re: My first ever visit to Natchitoches last week

Natchitoches was on the network of trails that ran overland from the East Coast all the way to Mexico City-the Cumberland Road to Nashville, thence to Natchez via the Natchez Trace, thence across Louisiana to the Texas border via the Three Notches/Harrisonburg Road, thence via the El Camino Real to Mexico City. Just about anyone of significance in the history of the region that would become the southwestern United States passed through there at one time or another.