Photo: Public domain, U.S. National Archives (via Wikimedia Commons)
Length
1 day
Total distance
248.4 mi
Driving time
5 h 12 min
Est. tolls
$0
Stops
5
Driving
Moderate
Best months
Apr–May, Sep–Oct
Budget
$
A one-day, one-way drive from Nashville to Memphis that skips most of I-40: 248.4 miles and about 5 h 12 min of driving with no tolls, the Natchez Trace Parkway, catfish on the Tennessee River, Shiloh and a Mississippi riverfront finish.
Drive time5 h 12 min
Distance248.4 mi
Est. tolls$0
Meriwether Lewis Monument: the explorer's grave on the Natchez Trace Parkway
Shiloh National Military Park: film, then the Hornets' Nest and Pittsburg Landing
Hagy's Catfish Hotel: river catfish a few minutes from the battlefield
The story
Nashville to Memphis is a three-hour I-40 errand. This version trades most of the interstate for the Natchez Trace Parkway, a river-country lunch and one of the Civil War's best-preserved battlefields, and still reaches the Mississippi riverfront before dark.
You leave the capital on Hillsboro Pike and stretch your legs in Leiper's Fork, a small Williamson County village of old storefronts. Then you join the Trace and stay on it for about 43 miles of hardwood forest, with a pause at the Meriwether Lewis Monument at milepost 385.9. From there it is US-64 west toward the Tennessee River and a catfish lunch at Hagy's, a few minutes from Shiloh National Military Park, where the film and a few tour stops (Hornets' Nest first) take about two hours.
The last leg is the long one, 130 minutes west on US-64 through Selmer, Bolivar and Somerville, with about 12 miles of freeway near Memphis. Tom Lee Park on the river is the finish.
It adds roughly two hours of driving over I-40, but only the last stretch is plain road. Two alternatives (Corinth and US-72, or Pickwick Lake and Tupelo) are in the options.
Day by day
1
Day 1 · 11 stops
Nashville to Memphis by the Natchez Trace and Shiloh
Leave Nashville at 7:30, stretch in Leiper's Fork, drive the Natchez Trace to the Meriwether Lewis Monument, lunch on the Tennessee River at Hagy's, tour Shiloh, then take US-64 to Tom Lee Park in Memphis for about 4:50 pm.
Logistics7:30 AM · 15 min
Start in Nashville: Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park
This is only the departure point: any Nashville coffee or fuel stop near the Capitol works equally well. Fill the tank and go. A 7:30 start gets you onto the Trace before mid-morning and leaves a full afternoon at Shiloh; mid-October sunset in Memphis is after 6 pm.
Photo: CC BY-SA 3.0, Thegreenj / Wikimedia Commons
Time
15 minutes to fuel, load up and go
Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park
600 James Robertson Pkwy, Nashville, TN 37243
Season: Typically open year-round; check current hours and access
South out of Nashville on Hillsboro Pike (US-431), then west on TN-46 into the rolling horse country of Williamson County. The first 20 minutes depend on morning traffic; after that the road quiets down.
A small Williamson County village that grew up beside the old Natchez Trace and is a National Register historic district, with Queen Anne and Craftsman buildings, galleries and antique shops along Old Hillsboro Road. Treat this as a 30-minute leg-stretch and look around; shop and cafe hours vary, so confirm any business you want to visit.
Photo: CC BY 2.0, Sardonic G / Wikimedia Commons
Leiper's Fork (Old Hillsboro Road)
Old Hillsboro Rd, Franklin, TN 37064
Season: Typically open year-round; shop hours vary
Join the Natchez Trace Parkway at Leiper's Fork and stay on it: a two-lane, no-fee road through hardwood forest, with pull-offs for Jackson Falls and Baker Bluff Overlook if you want an extra leg-stretch.
Meriwether Lewis Monument and Grinder's Stand site
The 1848 broken granite column marks the grave of the explorer who died at Grinder's Stand in October 1809, with a pioneer cemetery and the stand's site close by. A short walk covers it; the log-cabin exhibit and information building at the site is seasonal, so plan the stop around the grounds, not the exhibits.
Photo: Public domain, U.S. National Archives (via Wikimedia Commons)
Keep going south on the Trace for about 16 miles, then follow US-64 west through Wayne and Hardin counties toward the Tennessee River, finishing on TN-22 and the short lane to Hagy's.
A family-run catfish house on the Tennessee River a few minutes from the battlefield, serving since 1938. Whole fish and catfish filets come with hushpuppies, sides and salad; the site shows entrees around $19-22, with homemade pies. Closed Mondays, so this plan assumes a Wednesday.
Meal
Lunch
Cuisine
Southern catfish and river food
Price
$$
Hagy's Catfish Hotel
1140 Hagy Ln, Shiloh, TN 38376
Hours: Tue-Thu and Sun 11 am-8 pm; Fri-Sat 11 am-9 pm; closed Mon (official site)
Season: Typically open Tue-Sun; check current hours
Shiloh Battlefield Visitor Center and driving tour
Start with the orientation film (shown on the hour, 9 am to 4 pm), then drive the numbered self-guided tour; the stops are a short drive from the visitor center. Hornets' Nest (stop 10), Peach Orchard, Bloody Pond and Pittsburg Landing on the river are the ones worth getting out for. No entrance fee; the grounds close at dusk.
