Wandering America
April 2008
| Natchez, Mississippi We left Baton Rouge on Friday, April 4th and drove two and a half hours to Natchez, Mississippi (actually we stayed at Riverview RV Park in Vidalia, Louisiana, just across the Mississippi River from Natchez). We managed to get into to our site and set up before the rains came. Somehow we arrived in time for the "severe weather" warning but it wasn't really too bad - only a few thunder showers with the real bad stuff staying to the north of us. Between showers we made a run over the river to visit the Natchez Welcome Center where we viewed a movie about the History of Natchez. Friday Evening Natchez is the oldest settlement on the Mississippi which was established by the French while exploring the river. The French built a fort on top of the bluff but it was the Spanish who eventually laid out the "city streets". Later the English influenced the culture as they began to settle in Natchez. Being that it is the first really high land north of New Orleans it was selected by wealthy planters for building their homes back when cotton was king. Many of those Antebellum Mansions remain today and are open to the public for viewing with the hosts and hostesses being costumed in the period. Tickets can be purchased at the Natchez Welcome Center. Next we did a drive through the city to get the "lay of the land". During our short drive we found our way to Natchez Under the Hill. Natchez is built on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River and below it there was an area of flat land that ran several miles along the river. This was the working waterfront where the supplies ships would arrive and the cotton ships were loaded and departed. In times past it was the "rough part of town" but now there is only a small area left known as Silver Street which was the section where the brothels were located. Today it is the home of the Isle of Capri steam paddle boat, which has been turned into a casino, and a few cute little shops. It was a good thing that we did the drive by on Friday because they began closing Silver street off to traffic on Saturday due to the Mighty Mississippi reaching flood stages - the water reached street level and was predicted to rise another three feet by April 15th.  Saturday Have you ever heard of Ferriday, Louisiana? Don't feel bad neither had we, however, it is the birthplace to three well known cousins - Mickey Gilley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Jimmie Swaggart (that's something else we didn't know, that they were cousins). But it doesn't stop there, Ferriday is also the birthplace of Howard K. Smith, a news correspondent for CBS and later ABC, as well as Ann Boyar Warner, the wife of movie mogul Jack L. Warner. Wow, this small little town in the middle of nowhere claiming that many celebrities. The Delta Music Museum which is located in Ferriday was holding it's annual Festival this year honoring the induction of Pete Fountain into their Hall of Fame. The whole town was shut down (yeah, all one street of it) with live music at one end and concession stands line up for all three blocks. We visited the museum and listened to the Northwestern Mississippi Community College Choir; they were very good. We only stayed for a couple of hours but we were glad that we "stumbled" onto it.   After leaving the Festival we drove back to Natchez and visited the home of "The Barber of Natchez". William Johnson was a slave who, at the age of eleven, was emancipated by his slave owner whom was presumed to be his father. He was trained to become a barber and eventually owned and operated three barbershops and a bath house in the city.  We drove up eight miles of the Natchez Trace Parkway to visit Emerald Mound which is the second largest temple mound in the United States. Unlike dome shaped mounds constructed only for burials, Emerald Mound supported temples, ceremonial structures, and burials from about 1300 to 1600 by the Natchez Indians and their ancestors.  As we travel we like to visit wineries that we come across and in Natchez that was the Old South Winery. "The Best in Everything Muscadine" has been our motto since 1979. Muscadines are native to the coastal Deep South and cousins of bunch grapes. The French Huguenots that moved South in the mid 1700's made wine from muscadines, as did the Native Americans before them! (Handout) It was a small winery of which they gave us a tour and wine tasting. Judy and I are not big on muscadine wines but did find one that we enjoyed so we purchased a couple of bottles. John T. McMurran and his wife Mary Lousia built an estate they called Melrose. McMurran was an attorney who moved to Natchez to practice law with his friend and college classmate, John Quitman. He married Mary Lousia Turner who was from an influential family in Natchez. They acquired land and slaves in order to establish a cotton plantation and built house in the late 1840's. Today the estate is maintained by the National Park Service and there is no charge to walk about the property but there is an $8 fee to tour inside the mansion. It was getting late so we decided not to do the inside tour but just to walk around outside.    