Tupelo Celebrates Hispanic Heritage

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TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) — Very few places in North America can claim a longer Hispanic heritage than Tupelo.

And to commemorate National Hispanic Heritage Month the Natchez Trace Parkway hosted a living history encampment at the park headquarters representing the expedition of Hernando de Soto who explored the area 475 years ago. Visitors learned about de Soto’s interaction with the Chickasaw Indians who inhabited the area before the European’s arrival.

Park Ranger Terry Wildy says de Soto really didn’t get the riches he came looking for.

“He did spend as close as we could tell the winter of 1540-1541 in the Tupelo area and headed out and crossed the river and de Soto himself actually died along the way and his men headed south. It was not a real productive expedition for Spain. But certainly he tried,” wildy says.

Wildy says from now through October 2015 the Natchez Trace Visitors Center will feature and exhibit and film commemorating Hispanic Heritage Month. The Tombigbee Pioneer Group also put on a demonstration of life for pioneers in the area from the 1700’s to 1840. The visitors is on the parkway at mile post 266.

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