The Old Monterey Trail
The Old Monterey Trail has roots in the attempt to create a walking trail in 2000, but was founded in 2017 by Victor Parker. After establishing a committee and collaborating with volunteers from MTSU, the driving tour was founded.
The Old Monterey Trail is Established (2017)
The Old Monterey Trail is the dynamic continuation of an unsuccessful attempt to establish a walking trail in the year 2000. After local disputes forced the walking trail out of discussion, a committee was formed under committee founder Victor Parker in 2017 to establish a driving tour. It was soon decided that the Civil War History could be the focal point of the trail. A local woman, and professor at Freed-Hardeman University, by the name of Laquita Thomson was assigned the role of historian. Kent Geno, head of Cook Coggin Engineering, Inc. became an active member of the committee, adding professional analysis and map services.
The Southern Trail | The Driving Tour Begins (Est. 2018)
By early 2018, the committee had decided that the trail would involve a driving tour of relevant sites. Several public meetings were held. Tennessee Representative Steve McDaniel, who had helped develop Parker's Crossroads Civil War site, attended one of these meetings and suggested we contact historian Dr. Carroll Van West at Middle Tennessee State University. Thomson met with Dr. West in August of 2018 and on September 27, 2018, we had our first official driving tour with Dr. West and his assistants, representatives from the Tennessee Historical Commission and Historic Preservation, the Tennessee Wars Commission, Representative McDaniel, and local politicians. Dr. West, as representative of the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area came two other times to Michie and helped finalize the driving tour.
Middle Tennessee State University and the MTSU Center for Historic Preservation prepared a large, illustrated brochure with a fold out map and photos of each numbered stop of the tour. These brochures proved so popular that the few remaining ones are given out sparingly. Instead, and in accordance with our present budget, we have prepared a rack card that contains the text and a smaller map. The rack card also contains a QR code that links to our Facebook page. A QR code is also found on each of the signs along the route.
The Northern Trail (Est. 2026)
On the break of the 2nd annual Old Monterey Heritage Festival in June of 2026, the Committee announced the release of the northern trail -- as the former trail only showed a handful of locations between the Mississippi state-line and the northern end of the city limits. The new trail, complete with the southern trail, stretches all the way from the state-line to Shiloh and Pebble Hill, south of Stantonville. The trail is now comprised of twenty-eight total stops, with fifteen southern tops and thirteen northern stops.
Statistics
Established: 2018
Years of Development: 9
Total Tourist Stops: 28
Project Gallery