Photo: NPS Photo/Mekow
Time
About 1 h 45 min covers the film and the main tour stops; the full tour takes longer
Fee
Free
Parking
Free lot at the visitor center
Shiloh Battlefield Visitor Center
1055 Pittsburg Landing Rd, Shiloh, TN 38376
Hours: Visitor center 9 am-5 pm daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day; grounds dawn to dusk
TN-142, US-45, US-64 / US-64 Business, I-40, Sam Cooper Blvd, US-72
The long afternoon haul: TN-142 and US-45 to US-64, then US-64 straight west through Selmer, Bolivar and Somerville with long fields and small-town courthouse squares. Expect about 12 miles of freeway (I-40 and Sam Cooper Boulevard) near Memphis.
Walk out onto the Mississippi riverfront below downtown for the Memphis Flyway elevated walkway, the Hammock Grove and the big river view. The park is open daily from 6 am to 30 minutes after sunset, so this works as a golden-hour finish in autumn and spring, with Beale Street a short walk away.
Tom Lee Park
Riverside Dr, Memphis, TN 38103
Hours: Daily 6 am to 30 minutes after sunset (official site)
Season: Typically open year-round; check current hours
Same morning as the main plan, but after Shiloh continue to Corinth, Mississippi, for the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center (another free battlefield site, open 9-5 daily per the park's hours), then take US-72 west through the Mississippi and Tennessee line country into Memphis. Adds about 22 miles and 28 minutes versus the main plan: a longer afternoon with a second Civil War chapter in place of the Bolivar-Somerville US-64 run.
Alternative route
Alternative route: Shiloh, Corinth and US-72
Same morning as the main plan, but after Shiloh continue to Corinth, Mississippi, for the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center (another free battlefield site, open 9-5 daily per the park's hours), then take US-72 west through the Mississippi and Tennessee line country into Memphis. Adds about 22 miles and 28 minutes versus the main plan: a longer afternoon with a second Civil War chapter in place of the Bolivar-Somerville US-64 run.
Take the Trace to Meriwether Lewis as in the main plan, then cut southwest to Pickwick Landing State Park on the Tennessee River and drop into Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis Presley's birthplace, before running west to Memphis on TN-57 and TN-385. Adds about 15 miles and 13 minutes versus the main plan; the rural TN-57 stretch is the trade-off. Skips Shiloh.
Alternative route
Alternative route: Pickwick Lake and Tupelo
Take the Trace to Meriwether Lewis as in the main plan, then cut southwest to Pickwick Landing State Park on the Tennessee River and drop into Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis Presley's birthplace, before running west to Memphis on TN-57 and TN-385. Adds about 15 miles and 13 minutes versus the main plan; the rural TN-57 stretch is the trade-off. Skips Shiloh.
Distance
263 mi
Drive time
5 h 25 min
Toll
$0
Via
US-431, TN-46, Natchez Trace Parkway, US-64, TN-22 / TN-57 to Pickwick Landing, Tupelo, then TN-57 and TN-385 west to Memphis
Assumption. Wednesday departure at 7:30 am. Hagy's is closed Mondays and the Meriwether Lewis exhibit building is seasonal, so weekdays other than Monday work best.
Driving rhythm. 36 min to Leiper's Fork (30-min stretch), 59 min on the Trace to Meriwether Lewis (40 min), 80 min to lunch, 7 min to Shiloh (about 1 h 45 min), then 2 h 10 min to Memphis. Total 248.4 miles and 5 h 12 min of driving; the whole day runs about 7:30 am to 5:30 pm. Swap drivers at lunch; Bolivar is a natural fuel and restroom break on the last leg.
Tolls. None on this route: the router finds no tolled road and the Natchez Trace Parkway has no fees. Tennessee's planned I-24 Choice Lanes (Nashville to Murfreesboro) are not built and are not on this route. Total tolls: $0.
Season. Best in spring and from late September through October. Sunset in Memphis is 6:26 pm on Oct 14 and 6:06 pm on Oct 31, but 5:04 pm on Nov 2 after the clocks change, so from November shorten Shiloh to about 1 hour or skip the Memphis finish.
Current conditions (as of 2026-10-14). Tennessee State Parks posts a notice of ongoing improvements and temporary closures at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park; the start point is only a meeting spot. The Natchez Trace Parkway is closed between mileposts 437 and 440 (Birdsong Hollow Double Arch Bridge) from April 2026 to May 2027; this route joins the Trace at Leiper's Fork, south of the closure. Check the Parkway's road-and-site-status page and 1-800-305-7417 before leaving.
Confirm before you go. Opening hours and prices come from the businesses' and parks' own sites; confirm before you go.
Want live alerts and up-to-date info?
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Good to know: distances and drive times are typical figures without live traffic, and where routes are shown the route data comes from OpenStreetMap contributors. Toll amounts are estimates and change often, so check them in the DriftKin planner or with the toll authority before you plan around them. Opening hours, fees, prices, permits and closures also change, so confirm with the park or business before you go.
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