Traveling the Trace–Day 1

We started on the Natchez Trace on Friday and since we had already visited several points of interest earlier we drove to the first campground, Rocky Springs, only about 50 miles up the Trace.  We planned to stay 2 nights, traveling south from Rocky Springs to see points of interest and then north about 30 miles to Vicksburg.

But on our way to Rocky Springs we stopped at the Sunken Trace pullout. There was enough room for our RV and Jeep and then another rig pulled in and parked beside and a little behind us since there was room for only one rig.  We met Paul & Peggy Snively and walked to the Sunken Trace together.  We soon became friends, exchanged business cards, and hope to meet up with them again on the Trace. They are new full-timers and excited to learn about rallies, blogs, and other resources for RV’ers.  We’ll be sending them lots of information soon.

This sunken area below is the exact path walked on by thousands sailors who came down the Mississippi on barges carrying goods, sold both the goods and the barges and walked back to Nashville on the Trace.

One of the stops we really wanted to see was Windsor Ruins.  This is an image that once you see it it will stay in your memory forever.  Windsor was once a 2,600 acre plantation that was a Union Hospital and observatory post so it was never burned during the Civil War.  But in 1890 someone left a cigar burning in one of the upper rooms and the mansion burned down.  The only thing left were 23 columns, balustrades, and the iron stairs. 

The columns are in a state of decay and some have fallen down over the 120 years since the fire.  There were chains restricting any access to the structure as it was too dangerous.

After we parked and set up we drove to the Battle of Port Gibson.  This was the beginning of the Siege of Vicksburg.  The house below was a hospital for the Union and the front porch served as the operating room.  There was a picture of piles of arms and legs that had been amputated. 

Tom tried being a part of living history by portraying the Union soldier marching up the road when the Confederate soldier shot him. 

After all this history we were getting hungry.  We read the suggestion of a restaurant in Lorman, that had the Best Fried Chicken in Mississippi. We backtracked 10 miles to the Country Store.  We were a little reluctant to eat here, but we went in and had the most amazing lunch: fried chicken, mac’n’cheese, collard greens, sweet potatoes, dirty rice, beans, corn on the cob, salads, sweet tea.  We vowed we would not eat for days.

Mr. D’s Country Store VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We then drove into Vicksburg to the Vicksburg National Military Park.  This is a 16 mile long tour of the battlefield of the 10 week siege of Vicksburg by the Union. This is very similar to the tour of Gettysburg with all the state’s battalions marked with blue signs for the Union and red signs for the Confederates.  This sign is for our grandson, Logan.

There were huge monuments and small markers, there were cannons, and explanations of what was happening during the siege.

Touring the battlefield VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We ended our driving tour at the Cairo Museum.  The museum was just closing so we took a lot of pictures of the Cairo and planned to return on Saturday. We drove back to Rocky Springs – NO DINNER THAT NIGHT – WE WERE STILL FULL.

Saturday we drove back into Vicksburg starting our morning at the Waffle House. Then back to the Cairo Museum.  The Cairo was an Ironclad gunboat that was part of the Union Navy.  It was sunk by a mine in the Mississippi and sunk in 11 minutes.  No man was lost.  It was raised after 100+ years and is now beautifully displayed.  The place where the mine struck the Cairo can be seen in the front left side of the ship.

The ship is over 51 feet wide and 175 feet long. It had 11 cannons and was a steam paddle wheel that was designed to patrol both deep and shallow waters of interior rivers during the war.  She was one of six similar ships called “city class” gunboats.

The paddle wheels were just a jumbled mess when brought up from their watery grave and are now just beautiful. 

We stayed Saturday night again at Rocky Springs, but planned to move up to Jeff Busey campground Sunday.  These campgrounds on the Trace are free, nicely paved and are quite private in the woods. We dry camp. More tomorrow…

Natchez–Day 2 & 3

Day 2

Our campground, Natchez State Park, is directly east across Highway 61 from the Emerald Mound.  So the next day we drove there before driving the Trace into Natchez.  This is another example of the existence of a community of Indians that lived between 1300 and 1600 A.D. in what is now the United States.  We first discovered the Cahokia Mounds just north and a little east of St. Louis a couple of years ago.  They were the largest.  The Emerald Mound is the second largest. 

We were feeling pretty adventurous so we walked to the top, then found there was another mound above that and there were 50 steps more to the very top.  50 steps both ways! 

We made it and the view was pretty amazing. We were able to see how the mounds were laid out. We could see the small mound in the distance across the top of the high mound. There are 3 levels shown here; we are at the top, the path is on the middle level and the street in the distance is at the bottom.

We left for Natchez and headed for the Longwood Mansion.  Tom had seen a PBS special on America’s Castles a number of years ago and this was highest on his list of things to see in Natchez.  This is a beautiful mansion from the outside.  It is the largest octagonal home in the United States.  If it had been finished it would be 30,000 square feet.

There is a very interesting story behind this antebellum octagonal mansion built by Dr. Haller Nutt.  It was begun before the Civil War, called the War Between the States by our tour guide.  When the war started there were many craftsmen working on this.  The framework and outside was completed, but the interior was still a shell when all the workers fled because of the War; it was then known as Nutt’s Folly. The family finished the basement and moved in and continued to live there for over 100 years.  Photographs are forbidden in the living quarters, but allowed in the main part of the house.

Longwood Upstairs VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The grounds were sooooo Southern: huge oaks, Spanish moss, porches and balconies.  This was a perfect destination for an old woodshop teacher.  Tom was in his element.

