NATCHEZ TRACE MILEPOST 386 &045; Just 60 miles south of Nashville, visitors on the Natchez Trace Parkway come upon a small paved road flanked on either side by a thick stand of oak trees.

Marked by a wooden sign carved with the name &uot;Meriweather Lewis,&uot; this dark shaded lane leads travelers deeper into the Tennessee woods.

Suddenly the trees open up to a sunlit clearing punctuated by a single lone monument &045; a broken column atop a pyramid of rough-hewn stone.

Just as mysterious as discovering this monument in the middle of the forest far from any populated town is the mystery surrounding the fate of the man to which the marker is dedicated.

Explorer, soldier, presidential secretary and writer, 35-year-old Meriweather Lewis was found clinging to life one October morning along the Natchez Trace with wounds to his head and chest.

Did this promising statesman take his own life? Was he done in by robbers along the trace? Was there some other unknown reason for this violent death?

In this section of the Trace, visitors can read about the history of one of America’s great explorers and about his mysterious demise.

Born near Charlottesville, Va., in 1774, Lewis was the second of three children born to William and Lucy Lewis. Despite many hardships of his childhood, including the death of his father when Lewis was 5, Lewis excelled in the military. With some speed, Lewis became a captain in the army by age 26.

Seeing great promise in the soldier, Thomas Jefferson asked Lewis to be his personal secretary in 1801 &045; a position Lewis took with great relish.

By 1803, when the U.S. Congress was planning an exploration into the Louisiana Purchase, Jefferson assigned Lewis to be the leader of the expedition.

Jefferson made preparation for Lewis and his partner William Clark to receive instruction from the finest scientists of the day.

Leaving in July 1803 and returning to great fanfare in 1805, Lewis and Clark made great contributions to exploration and the world of science and sociology. With them, Lewis and Clark brought knowledge of new plants and animal and sociological studies of the Native Americans they encountered.

In 1807, Jefferson rewarded Lewis with the governorship of the Upper Louisiana Territory, whose headquarters were stationed in St. Louis.

Unfortunately his administration was plagued with debt and political corruption.

Unable to resolve the many problems associated with his administration, Lewis set off for Washington, D.C., to discuss financial matters.

Traveling down the Mississippi River, Lewis opted to take the more direct, but more dangerous, overland route from Memphis to D.C.

This put Lewis on the Natchez Trace.

According to Lynne Bachleda in her &uot;Guide to the Natchez Trace,&uot; some historians say Lewis had been prone to depression and probably took his own life near Grinder’s Inn. Others suspect Lewis succumbed to robbers along the route.

In 1848, the state of Tennessee erected a monument over his gravesite &045; a broken shaft symbolizing the untimely end to his life.

To this day, this promising explorer and statesman’s death still remains a mystery &045; a mystery found deep in the Tennessee woods.