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Loess Bluff on the Old Natchez Trace Parkway

This bluff shows a deep deposit of windblown topsoil known as loess (pronounced LOW-ess). It was formed during the Ice Age when glaciers covered the northern half of the United States. At this time nearly continuous dust storms swept in from the western plains and covered this area with wind blown dust to a depth of 30 to 90 feet. Here it rests on sands and clays of an ancient sea. It originally covered a vast region but in this area is now confined to a strip east of the Mississippi River from 3 to 30 miles wide extending from Baton Rouge into Tennessee. Where the old Natchez Trace passed over loess it formed sunken roads, in places 20 feet deep.

Mt Locust Inn & Tavern

John Blommart, a retired British naval officer, probably built Mount Locust about 1780.

The farm at Mount Locust by 1810 consisted of 1200 acres. The success of the farm depended on the ability of the family and their slaves to clear the land and raise crops. Corn, cotton, and hay were the most important crops raised during the early 1800's.

By 1810, the farm at Mount Locust was well established and still growing. Outbuildings, long since gone, were constructed to handle special functions. A kitchen removed the danger of fire from the main house. "Sleepy Hollow" provided sleeping quarters for travelers. Slave quarters housed the growing labor force. Barns stored the harvest from the land, and stables housed the livestock

Mount Locust remains as the only one of more than 50 Inns that existed between 1785 and 1830 along the 500 mile Old Trace. It has been restored to its 1810 appearance, the time when travel on this historic road reached its peak.

Today the house is restored to show how it looked as a tavern on the Trace about 1820. William Ferguson's widow married James Chamberlain in 1806. The Ferguson-Chamberland family lived at Mount Locust for over 150 years.

An 1812 almanac lists the taverns on the Trace. Mount Locust was at "Union Town." Laid out by Ferguson in 1799, the town had an inn, a tannery, and a few houses.