April 27, 2018 Natchez Trace, Mississippi

Another beautiful 73 degree and sunny day exploring the Trace.

Windsor was a grand mansion that was completed in 1861. It was a 3 story house with 29 columns that supported a projecting roof line. The fluted columns had iron Corinthian capitals and were joined by ornamental balustrade. The owner only lived a few weeks in the house before he died. During the war between the states Windsor was used as an observation post by the Confederates and served as a hospital. Gen Grant also used it as his base when he was here.  The house stayed in the family until 1890 when it burned down. All was destroyed except these 23 columns.

One of the iron Corinthian capitals, a sign saying about the preservation project. It also says that 4-6 pieces of the capitals detach and fall every year. A drawing of the house before it burned down. On the corner you have the choice of going to the nuclear station or the Hub Cap Pool Hall. 

The ruins are outside of Port Gibson which Grant said it was 'too beautiful to burn'. The court house with the memorial to the confederate soldier in front. Raining Manna (raining money??) christian center, only the sign is left of the Dude burgers and the moon between two dead trees on Natchez lake.

The first presbyterian church built in 1860 has the hand pointing to heaven on top of it's steeple making it the most famous building in Claiborne county. Temple Gemiluth Chassed built in 1891 is the oldest Jewish Synagogue in the state and the only one ot if's architectural style in Mississippi. There were 7n churches lined up on Church Street.

The African American Rabbit Foot Minstrels entertainers played a major role in spreading the blues via tours across the south. The 'Foots' headquartered in Port Gibson. There is a Mississippi Blues trail that leads to all the historic sites where the blues started. Some confederate money. It was worthless after the war making not only the rich cotton farmers bankrupt when the economy collapsed but also the rest of the population who worked for a living and the slaves when they were freed. a hearse that people were always dying to get into. A tree across the road. The Grand Gulf tour is a tour of the area including the Grand Gulf Military park. This mural commemorates the Port Gibson Boycott from 1966-80. There was discrimination against the blacks for jobs and wages int he town that was mostly blacks. They boycotted the white businesses for 11 years. The businesses sued for lost earnings and the Mississippi courts, including local and Mississippi supreme court awarded them 1.2 million dollars. The appeal to the US supreme court repealed the ruling. 

At the Gulf Port Military Park an 8 inch mortar probably from a union schooner used in the fight for Vicksburg, the Fort Wade ammunition magazine was a huge hole in the ground. The Confederates blew it up when they retreated from the Union troops. An old wooden organ with wooden pipes in the church. This one man submarine was powered by a model-T engine was used during the early prohibition period to bootleg whiskey and rum from Davis island to Vicksburg. A historic mill at the park with reflected iris blooming around the base.  . 

Rodney Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church was moved here from the ghost town of Rodney built in 1868 was moved here to the park in 1969. It is built in Gothic style. The historic cemetery of Grand Gulf. During the battle here the Confederates  dug rifle pits here. It was a town built on the edge of the Mississippi River that was first decimated by yellow fever, then destroyed by a tornado, then the river changed course and eroded away most of it and then the civil war destroyed the rest. 

The Mississippi river above its banks and almost to the road we are driving on. Flood stage is 48 feet, it is at 50 feet and expected to rise to 51 feet. Our last stop The Frog Farm. It is folk art sculpture garden. Designed by artist Louise Cadney the garden is where life-sized sculptured frogs, birds, reptiles and other amphibians frolic.  Here are some of the frogs and Louise who was working in the garden when we arrived. She makes her pieces out of sticks which she stores here at the farm. Her husband said she had too many sticks at their house so she had to move them to the farm. Kind of like my husband and my needles. . .

Back at camp I paddled out on the lake after dinner. The lake was so calm the water was a mirror. I paddled into clouds and an almost full moon. Sunset on the way back.