April 23-24, 2018 Natchez State Park, Natchez, Mississippi

We came to this area because we are going to drive up the Natchez Trace Parkway. It is a historic trail a bit like the Blue Ridge Parkway in that it is a national scenic road. It  has no billboards, not semi's or commercial vehicles ,with a 55 mph speed limit and many historical stops along the way. It goes 444 miles from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee.

Natchez Corp limit. Cities seem to be Corps in Mississippi. It is a certified retirement city whatever that is. Natchez Trace, no commercial vehicles, Travel safely on the Trace. Watch out for poison ivy, ticks, fire ants and snakes. Natchez State Park is where we are camped this week. It is near mile marker 10. Things are marked on the Trace at mile markers. Red clover and the insignia for the Emerald Mound. The Trace has been used from the buffalos, the Indians, the armies, the postal service but mostly by the Kaintucks- people from the Ohio River, or upper Mississippi who floated their crops etc down the river to sell then sold their boats as lumber and either walked or rode horses back up the Trace to home.

Our first official stop was at Emerald Indian Mound. MM 10.3. Eight acre ceremonial mound built between 1200-1750, now a national historic landmark. It is the second largest Mississippian Period ceremonial mound in the US. It is 35 feet high and covers 8 acres. It was built by hand over a small hill. Archeologist  believe the mounds were the setting for elaborate civic processions, ceremonial dances and intricate and solemn religious rituals. 

Our second stop was at the Old Trace exhibit shelter at mm 8.7.  It explained a bit about the Trace and showed some of the original old Trace trail. This is the road into the state park we are staying in. The road looks kind of like a paved old trace trail

Our campsite at Natchez State Park. We have left the  back country picturesque campgrounds and are back in the tourist area. Campsites are closer together and there are lots of people with out of state licence plates. We are right on a lake and it is very lush and green. We were delighted to find that there is a street light directly across the street from our bedroom, but fortunately it did not come on tonight. Here is the spillway for the lake. John thinks it is a water park and wants to run his kayak down it. . .

My darling husband brought me these flowers to celebrate our 8 year anniversary living on the bus. April 15, 2010 we left on our maiden voyage. Thank you sweetheart it's been a great run so far! We toured Melrose- A cotton kingdom estate. it was built from 1841-49. It is considered to be the finest home in all of the Natchez region. It is a Greek Revival-style house with  four massive Doric Columns. The same family lived in the house until 1976. It has much of the original furnishings. 

The backyard of Melrose with a grand oak tree. The parlor has ornate Rococo-style chairs and gold valances above the window and a gold chandelier. 

Over the dining table was a magnificent mahogany 'punkah'. It was operated by slaves pulling on the rope and it fanned the table and shooed flies away. The bathroom had running water and a flush toilet.

Two of the bedrooms. 

The Mississippi river at Natchez-under-the-bridge is the waterfront below tow  where the nineteenth-century  flatboats and steamboats landed. Once a notorious area where suddenly wealthy flatboat captains flaunted their riches on women and liquor, the area today features trendy gift shops and a few open-air restaurants. natchez-under-the-hill is now a historic strip of buildings tucked under the bluff. The steamboat is a cruise ship that takes passengers on a 7 day cruise from New Orleans to Memphis. It stops along the way at historic places, like Natchez. 

John and I had refreshments at the Camp in Natchez-under-the-bridge. The weather was a sunny, balmy 70's degree day. We sat outside and watched the river and barges go by. We sat with a group of women who had gone to college together long before we did. They grew up in Louisiana and were lots of fun. The St Catherine catholic church is built in the gothic style. 

Purple verbenas grown in big patches by the roads, red poppies under the bridge, In Melrose the part of the floor not covered by carpet is covered with oil cloth painted to look like the carpet, top part of the photo is the oil cloth, bottom is the carpet. pink sorrel flowers,  Forks of the road historical site was an open air slave market just outside of town, The marker for the beginning of the Natchez Trace. Mom's old store sold gas,ice, beer and hamburgers along the Trace long ago.

The lake at Natchez State park from the campground. I paddled on the lake at sunset.