M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i

As we left Louisiana and headed to Vicksburg, Mississippi, we enjoyed seeing several lovely small towns in Louisiana, including St. Francisville. We stayed two nights in Natchez, a beautiful small town on the Mississippi River founded in 1716. It had an informative visitor center that included a summary of its history along with brochures, maps, etc. We decided to take the boys and walk along one of several 'trails' in the historic downtown area. We admired the many beautiful old homes, mansions and businesses. We also visited the City Cemetery, which had some interesting tomb sculptures - and lots of local history. Not sure about ghosts.

Before leaving Natchez, we stopped at the Melrose Plantation, a part of the National Natchez Historical Park. Our timing was off, so we didn't get to tour the interior of the plantation, although we wandered around the grounds for a short while. There are so many old mansions in the South, it's overwhelming. We have mixed feelings about visiting them as they reflect the terrible history of white owners who got rich on the backs of the slaves. The architecture is amazing, but the history not so much.

We decided to drive about 30 miles on the Natchez Trace Parkway, yet another US National Park, that starts, naturally, in Natchez! It's a lovely, 444 mile stretch of highway with no road signs. It was definitely not "Anywhere USA", as we describe so many sites in the USA (you know, the same box stores, big and strip malls, etc. on every corner). It was just us, the two-lane parkway and nature. Oh, and every few miles a historical site: We stopped and visited Emerald Mound, a 3000 year old ceremonial mound created by the American Indian tribes from the region. We also visited Mount Locust Inn & Plantation, one of the oldest structures surviving in the area that served as both a residence, cotton plantation and inn for travelers over the years.

We exited the Trace Parkway and made a side trip to see the Windsor Ruins, just south of Port Gibson. The ruins are the remaining Corinthian column of what was the largest antebellum Greek Revival mansion ever built in the state (thank you, Internet). The Ruins were haunting - and beautiful. We were glad to have made this out-of-the-way stop.

We drove through Port Gibson, another historic small town and happened to notice an unusual steeple on the First Presbyterian Church on main street. It had a large gold finger pointing up to the sky. We later learned the church and steeple were completed in 1860 and the finger was initially carved out of wood. It is now metal and was plated in real gold in the 1990's. It is known as 'the most famous finger in Mississippi". (again, thank you Internet!).

We stayed in Vicksburg in a RV park operated by the Ameristar Casino, which is situated on the Mississippi River. The price was right and it afforded us time to relax, explore the historic town of Vicksburg and the Vicksburg National Military Park, operated by the US National Park Service. We continue to sing praises to our nation's park service. Our extra time in the city also allowed me to do some prep work for our income taxes - a bit more challenging on the road. We caught a free shuttle from the RV park to the casino so we could have lunch there - and we left about $30 in their slot machines. We decided that was enough and didn't return to the casino.

We spent an entire day visiting the National Military Park. There were numerous memorial monuments and a few buildings that managed to survive the battles in the Civil War for control of the Mississippi River. The Park also has a small museum dedicated to the iron-clad gunboat Cairo, along with the boat itself that was salvaged in the 1960's and restored (as much as possible). We both reflected on that war and the thousands who died fighting - on both sides.

The historic downtown of Vicksburg was very nice and similar to Natchez, had many beautiful old homes - large and small. I am trying to restrain myself from taking too many more photos of these houses.

We headed north and stopped in Cleveland to visit the new Grammy Museum-Mississippi. The grand opening was the day before. The museum was still celebrating the opening with special events and live music planned the day we visited. It was great fun - a very interactive museum with - you got it - great music! We could have spent several hours there, but pushed on towards Clarksdale. I had read somewhere on the internet that this small town was supposed to be really pretty. If it was, we didn't find that part! The only RV park was at the county fairgrounds, so we spent the night there before heading east across the state.

We stopped in Oxford, home to the University of Mississippi - "Ole Miss" and the home of author William Faulkner. We drove around the town's historic and pretty town square and stopped at Faulkner's home, Rowan Oak. It was closed, so no chance to tour the interior. We spent our last night in Mississippi in Tupelo. We couldn't visit MS without seeing the birthplace of Elvis Presley, although neither of us have ever been his fan. We wandered around his birthplace home, his family's first church (moved onto the site) and I went into the little Elvis museum while Jim kept the boys company in the RV.

And now we're in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. We'll see what AL brings us in terms of discovery and adventure.

Mammy's Cupboard - Natchez