2010 Natchez - Day 4

We started out this morning with another grits and eggs breakfast before packing up a lunch and heading out to tour the Natchez Trace Parkway. As I had been here before, I was anxious to show some of it to the older kiddos. The Teen actually asked what the Trace was and what it was used for. I was thrilled to hear this question come from him and excitedly began explaining. I didn't get too far before I realized that he'd tuned me out. I asked "Are you listening?" He said, "Oh, yes ma'am, I get it." And that was that. :(

We started our little education adventure with a stop at the Elizabeth Female Academy which opened its doors to higher education for women in 1818. It was named in honor of Elizabeth Roach whose generosity made the College possible. John James Audubon was also on the faculty here. After the capital of the state and population shifted to Jackson, the Academy struggled and finally closed in 1845.

We followed the little pathway to see what is left of the Academy. As we approached it, the Teen said, "Mom. Please don't tell me that we got out of the truck to walk up here and look at a wall.....really?"

I guess some people just don't get it. Right?

We then moved on to visit Mount Locust, one of the oldest structures in the state of Mississippi. It functioned as both a working plantation and as an inn, where travelers on the Natchez Trace could rest for the night. Mount Locust is the only surviving inn of the more than 50 that existed during the period of greatest use of the Old Natchez Trace.

This historic home is now maintained by the National Park Service. The land where the house stands was originally part of a 1779 land grant, to Thomas Harmon, by the British Government of West Florida. Harmon then transferred the propery to Swiss born John Blommart, an early settler who probably began the first construction in 1780 in order to meet the conditions of the grant, whch included, "....one good Dwelling House to contain at least twenty feet in length, sixteen feet in Breadth." In 1781, Blommart moved to the Old Natchez District where he evenutally became one of the wealthiest men in Natchez due to his varied dealings as a merchant, fur trader, land speculator, and planter. Eventually, he became a prisoner of the Spanish, his property was confiscated and he was sentenced to death. Later, however, he was released and went into exile in the British West Indies.

After Blommart's banishment, his former business partner, William Ferguson, and his wife purchased Mt. Locust in 1784 and operated the farm until William's death in 1801. A short time later, Paulina married James Chamberlain, an overseer at the farm, and they continued to build the farm.

When James abandoned the family and farm sometime after 1810, Paulina carried on alone. In an era when women were typically shunned from business or making important decisions, Paulina proved to be an extraordinary woman. Despite losing two husbands, and raising 11 children, seven with William and four with James; she kept Mt. Locust going.

Mount Locust is about a day's walk from Natchez and developed as a popular "stand" on the Trace. Travelers would stop here for a meal and place to stay for the night for the affordable price of 25 cents!

The development of steamboats soon ended most Trace traffic. Foot travel on the Trace had nearly ended by 1825, but Mount Locust stayed open, operating as an inn and then as a prosperous cotton plantation. Five generations of the Chamberlain family lived in the house with the last of the family leaving in 1944. Park Ranger Eric Chamberlain is a direct descendant of the family and was born in the master bedroom of the house before the park service acquired it and restored it to its 1820 appearance. Walking paths lead through the grounds leading to the brick kiln, family cemetery and slave cemetery.

Can you imagine what was going through the travelers' minds as

they approached Mount Locust, hungry and tired?

My Kangaroo stands on a section of the Old Natchez Trace.

After our visit back in time at Mt. Locust, we stopped at Owen's Falls for a picnic lunch and short hike. I looked for a geocache here but was going in the wrong direction. My hubby isn't the enthusiastic sort when it comes to geocaching, and he prompted me to give up my search when I was only 100 feet away. Man....so close!