As you can well imagine there are plenty of good eateries around Natchez but one thing that the south is famous for is BBQ. So we sought out the Pig Out Inn and we were not disappointed. Their ribs were just as good as those that we had at the Blues City Grill in Memphis, if not better. I was tempted to go back to get some more but being that "discretion is the better part of valor" I mustered up some restraint. But those ribs were indeed "finger lickin' good"!!!  Sunday Alan and Norma Mae were our hosts for a Carriage tour of Natchez. Norma Mae was being just a little feisty which annoyed Alan but made for a rather entertaining ride for the rest of us. She kept "flicking" him with her tail and was stubborn about moving on a couple of times during the tour. Alan was a colorful character who was very knowledgeable about the history and legends of downtown Natchez. The tour hit most of the highlights but after the carriage ride Judy and I walked around the town to "snap" a few more pictures. We were told to be sure and visit the St. Mary's Basilica but, being Sunday, worship services were still on going so we were not able to go inside.       That afternoon we walked the two plus mile River Walk that runs from Riverview Campground to the Comfort Inn Suites along the west side of the Mississippi River. This presented us with nice views of the Mississippi River, the river traffic, and Natchez Under the Hill (which I included above). Natchez Trace Parkway The Natchez Indians were a small tribe with a population of approximately 3500 who inhabited the territory around what is known today as Natchez, Mississippi. Their interactions and alliances with the French ultimately led to their demise. The French-Natchez relations ranged from detente to tensions and skirmishes ending in all out war. By 1732 the Natchez tribe was all but annihilated with scattered remnants integrating with the Chickasaws, Cherokees, and Creeks. The Natchez Trace began as trails that the local Indians used for hunting and traveling between tribes. Later, after the Spanish settled the area, Natchez became a trading center and traders would bring their goods down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers on flatboats to Natchez. After the goods were disbursed the traders would dismantle their flatboats and sell the lumber; then they would return home via the Trace which was extended onto Nashville. In 1790 there were approximately 240 boatmen using the Trace and by 1810 there were around 8,000. President Jefferson instructed the army to clear out a road between Nashville and Natchez with mail services beginning in 1800  Our first stop on the Parkway was Rocky Springs Campground which is a National Park Service campground. It has 22 sites which are free based on the "first come, first served" rule. We arrived a little after 11:00 a.m. and were fortunate enough to get the last available site. We only drove about 65 miles from Vidalia so we were on the road about an hour and a half (the speed limit on the trace is 50 m.p.h. - strictly enforced).  Rocky Springs was a small community along the original trace which was named after the springs that provided water to the travelers. As you can see by the population sign the little community no longer exists. All that remains is the Methodist Church that still holds services today. The cisterns ran dry, the land eroded due to over farming, and the boll weevil wiped out the crops so Rocky Springs just ceased to exist.   The Natchez Trace Parkway closely follows the original trace, however, where the Parkway deviates from the original trails the National Park Service has maintained them for people to hike. This is a portion of the original trace that travels around Rocky Springs Campground.  Vicksburg National Battlefield July of 1863 became the turning point of the Civil War for the Union army with the defeat of Gen. Robert E. Lee by Gen. George G. Meade at Gettysburg on the 3rd and the surrender of Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton to Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Vicksburg on the 4th. The Union Army had won the largest battle of the Civil War and cut off the lifeline of the Confederate Army by taking control of the Mississippi River within a two day period. President Abraham Lincoln called Vicksburg "the key" and believed that "the war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket". In April of 1863 Grant had marched his troops along the Louisiana side of the Mississippi River to a point south of Vicksburg where he ferried them across the river to Bruinsburg. He then made his way northeast incurring battles at Point Gibson, Raymond, and Jackson before turning west towards Vicksburg. Once reaching Vicksburg Grant attempted two assaults on the stronghold but he was repulsed. Rather than sacrificing any more troops Grant began a formal siege on the fortification effectively cutting off all supplies. Forty six days later, having run out of provisions (food and ammunition), Gen. Pemberton surrendered on 4 July 1863. President Lincoln stated, "The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the sea." Today the Battlefield is under the supervision of the National Park Service. There is a Visitor's Center with information, exhibits, and a movie giving an overview of the campaign and siege at Vicksburg. The tour consists of a 16 mile drive with 15 stops highlighting the major events of the battle, the USS Cairo Museum, and the Vicksburg National Cemetery . Over 1300 monuments have been erected along the way identifying where troops from each of the states involved were positioned as well as memorializing men and deeds of the campaign.         