Mile marker 45.7 Grindstone Ford/ Mangum mound

Grindstone Ford - This ford marked the beginning of the wilderness of the Choctaw Nation and the end of the Old Natchez District. Nearby Fort Deposit was a supply depot for troops clearing the Trace in 1801-1802, and troops were assembled here during the Burr conspiracy allegedly to separate the western states from the Union. The site takes its name from a nearby water mill.
The trail to your left takes you takes you to the Old Trace and Grindstone Ford. Riverboatmen on foot or horseback crossed here, northbound, after floating cargo down to Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans. Soldiers splashed across from the north to protect the Natchez District from British and Spanish threats. For post riders, Indians, bandits, and preachers, Bayou Pierre was the line between civilization and the wilderness.
Daniel Burnett's stand stood near here. Burnett was the speaker of the Territorial House of Representatives, a principal negotiator with the Choctaws, and a framer of the state constitution but his stand was unpretentious. His guests supped on mush and milk in a room filled with their own gear and Burnett's supplies. From here you may follow their path along the Old Trace to Grindstone Ford.

                                                 Us Department of interior
                                                   National Park Service  

Mangum Mound - Excavation of this site tells us much about the people of the late prehistoric period. The Plaquemine culture included the ancestors of the modern tribes of Mississippi and Louisiana. It was a society with elaborate agriculturally oriented religious ceremonies. From the burials on this mound we have learned there as a high infant mortality and upon the death of a chief, a brutal ritual was enacted in which his retainers were slain and buried with him.

                                                Us Department of Interior
                                                  National Park Service

Come back out from the parking area of the Ford and drive under this bridge to get to Mangum Mound

Driving up to Mangum Mound.

Another very tall Indian Mound. This one was used for burials rather than ceremonial purposes









Looking out over the area of the Mound where the Adult and Child remains are located

The sign in the foreground is "Servants in the Hereafter"

Looking over the area where the "Servants in the Hereafter" burials were found.