We moved on to Rocky Springs where I just KNEW I'd find more geocaches....if only the GPS batteries hadn't died. :(

Rocky Springs is a ghost town and a fascinating place to explore. Founded in 1837, the town was a thriving community by 1860, but then a series of disasters began: Union troops looted the town during the Civil War; a yellow fever epidemic decimated the town's population; the boll weevil wreaked havoc with the cotton crop; and then the town's springs, for which it was named, went dry. By 1920, Rocky Springs was dead. What's left of it -- a few artifacts, some building foundations, and a church with absolutely the most gorgeous cemetery you'll ever see -- has been preserved as a historic exhibit and is a must see for anyone traveling the Natchez Trace Parkway.

My kiddos, tired from all the education.

We left Rocky Springs and headed over to Grand Gulf Military Park. Grand Gulf was the site of a Union Army Naval attack.

From NPS website: Rear Admiral David D. Porter led 7 ironclads in an attack on the fortifications and batteries at Grand Gulf, with the intention of silencing the Confederate guns and then securing the area with troops of McClernand's XIII Army Corps who were on the accompanying transports and barges. The attack by the 7 ironclads began at 8 a.m. and continued until about 1:30 p.m. During the fight, the ironclads moved within 100 yards of the Rebel guns and silenced the batteries of Fort Wade; the Confederate upper batteries at Fort Cobun remained out of reach and continued to fire. The Union ironclads (one of which, the Tuscumbia, had been put out of action) and the transports drew off. After dark, however, the ironclads engaged the Rebel guns again while the steamboats and barges ran the gauntlet. Grant marched his men overland across Coffee Point to below the Gulf. After the transports had passed Grand Gulf, they embarked the troops at Disharoon's plantation and disembarked them on the Mississippi shore at Bruinsburg, below Grand Gulf. The men immediately began marching overland towards Port Gibson. The Confederates had won a hollow victory; the loss at Grand Gulf caused just a slight change in Grant's offensive.

One of the buildings at Grand Gulf is Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church from Rodney, MS where we visited a few days earlier. The building was donated to the State of Mississippi by the Rodney Foundation. It was moved to Grand Gulf in 1983 and has been restored to its original condition. It is now being used as a non-denominational chapel.

Kangaroo loved the old pipe organ inside.

Well, that's it for our Spring Break vacation. We went to bed, woke up the next morning, and headed home. It was a nice break away.

2010 Natchez - Day 3

We woke up and had a quick breakfast of cereal and milk before getting the girls ready for a little pier fishing. This would be their first ever fishing trip and they were soooooo excited!!! Little Bird even skipped her way to the pier!

Daddy showed them how to put a worm on a hook but he wouldn't allow them to do it themselves. They were a little grossed out by that. They started out fishing and very quickly we began a lesson on patience while they waited for the fish to bite. I told them that if they made fishy faces, the fish would see them and attach themselves to the hook so the girls could reel them in.

If you make fishy faces, they will come!

It worked!!!

After working up our appetites with all this fishing, we ventured back to the campsite for a quick lunch and nap before we headed out to the Natchez Visitor's center for some Natchez info. Then we took a little driving tour around downtown Natchez and I just HAD to stop at St. Mary's Basilica located at 105 South Union Street. I had been inside this Catholic church before and was absolutely enthralled with the stained glass windows, carvings, paintings, and statuary. You can read all about the history of this church at www.stmarysbasilicaarchives.org. What a fascinating story!

We then visited the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians where we toured the little museum and the girls learned how the indians made grits. That also climbed up the Great Sun's home mound and rolled down the sides. Hubby, Little Bird, and I attempted to locate a geocache placed a short distance off the 1.6 kilometer Nature Trail. We hunted and hunted through acres of Field Horsetail but never could find it. However, we did find the creek that the indians used to get their water from. It has changed course over the years and it a little further away from the village than it used to be.

A replica of the Natchez home.

Ceremonial grounds.

Before returning to the campsite for the day, we made a quick detour to Emerald Mound which is believed to have been constructed around the year 1300. This is an 8 acre mound, constructed from a natural hill, that was used from about 1300 to 1600 by the Mississippians, ancestors to the Natchez indians.

