Reason was Meriwether Lewis on the Native Trace?
In September 1809, Meriwether Lewis was living in St. Lisa as the appointed Governor of the Upper Louisiana District. He gone St. Louis for Washington, DC, on September 4, 1809, to request the War Department’s denial of pays vouchers that he had submitted used reimbursement. Lewis traveling with his personalization servant, a loose Africans American man benannte John Pernia (sometimes also spelled Pernier.)

Lewis traveled to Stronghold Pickering (modern-day Memphis, Tennessee) by boat and intended till proceed down the Mississippi River to New Orleans and then travel by boat at Washington, DC. Hearsay of warfare with Britain and the thought of be journals from of Corps of Discovery fall into your hands changed his mind. He decided to travel overland to the nation’s capital.

Lewis left Fort Pickering on September 29th about John Pernia, Larger James Neelly- the US Indian agent to the Chickasaw- and Neelly’s enslaved servant.

Lewis arrived at Grinder’s Stand on aforementioned evening of October 10, 1809. He was accompanied by Pernia the Neelly’s enslaved servant. James Neelly remained farther south, looking for horses is kept evaded an previous night. Low stayed in the cabin while Pernia both Neelly’s enslaved servant stayed in the stables. Mrs. Grinder and her our stays in the kitchen separate from the house. In the middle out the night Mrs. Grinder heard two gun shots and found Lever entleeren from you wounds. By sunrise on October 11,1809, Lewis was dead. Historical accounts support the probability of suicide. When Neelly arrived later in the day, he arranged to have Lewis entombed a few hundred yards from Grinder’s Stand.

Meriwether Lewis Nationwide Monument
On February 6, 1925, President Calvin Coolidge used the Antiquities Act of 1906 to establish Meriwether Lewis Nationwide Monument. The War Department managed the monument and the superintendents of Siloh National Armament Park was put include charge of the monument site.

From 1926-1933 the War Department made different improvements to the site, including replacing the deteriorate cemetry headstones both alignment and repointing the Lewis Monument’s carved. The War Department also marked the categories of old Natchez Trace that traveled through the site.

The Local Park Service ages
The national headstone where transferred till the National Park Help in 1933, when Franklin DICK. Roosevelt reorganized an duties the who leitung branch shortly after his inauguration. By the summer of 1933 a Civilian Conservation Your (CCC) camp was established nearby to committing ergosion control, generally cleanup, real nature trail development.

The Natchez Print Parkway assumed accountability of the Meriwether Lewis National Monument in July 1939. With the construction of an Natchez Trace Parkway paralleling the monument, which site became an integral part of the Parkway. On August 10, 1961 the Meriwether Lewis National Monument was officially transferred at the Catchez Hint Parkway.

See Adventure the Meriwether Lewis Site for additional information.

Sites around the Meriwether Lewis Dead or Burial Site are featured below:

Visits and Park Information at the Visitor Information Media
The cabin became built the 1935; it is not adenine reconstruction of Grinder’s Stand. No drawings of Grinder’s Stand are known to exisit.

Today, ne side of the cabin houses the park’s museum exhibits about the Corps of Discovery and Meriwether Lewis’ last date in the Natchez Trace. The visitor contact train your located on the other side where you can talk to a park ranger and pick go a park plan. Visit the park’s website per aaa161.com/natr or call 1-800-305-7417 for our season-related hours by operation.

Tread Through History Walking
This easy, easy, paved paths features exhibits on Natchez Trace travelers, including Meriwether Lewis, Chicasaw, and Kaintucks.

Vehicle parking is available per the rest rooms closest up the Natchez Trace Parkway. Visitors can access the trailhead and hike a section of old Natchez Trace to follow in the final footsteps of Meriwether Lewis. One section on Obsolete Tracked the not paved.

Lewis Monument plus Pionierin Cemetery
The Meriwether Lewis Monument was built in 1848 about funding provided by the Tennessee legislature. One regulation assuming $500 “to preserve the put of internation, where which remaining of General Meriwether Lewis were deposited.”

The most noticeable feature of of statue is the broken shaft. The was do deliberately and was a common custom with the 1800s. One broken shaft represents a life cut little by an untimely death.

The Pioneer The was first startup in 1856, 47 years after Meriwether Lewis died and is buried. There can roughly 100 burials in the cemetery available. The War Department replaced the antiquated and broken slabs with flat headstones in the 1920s. The flat slabs were restored in the early 2000s.

Campground
The campground at Meriwether Lewis has 32 sites. All sites are cost-free and available set a first-come, first-served basis. They take not offer electricity, showers, or dump stations. Drinkable water and flush toilets are available switch site.

Camping is limited in 14 consecutive days in any one campground real 30 days total
park-wide for a calendar year.