Outside views of Longwood VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

If only it had been finished, we could only imagine how beautiful it would have been. To learn more about Longwood, click here.

Day 3

We decided to drive the first part of the Trace in the Jeep as it was easier to get around the pull-out areas.  Our first  stop was at Mount Locust, a stop for the travelers on the Old Trace and there was also a Ranger Station here.  This home was built around 1780 and is one of the oldest structures in Mississippi.  It was both a working Plantation and an Inn on the Trace.

Inside Mount Locust VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Tom tried out the boot scraper.  He said it worked just fine on his shoes, too.

Now it was time to try a couple of caches and have lunch at Magnolia Grill Under the Hill.  So we drove back on the Trace to see where the Terminus was in Natchez. 

We had a beautiful view of the Mississippi with several barges being shoved up the river.

To help us digest our lunch of Crawdad Po-Boy for me and a Catfish Sandwich for Tom, shared Sweet Potato Fries and Sweet Tea, we walked WAY up the hill to get a cache.  We then had to walk back down the hill, this time next to the bluff.  Tom hung over the edge (I hung onto his pants) to reach the cache.  We got a Travel Bug and left 2 TB’s. (Spoiler below)

 

The saddest story we learned about Natchez was the role it played in the slave trade.  There were not the auction blocks that were in Alexandria, VA, there were ‘slave stores’.  These were areas where slaves were on display and on sale for a price.  There was such a demand for slaves that when a chain gang of slaves was brought in there was sale at Forks in the Road. They were even ‘marketed’ – so very, very sad.

 

On our way back to the park we tried to get several caches, but they were too far into the woods and we are just not good 'bush-whackers’.  We did manage to get one that was close to the road though.  These are the days we love… good food, good history and a couple of caches. 

We head for the Trace tomorrow

Natchez–Day 1

We had a nice uneventful drive from Hampton, AR. into Natchez.  We took the slightly longer but easier drive on I-20 as the back roads in Arkansas were a little too winding with lower tree branches that Tom hates to hit.  I-20 while well used is a 4 lane divided highway with wildflowers still in bloom along the way. 

We stopped for lunch at a rest stop where Tom had his now favorite “quick stop lunch”, sardines and crackers.  Between Tom’s sardines and Pansy’s Tuna in Gravy, the RV smells like a fish market.  Thankfully we have our Scentsy room air freshener plugged in with some real beautiful scents to cover the fishy aroma; my favorite Titanium.  We continued on crossing the Mighty Mississippi where I again had to get a picture of the bridge. I love taking bridge and river pictures so what could be better than this?

We pulled into the Natchez State Park about 8 miles north of Natchez about 5:00 and found our site, #35, a 51 foot back-in with water and electricity.  It was a perfect spot, not too close to neighbors, so quiet that we almost couldn’t get to sleep, and a beautiful view.  The only down side was we had a low phone signal and a couple of calls were dropped. Funny thing was, the data signal was good. Go figure… it’s Verizon.  We ate left-overs: Patty Chance’s wonderful Mac’n Cheese, Teriyaki chicken and corn.  Delicious.

The next morning we drove the short distance to the Ranger Station and signed up for another night. For $13 a night this park just can’t be beat.

 

We then drove into Natchez and by this time, 11:30, we were getting hungry.  I had checked all the best rated restaurants in Natchez and we chose Biscuits and Blues – a perfect choice.  I had dry-rubbed BBQ chicken with 2 sides, sweet potato casserole and corn casserole.  Just writing about this makes my mouth water.  It was large enough for leftovers so I brought home exactly half and had the rest for dinner that night.  Tom had a Shrimp Po-Boy and called it delicious.

 

We then drove over to the visitor center, saw a movie on Natchez, picked up a lot of brochures on what to see in Natchez and talked to Bobby, the lady in the information booth. What a delight. She was a native Mississippian and we talked about Natchez and its history for quite a while.  We meet the nicest, friendliest, interesting people as we travel.  It had just started to rain as we left the Visitor Center and the patio area looked so pretty.

We then took a drive around Natchez to get a feel of where we would be visiting in the next couple of days.  One of the feature buildings in Natchez is the Grand Hotel.

Other areas, not quite so grand, but every bit as interesting was the downtown area. Tom found the architecture interesting in how the builders solved the sloping street and the level doorways problem.  I just found it artistic.  What do you think?

We drove down to the area of Natchez which is along the river called Under the Hill.  This is where the gamblers, ‘ladies of the night’, dance halls and other businesses would take the hard earned money of those who brought their goods to Natchez or New Orleans on flatboats, sell everything and walk back up the Natchez Trace to Nashville and points north.

Today it is the Casino riverboat that takes the hard earned money of gamblers.

Our main destination this day was the William Johnson House. Johnson was called the Barber of Natchez.  He was a freed slave whose story is incredibly interesting, mostly because he was a blogger.  Oops, a journalist.  He would journal every day about his business dealings, the events of the day which included stabbings and killings in Natchez, and his family.  Seventeen binders of his writings were found in the attic long after his death and have been the source of many African American studies since. We visited the museum and house, part of the National Park System.

Barber of Natchez VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We then walked around the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River.

On the Bluffs VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

After all that walking, looking for a cache that we could not find, we were ready to drive back to the Natchez State Park for dinner, Blue Bell Ice Cream and a little TV before bed.  Tomorrow – Natchez Day 2.

NOTE:  We are on the Natchez Trace right now with no phone/data signal. We will try to post these blogs as we get near a town and a signal.