Emerald Mound

Unlike dome mounds constructed only for burials, Emerald Mound supported temples, ceremonial structures, and burials of a complex society's civic and religious leaders. Emerald Mound is the second largest temple mound in the U.S. Only Monks Mound in Cahokia, Illinois is larger.

Of course, with all this education, we again worked up an appetite and headed back to the campsite for a yummy dinner of Frito chili pie thanks to the chili I had started in the crockpot earlier in the day. We followed that up with some S'mores at the campfire before turning in for the night. Whew what a day!

On to day 4.

2010 Natchez - Day 2

On Tuesday morning, we woke up early and cooked a full breakfast at the campsite. We enjoyed frozen blueberry waffles (cooked in the toaster oven I had brought from home), grits, eggs, and ham all washed down with cold milk and orange juice.

THEN we all hopped into the truck and set off into the wilderness to find the "ghost town" of Rodney, MS. There was a virtual geocache that I was determined to find. We had asked a ranger how to find Rodney, MS and he replied, "Rodney? Good luck!" But then he located it on an old map and said to take Hwy 553 to Church Hill Road and follow it back towards Rodney.

There was a marker in front of this church that said, "CHURCH HILL - Named for Christ Church, oldest Episcopal organization in state, dating from 1790's, becoming parish, 1820. Sometimes called "Maryland Settlement". Seargent Prentiss taught school in this community."

Hubby wasn't as enthusiastic as I was about finding the virtual geocache at Rodney. It might have had a little something to do with the flat tire we got while driving all those little back woods country roads. I probably could have been a little better prepared to hunt for Rodney by using Google maps or something to plan my route....since it's no longer on the Mississippi state map.

After about 2 hours of driving around, we stumbled upon the Natchez Trace Parkway and then found Hwy 61. We ended up finding ourselves at The Old Country store on Hwy 61 in Lorman, MS where we stopped to use the restrooms. Built in the late 19th century, Old Country Store was, in fact, and old country store. Today, it is a country restaurant serving a classic Southern buffet. Since we had decided that we would no longer be eating out, it was extremely hard to resist caving in to the scrumptious smell of Southern Fried Chicken that permeated the building while we were there. I think I gained 10 pounds just sniffing the air around me!

To get there, you would take Hwy. 61 N from Natchez to Red Lick, MS and park in front of what you would swear is a part of a movie set depicting Mississippi in 1920. This building is no movie set, or even a modernized, made-to-look-old building. Walk up the steps to the creaky wood porch and admire the old sign rusting on the building's side. Open the doors and step back in time.

Once you've enjoyed lunch, take the service road directly in front of the building and turn left instead of the right to get back on Hwy 61. You will then turn left onto Cemetery road which will later turn to Rodney Road where, if you follow it to the end, will lead you to the ghost town of Rodney, MS.

The old town of Rodney was incorporated in 1828, and was noted for its high level of culture, county fairs, and business activity. Rodney once contained 2 banks, 2 newspapers, 500 people, and 35 stores. Cottonseed development, river boat landing, riverboat taverns, and high literacy made Rodney a leading rivertown. Spared disaster during the Civil War, Rodney declined following the change in channel of the Mississippi River and tragic fires which occurred in 1852 and 1869.

We nosed around the Old Presbyterian Church and cemetery, took a photo of the old Masonic Lodge, and then wandered down the road and over a pasture to the First Baptist Church of Rodney.

Rodney Presbyterian Church - Chartered in Jan 1828, as the Presbyterian Church of Petit Gulf. Shelled by the gunboat "Rattler" when Federal sailors were captured by Confederate calvary while attending Sunday services, Sept 13, 1863.

Oh, church, where are your people?

Masonic Lodge

First Baptist Church of Rodney, MS

After spending some time in Rodney, we headed out to find Windsor Ruins (yes, there's a geocache there too!) where my girls learned all about dandelions.

