My Favorite Tour Day in Mississippi

Today was an American history day. Jackson is right on the 400 mile Natchez Trace which is now a National Parkway. The Trace goes back to prehistoric times. It was originally a game trail of the Eastern Bison and mastadons. These animals were hunted by the prehistoric people who evolved into the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians. The Trace became the 'highway' between Indidan villages. When whites entered the region, flat boats were poled down the Mississippi River, and the Kaintucks (the whites who were taking their goods to market via the river) then walked back home up the Natchez Trace. In the late 18th and early 19th century, this was the main farm to market road between Nashville and Natchez. It was common to drive pigs or turkeys up and down the Trace to market. As Drake commented, this was the interstate highway of the early 19th century. It died overnight with the advent of steamboats which went down the Mississippi River and also UP. Who wouldn't rather take a boat than walk? (Of course it was a crap shoot to take a boat since their boilers exploded with depressing regularity - especially in the early days.)

Early in the 19th century, there were homesteads settled that catered to travelers offering food and shelter - such as Dean's Stand. Towns were founded along the Trace - especially where there was potable water such as Rocky Springs. Drake is standing in the middle of the Sunken Trace which is actually park of the original Trace. You can see that it's just a pathway.

Then, there was Port Gibson - a port on the Mississippi Riveer where plantations could ship their cotton down to New Orleans eventually winding up as raw material in the new English textile factories. Port Gibson has the remnants of the kind of money and power that King Cotton can produce. There are beautiful churches and homes down the main drag.

We drove out into the countryside to see the columns of Windsor. These are all that is left of a 23 room mansion. They are the most photographed scene in Mississipp. The plantation mansion these were a part of was completed in 1860 - talk about timing, huh? It gets worse. The owner DIED 2 weeks after he finished building the mansion. By the looks of the place, you'd think the house was destroyed during the Civil War, but no, it survived the war - a cigarette on a pile of trash in 1890 destroyed it. These things are huge - see Drake for perspective. They are made out of brick with a stucco covering with an intricately carved top out of limestone. These pillars are the middle of the country, and the drive to get to them from Port Gibson was beautiful in that kudzu covered rural South way.

Port Gibson is a small town with a huge number of pre Civil War buildings. The Civil War legend is that Grant declared Port Gibson "too beautiful to burn". That's now the town's motto. The main street is called "Church Street" because of the large number of churches (and the oldest synagogue in Mississippi). The synagogue (see left) actually looks like a mosque! The Catholic Church is really special. (see right) It has blue windows which gives the interior a really eerie lighting effect. It had a very holy feeling. This church had wonderful paintings and sculptures which were exquisitely rendered.

Another place we saw today was Alcorn State University which has a chapel built in 1836. Alcorn State was formed in 1871 with the reconstruction state government buying an existing college and re-incorporating it as a black teacher's college. It is also the first black land grant college in the United States. The unusual thing is Alcorn State just pops up in the middle of rural Mississippi - it was amazing how big it was. I'm talking the middle of nowhere. There's an actual dairy on the campus as well as research facilities for food and plants. Anyway, the chapel is from the first college, and the stairs in the front are actually wrought iron with designs and flowers under the treads. It's one of the best examples of Greek Revival architecture in the United States.

We finished our day today with a trip to the double AA Mississippi Braves ballpark which just happens to be within 2 miles from our hotel. It's a really nice park except for the fact it was a sauna. UGH! How do people stand this climate? However, we toughed it out because it was also FIREWORKS NIGHT! Oh, Boy! You can see why I called this my favorite Mississippi day.

Today, though, was mostly about driving the Trace which I would recommend. It's a narrow ribbon of perfectly smooth highway with tall trees coming right up to the edge of the road. There are no trucks allowed on the Trace, and it possesses the utter beauty that only the deep South can produce in the heighth of summer - so tranquil, so verdant, so compelling. This was a walk back in time.