtown Memphis 4. Memphis Trolley – Climb aboard a & Riverside Dr. from around the world. Memphis memorial within features shade 901-274-MATA restored vintage are dedicated to Memphis trees and a great trolley car for an Memphians who overlook, as well unforgettable trip DIRECTIONS risked their lives as many memo- along the mighty 119 N. Riverside Dr. 1. Riverside Drive Welcome Center to stay in the rials, plaques, and historical markers, Mississippi River Memphis city, tending the sick and burying the including a statue and memorial to Civil and downtown 901-543-5333 Pose for great photo dead during the yellow fever epidemic of War Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Memphis. The Main memories here with Did You 1878. From here, catch great views of the KnoW During the Civil War, Tennessee was the last Street Line follows the original mule-drawn Abbreviation Key: bronze statues of Elvis Mississippi River. trolley; the Riverfront Loop travels a R RIGHT state to leave the Union and the first state Presley and B.B. King breathtaking stretch of the river. L Left on the shores of the to rejoin after the war ended. N NOrtH mighty Mississippi, as 3. Mud Island River Park/Mississippi River 45 S. Riverside Dr. 5. Memphis Riverboats – Take a 90-minute S SOUTH ? Memphis you prepare to head names for the mississippi river 125 N. Front St. Museum – This small peninsula between sightseeing cruise on the Mississippi led E East 901-527-BOAT out on the Great River It’s an American tradition to try and tame the Mississippi River Memphis the Mississippi and Wolf Rivers offers a by a “Riverlorian,” providing live historical W West 901-576-7241 Int. intersectiON Road. Pick up info with words. The river’s original name comes from the Ojibwe word lot to do on its 52 acres, including the commentary. As about area attractions, misi-zibi, meaning Great River, or gichi-ziibi, meaning Big River. Mississippi River Museum, River Park entertaining as discount coupons for restaurants and hotels, The river has been eulogized in Mark Twain’s Life On The Mississippi and Mud Island it is educational, Park and walk to visit you’ll see the pts.