By M. Scott Morris
Daily Journal
TUPELO – A variety of special events are planned as the Natchez Trace Parkway celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month.
A photo exhibit will showcase national parks with Hispanic connections, and a group will demonstrate what life was like when Hernando de Soto moved through the area in 1540-41.
Both free events will be at the Natchez Trace Parkway Visitors Center at milepost 266 near Tupelo.
“The exhibit highlights national park sites with strong connections to Latino heritage here in the United States,” said Andy Danneker, park ranger.
San Antonio Missions National Historic Park in Texas focuses on the impact Spanish Christianity has had on the country, and César E. Chávez National Monument in California honors its namesake’s efforts to attain basic human rights for farm workers.
Dannekar said he’s particularly impressed by George Melendez Wright, a park ranger and biologist at Yosemite National Park in California in the early 20th century.
Wright’s discoveries still affect the way the National Park Service deals with wildlife, Dannekar said.
The photo exhibit will be on display until Oct. 15.
From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, Mississippi Valley Educational Programs will set up an encampment to give visitors insight into de Soto’s trek.
De Soto and his men were the first Europeans to have contact with the Chickasaws and other native American tribes
“There will be storytellers,” Danneker said. “You can see weapons from the time period, and have the chance to see their training techniques.”
Also on that Saturday, members of the Tombigbee Pioneer Group will demonstrate pioneer crafts from the 1700s and 1800s.
For those who can’t attend the de Soto encampment, the visitors center will be showing a short film, “Hernando de Soto in America,” which examines the effect the explorer has had on the United States, particularly the Southeast. That impact continues to the present day, Danneker said.
He said the Hernando de Soto weekend and the photo exhibit are usually well attended.
“They connect us to the idea that America’s history is everyone’s history,” he said.
For more information about Natchez Trace Parkway events, call (800) 305-7417 or visit www.nps.gov/natr.
scott.morris@journalinc.com
Twitter: @mscottmorris