Meriwether Lewis is the Lewis of the famous Lewis and Clark exploring duo. In 1809, Lewis, while he was the governor of the Louisiana Territory was travelling the old Natchez Trace, when he stopped at an Inn, Grinder's Stand. Lewis was later found with two gunshot wounds, possibly self-inflicted or possibly an unsolved murder.
In 1848, Tennessee erected this broken column monument, symbolizing Lewis's untimely death at age 35. In 1925, President Coolidge designated this a National Monument. The county where this lies became Lewis County in 1843. In 1961, this monument and park became under the oversignt of the Natchez Trace Parkway, and also maintains a campground here.
On its east side is the following inscription:
In the language of Mr. Jefferson:— "His courage was undaunted; his firmness and perseverance yielded to nothing but impossibilities; a rigid disciplinarian yet tender as a father of those committed to his charge; honest, disinterested, liberal, with a sound understanding and a scupulous fidelity to truth."
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