In 1862 the Union Navy had invested in new boats that were designed specifically for river warfare. These boats, referred to as Ironclads, were being deployed on the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. The USS Cairo was "torpedoed" on December 12, 1862 on the Yazoo River north of Vicksburg and sat on the bottom of the river until it was raised in 1964. Its remnants have been reassembled and are now on display at the USS Cairo Museum which is right across the road from the Vicksburg National Cemetery. USS Cairo The U.S.S. Cairo, a union ironclad was named for Cairo, Illinois and commissioned on January 16, 1862. On December 12, 1862, in the Yazoo River north of Vicksburg, Cairo struck two underwater torpedoes (today called mines) sinking in less than 12 minutes with no loss of life. It became the first ship in history to be sunk by an electrically detonated torpedo. Preserved by mud and silt, Cairo sat on the bottom of the Yazoo River for 102 years. It was raised in 1964, and later restored and the ironclad is now on display in Vicksburg National Military Park.   Visitors From A Far So I'm sitting in my comfy lawn chair reading my latest edition of Motorhome magazine when Judy says, "I just saw a van go by that looked like Gil and Orma's" (Gil and Orma are our next door neighbors at Rainbow Plantation). I made my way down to the intersection that exits the campground and waited to see if it was in fact them - sure enough, here they come. I flagged them down and helped find them a parking space in the already overcrowded campground. After they got situated and filled their bellies they came over to our place with dominoes in hand. Let the games begin - Mexican Train, that is. We had fun playing dominoes and I won, not only did I win but I won big time; not bad for a guy who doesn't generally enjoy playing games. I must admit that I enjoyed playing this one because there is some strategy involved.  "Any Port In A Storm" As we were getting ready to continue our journey up the Natchez Trace the weather reports were forecasting another batch of severe weather heading our way. It seemed that this past winter and spring has had its share of severe weather - not only in the south but across the whole country. Jackson, Mississippi had been hit by several tornadoes the previous Friday so we figured that the odds were in our favor that they would not be hit with tornadoes a second time in a week. So we headed for a campground that was on a list that we received from some other campers at Rocky Springs. We had no other information about the campground and Trailer Life didn't even list them so we figured it would be pretty rough but at least "a port in the storm". Timberlake Campground was a serendipitous find as it is by far one of the best campgrounds that we have ever stayed in with a nightly fee of $22 (We have paid a lot more for a whole lot less). The campground is on a peninsula with lots of sites right on the waterfront and just about all of the sites had a view of the lake. It was well groomed and maintained with large full hook up sites.   Piney Grove Campground in Boonville, Mississippi As we continued up the Trace we decided to spend a few days at the Corps of Engineers Piney Grove Campground. Howard and Linda Payne stayed there last fall and listed this campground as one of their favorites. Howard gave it his top rating of any campground that they had stayed at up to that point (a 9.5 out of 10, he would have given it a 10 if it had sewer hook-ups.    Tiffin Motorhome in Red Bay, Alabama Our friends Dave and Jan Verse were at the Allegro Campground in Red Bay, Alabama, which was only twenty five miles from Piney Grove, so we drove over for a visit and a plant tour of Tiffin Motorhomes. The tour began at the visitor's center with a short movie and then we walked through the production line.  The frame is driven into the production line and the floor is set in place using overhead cranes.   Next the interior walls and appliances are installed followed by the side walls.
  Then the ceiling and fiberglass top are lowered into place and the end caps are attached.
  And,
finally, a completed unit rolls off the line ready to be driven to
the paint shop. As you can well imagine a lot of other processes
take place as the coach travels down the assembly line - electrical,
plumbing, electronics, furnishings, etc. are all hooked up and
installed. It's slightly more complicated than the above presentation.
  Meriwether Lewis Campground As we neared the end of the Natchez Trace we spent our last night at the Meriwether Lewis Campground which is one of the three free campgrounds along the Trace at mile marker 385. As you can see from the picture of our site we had driven out of the spring foliage. While here we visited the grave site of Meriwether Lewis.  Meriwether Lewis 1774 - 1809 "Beneath
this monument erected under Legislative Act by the State of Tennessee,
A.D., 1848, reposes the dust of Meriwether Lewis, a Captain in the
United States Army, Private Secretary to President Jefferson, Senior
Commander of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and Governor of
the Territory of Louisiana.
