Timeless Beauty...Endless Fun

We rolled into Natchez, Mississippi – rather we rolled into Vidalia, Louisiana to a sweet little RV park that was right on the Mighty Mississippi, right across the bridge from Natchez. We could watch the barges going up and down the river and at night we could see the lights of Natchez. There was a waterfront walkway that went for a mile and a half where Miko could stretch her legs. We stayed for four nights, it was so nice. The title of this posting is actually the city slogan for Natchez.

Natchez is all about the big houses in town that the plantation owners built for their families. There was an interesting juxtaposition between these grand houses that lay dotted all around Natchez and their next door neighbors whose houses were run down, needing paint and sometimes doors and windows. Before we did anything else, we, of course, had to head over to the National Park Service to the Natchez National Historical Park. This Historical Park consisted of three different sites, but we decided to just tour the 'Big House' Melrose. Melrose was first occupied in 1849 and it represents one of the most completely preserved antebellum estates in Natchez with many original furnishings and outbuildings.

Davey asked Ranger Barney, a tall black man, how he felt about being a black man working at an estate that was built on the backs of slave labor. Ranger Barney stood up and very emphatically told us. He was wonderful, aggressive and direct and had so many quotable lines that I wish I could remember them all. To paraphrase: 'You can't change history, history is truth'. 'They weren't servants, they were slaves'. 'You can't embarrass ignorance' and so on. When the conversation turned to fixing ignorance, Davey closed the discussion with 'Duct Tape will fix ignorance' as he pantomimed putting duct tape across his mouth. What a card that Davey is.

We were looking for some lunch and ended up at King's Tavern, highly recommended. King's Tavern is located in the basement of the oldest house in Natchez and the food was super. Highlights were a crawfish pot pie and a crawfish corn chowder.

We toured a mansion called Longwood which was really unique and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built by a cotton planter named Haller Nutt and it eventually became known as Nutt's Folly. It is an octagonal mansion that was started before the civil war but only the basement was completely finished before the owner lost all his money and died. His widow and eight children lived in the basement for many years after that. We could not tour the basement because a water pipe had broken with all the cold weather they have been having and it flooded the basement. We ended up looking in the windows at all the fancy furnishings. We did get to tour the unfinished upper floor and it was amazing, the artistic vision this man had. It is too bad it wasn't finished, it would have been a sight to see.

Longwood

Side Note: In 2010, Longwood was used in the HBO series 'True Blood' for the external shots of the mansion of Russell Edgington, the Vampire King of Mississippi and Louisiana.

On the tour of Longwood, with us, were a couple of African-American women. They would correct the docent when she would talk about the servants of the house and say 'You mean slaves?' After they left, the docent came up to me and asked me if I felt she had offended these women. I was able to channel Ranger Barney from the day before and get into a discussion about how history should be presented. Ranger Barney would have been so proud of me.

The one touristy thing that I think I enjoyed most about Natchez was in a Presbyterian Church. It was an exhibit of historical photographs from the 1850s up to about 1910 which provided an insight into Natchez life during this period. There were two room that I found fascinating. The first room was filled with portraits of all the fancy ladies in town with their very fancy dresses. Besides the photographs themselves, what made this room so interesting were the captions. 'Although Miss Peale is shown with a very shy expression, the folds of her dress are filled with exuberance.' I loved seeing the fashion through the ages and am so very glad that nowadays, I can wear my denim. The other room that I liked very much was filled with portraits of Victorian children. Very cute kids with very extravagant outfits. The rest of the exhibit was filled with buildings and day-to-day life in Natchez, while interesting, did not engage me like the women and kids.

The ladies of Natchez - sorry for the glare

St Mary's Basilica - I always seem to take pictures of Jesus hangin' a bit to the left - wonder why that is?

Visited a park that commemorated fallen Confederate soldiers

We did eat at Cotton Alley Cafe which was filled with Pier I type of furnishings, but my food was excellent. I had Jambalaya and it was such a huge portion, it lasted me several meals.

And last but not least - I really have issues with heights and Dave was nice enough to get up on my roof and clean it - first time in four years.

Yay Dave!!!!