Windsor Ruins was built by Smith Coffee Daniell II, who completed construction in 1861. Daniell owned 21,000 acres of plantation land in Louisiana and Mississippi. Ironically, he died in April 1861, only weeks after completing his mansion. His wife and children continued to live at Windsor but were left to suffer the loss of much of the family's holdings during the Civil War.

Windsor's basic style was Greek Revival but with added details borrowed from Italiante and Gothic architecture. The house contained 23 rooms, with an above ground basement, two residential floors, and an attic. An ell-shaped extension on the east side, attached to a single row of columns extending from the main square, contained the kitchen, pantry, and dining room. Rainwater stored in large tanks in the attic supplied two bathrooms. A cupola, from which the Mississippi River could be viewed, was centered on top of the roof. The family would also signal Confederate Troops from the cupola to alert them to Union troops location.

The mansion survived the Civil War only to be destroyed by accidental fire on February 17, 1890. All was lost except for the columns and the ironwork. One flight of stairs from Windsor is now installed at Oakland Chapel on the campus of Alcorn State University. All of the Daniell family's photographs and drawings of the mansion were lost in the fire. In 1991, historians discovered a drawing of Windsor sketched in 1863 by a Union soldier in Major General Ulysses S. Grant's army.

Descendants of the Daniell family donated Windsor Ruins to the state of Mississippi in 1974. Today the site is administered by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

We looked around, found the geocache that I knew was there, wondered if the capitals at the tops of the columns were wrought iron or cast iron, and sat down for a lunch of ham sandwiches, potato chips, bananas, cookies, and kool-aid before deciding to call it a day and head back to the campsite.

We had a dinner of grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, and got to know some of our camping neighbors before turning in for the night.

On to day 3.

2010 Natchez - Day 1

Our family decided to take a spring break vacation this year. We didn't know exactly where we wanted to go but we did know that we didn't want to spend a lot of money. So, we decided that we'd go somewhere close to home but far enough away that we'd FEEL like we're on a vacation. So, we chose to go to Natchez, MS.

We arrived at Natchez State Park around lunchtime on Monday, March 29, 2010. We set up camp right away, had a bite of lunch, and began exploring. We sent The Teen out to gather up some firewood. We stayed in Campground B, Campsite #29 which was conveniently located near the bathhouse. We were also blessed (NOT) to have a streetlight right at our campsite. It didn't work for the first 2 nights but then the rangers apparently changed the light bulb and it gave us plenty of illumination for the remainder of our stay.

The bathhouse featured 2 sinks, 2 showers, and 3 toilets. It also had a Coke machine ($1.25 ea!!!) and one washer and dryer for all our dirty laundry ($1.00 ea per load). The showers were cleaner than most bathhouses that I've been in but it could have used a little more scrubbing.

Our campsite

Natchez State Park Lake

The girls and I expanded our exploration around the lake and out to the nature trail where my research had shown me there was a geocache to be found. After walking.....and walking....and walking some more, we hunted all over for that elusive geocache. I finally located what looked like the hiding spot but couldn't find the treasure. After much frustration, and poking sticks into holes, we returned to the campsite tired and very hungry.

Hubby decided that we should have a "celebration" dinner out, instead of cooking all those wonderful groceries I had packed up. We chose to go to the Cock-of-the-Walk in downtown Natchez. I wondered what "Cock-of-the-Walk" meant and after reading the menu, I learned,

"Keelboatmen and Flatboatmen carved Natchez-Under-the-Hill into their destinies from all points on the Ohio river and the upper regions of the mighty Mississippi. This brawling, brawny, bawdy breed keeled or poled their way downriver to sell their sassafrass, tobacco, and peltry at the Natchez landing.

These boatmen continuously engaged in the most outlandish kinds of fighting. From gouging out eyes to biting off ears to rough and tumble fisticuffs, claiming this kept them physically tough to keel, pole, bushwhack, or cordelle their boats on the arduous journey back upriver.