In the Grinder House, the ruins of which are still discernible, 230 yards south of this spot, his life of romantic endeavor and lasting achievement came tragically and mysteriously to its close on the night of Oct. 11, 1809."    A Grand Daughter Fix We did our usual Catia pick up in the morning and then took her to Cracker Barrel for breakfast after which we did our Wal-Mart grocery shopping before heading home. Here is Miss Catia on the blanket outside of our RV.  We
went with Matthew and Jackie to see their house lot on Saturday morning
and guess what? The lumber had been delivered on Friday
afternoon, the crew showed up the first thing Saturday morning, and the
house was all framed in by 1:00 P.M. Saturday afternoon.
Surprise, Surprise! Matt and Jackie were ecstatic to say
the least.
 Visiting Norm and Linda in Louisville, Kentucky We left Lebanon, Tennessee heading north after visiting with our kids and getting a grand daughter fix. It was a three hour trip that took us four hours because we crossed from the central time zone into the eastern time zone - an hour disappeared in a fraction of a second. Norm and Linda picked us up at Grandma's RV Park and gave us the grand tour of Louisville, Kentucky. We would like to spend a few days in this area to visit the Little Slugger museum, ride some of the bike trails along the river, and stroll through a few of the parks that lay east of the city. Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, is located in Louisville, however, the only way you can tour the facilities is by attending one of the race days. Louisville is a clean charming city along the banks of the Ohio River with streets lined with "brownstones", boutiques, and coffeehouses. We enjoyed driving through town looking at the old architecture of the store fronts - I am always amazed to see such detail in the facades that was done by hand. Today we have all kinds of power equipment that could easily reproduce that art work but we don't. Sorry, we were too busy riding along and looking to think of taking pictures but here is a picture of Louisville taken from the Clark Home Site on the opposite side of the Ohio River.  Across the river from Louisville is Clarksville, Indiana which is named for George Rogers Clark who was a hero of the American Revolutionary War as well as being the older brother of William Clark from the Lewis and Clark Fame. On February 25th, 1779 the British garrison at Fort Sackville (Vincennes, Indiana) surrendered to American forces lead by Col. Clark which assured the America's claim to a frontier as large as the original 13 states. "To capture British forces, George Rogers Clark and his force of 170 Americans and Frenchmen made an epic 18-day trek from Kaskaskia through the freezing flood waters of the Illinois country. At times in icy water up to their shoulders, it was Clark's leadership that brought them through this incredible journey." - National Park Service website "In 1803, at the age of 31, General George Rogers Clark built a cabin on this site overlooking the Ohio River. He received this land as payment for his heroism in the American Revolution. The cabin was part of a farm that included a barn, corn crib, an orchard, and slave cabins." - Home Site Marker The original cabin was torn down in the mid 1800's and this replica was built in 2001.  We went to the Kingfish Restaurant, which overlooks the Ohio River, for dinner. They are best known for their whitefish and onion rings,which, I might add, are very good. After dinner we went back to Norm and Linda's to just sit and chit chat (at least that is what Norm and I did, Judy and Linda worked on their beading while chatting). We didn't get home until around 7 p.m. but it was a fun day spending time with our good friends.   Visiting Family and Friends in Michigan Returning to Michigan in the spring is always a crap shoot. You just never know what the weather is going to bring. It started out really nice with the sun shining and temperatures in the 70's and 80's; then the bottom dropped out with the temperatures plummeting into the low 20's. But it's always nice to see family and friends in spite of the frigid weather - I guess we should have kept some of our winter clothing. Better yet, we can start visiting Michigan in the fall rather than the spring. Judy had to have some dental work done and we needed to spend some time with our son Brian in Grand Rapids so we stayed at our friends house in MeCosta, Michigan. They have a full hookup site with a "Car Port" (or should I say and RV Port) where we stayed for a little over a week. It was great fun seeing Ray and Pat again - they spend their winters at Rainbow Plantation which is where we first met them in February of 2007 so we will get to see them again this coming winter.  Until next time . . . . Drive Safely, Have Fun, and God Bless. |