Natchez Trace: Metal Ford, Hohenfeld TN
N 35° 27.802 W 087° 28.750
16S E 456523 N 3924536
Metal Ford, a historic site along the Natchez Trace Parkway near Hohenfeld TN
Waymark Code: WMWYQD
Location: Tennessee, United States
Date Posted: 10/31/2017
Views: 1
Metal Ford is located at mile marker 381.1 on the Natchez Trace Parkway.
From the Natchez Trace Travel website: (
visit link)
“I was roused from this melancholy reverie by the roaring of Buffalo River, which I forded with great difficulty.” Alexander Wilson, 1811
Here travelers on the Natchez Trace crossed the river which was fordable except after heavy rains. The ford takes its name from its stone bottom, which reminded frontier travelers of stone-surfaced or “metaled” roads of the day.
A 5 minute stroll beyond Metal Ford leads you beside the Buffalo River to the McLish stand exhibit and then back to this point by way of the historic mill race.
Steele's Iron Works - Here about 1820 stood a charcoal burning furnace used to manufacture pig iron. All that remain of this pioneer enterprise are the slag pile and the evidence of a millrace used to bring water from the Buffalo River to operate the furnace's air blasting machinery."