The toughest man aboard each boat was called the "Cock of the Walk" and to signify his rank among his peers, he wore a red turkey feather in his hat.

It became an unwritten custom that one red feather must challenge another the moment they met, thus the arrival of a large fleet meant many a bloody fight in Natchez-Under-The-Hill."


We feasted on cornbread, mustard greens, fried catfish, shrimp, and chicken all washed down with sweet, southern tea. Yum Yum!

Flippin' Cornbread!

Though the food was good, the service and cleanliness of the restaurant begs improvment. It was also overpriced just a tad....(saying that sarcastically). For the 6 of us to dine here, we had to dig deep in our pockets for $125 buckaroos!!! As a result, hubby decided that we needed to stick with the original plan of eating at the camper and packing our lunches with the groceries we purchased specifically for this trip. Yeah, I know, he's not such a bright camper sometimes. :D

After we ate, we went for a little walk on the Natchez Riverfront, where we introduced our little Buddy to some visitors from Spain. Later on in the trip, I would be surprised at how many foreign visitors were in Natchez this spring!

A historical marker at the site reads, "NATCHEZ: First settled by French, 1716-1729. Lasting growth came with Britain, 1763-1779, and Spain, 1779-1798. Cotton and trade made it commercial and cultural captial of the Old South."

Another marker at the same site reads, "SPANISH COLONIAL NATCHEZ, 1779-1798: Following acquisition of the Natchez District in 1779, the Spanish founded the City of Natchez ca. 1790 to serve as the capital. Under Governor Manuel Gayoso, the city was planned and surveyed by John Girault in a typical Spanish grid plan around a central plaza and church with a common, on the bluff of the Mississippi River."

See this "look"? I get this everytime I point a camera in his direction....If he catches me. :D

Moving on to day 2.

2009 Paul B. Johnson - Day 2 (Camp Shelby)

When we got up early Wednesday morning, the weather had turned on us. It was overcast and cloudy with a cold drizzling rain. We decided to check out the 1 mile nature trail anyway since it wasn't raining too hard yet. It was a nice walk in the woods.

Then, we were a little at a loss as to what to do on this rainy day. But it was nearing lunch time and we found an indoor play place at a McDonald's in Hattiesburg. We ate lunch, enjoyed some hot cocoa and let the kids run off some steam.

Kangaroo is such a grinner!

Little Bird is victorious over something!

After lunch we headed back towards the campground. On the way back, we passed a sign pointing to the Armed Forces Museum located at Camp Shelby. We followed the signs, went through the checkpoint at Camp Shelby, and followed some more signs to find the museum. We went in, visited the bathrooms first, and then began our tour. The exhibits are set up kind of like a maze, I guess. This is a great place to spend an afternoon if you're interested in the military history of our country. Lots of information to read and exhibits to see.

The kiddos got to see what the inside of a bunkhouse might look like.

Have you every wondered about the dog tags and how they were made?

Well, there's a machine for that.

They may not understand every thing they see, but they sure were interested.

Some of the exhibits included sound effects, like bombs dropping and grenades exploding. Kangaroo wasn't too thrilled at all at this particular part!

There are also some examples of Trench Art. I never really thought about it before, but I guess if a soldier is stuck in a foxhole, he must find SOME way to entertain himself while waiting for the enemy. **shrug**

According to a placard next to this shell, "Many soldiers of the First World War passed the time between actions creating "Trench Art". The abundance of artillery shells and other expendable metal and wood provided all the raw materials necessary for the "cottage industry" to begin. Soldiers skilled in the creation of trench art could make a hefty profit in sales to less artistically gifted soldiers in search of momentos." Huh! Who'd a thunk it!?

As we exited the museum, there is a field full of helicopters and airplanes next to the parking lot. Since the rain had gotten heavier, we took time for only one picture. We'll have to plan another visit to see the rest of the stuff.

By the way, the museum offers a day camp during the summer for kids to learn more about our military.