Wednesday we pulled out of our parking lot and headed a bit northwest to Natchez Mississippi. In Washington State, we have a Natchez, and we pronounce it “Na-CHEEZE” and is definitely two syllables.. Here in the south, it rhymes with “matches”, or think “Natch’s”, so there is no “Z” sound at all, and if they could say it all in one syllable, they would. To get there, we followed I-12 west, then turned north on I-55 for awhile, then cut across over to Natchez State Park. It was a nice drive, about 220 miles. We were in Louisiana (Loozyanna) by 10:30.
As Tank-filler-emptier-finder, it’s my job to find fuel for Henry while towing Nitro. We need truck stops. But have you ever noticed how the truck stops on the interstate freeways advertise at prices way higher than the local side street stations? Kenny the trucker figured out how to deal with that. We got an account with “Open Roads”. It provides us with a fuel card, just like the big boys. The only thing is, the account has to be tied to a bank account for a direct draw. I wasn’t excited about that, but we set up an account that we can manage just for this purpose. Look at the savings!! In some areas that we travel (back-roads) there aren’t any Open Road stations available, so I also look at a Truck Stop app called “Mudflap”, and also “Gas Buddy”. It keeps me busy over there in the passenger seat, because we usually have to get fuel each day that we travel. We stopped in Slidell Louisiana for fuel, then continued on our way. Notice… nearly $1 savings per gallon?! GEEZE!
By 12:15 we were flopping back into Mississippi. We just cut through the eastern end of Louisiana, and when we headed north we went back into Miss.
We made it to our Natchez State Park by 2:00. It is a HUGE park, and our drive into our spot was over 1.5 miles from the entrance.
We got all settled in on the nice concrete pad.
It wasn’t long before we decided to head to town to do some wandering and have some lunch. And guess what? Yep – I found a brewery. It’s also part of my job. 😉. Natchez Brewing Company.
I had a Smores pastry stout and a cauliflower thin crust pizza that was really good. Kenny had an Irish Stout and a meaty calzone. It was a good stop.
After charging our belly batteries, we wandered around town for awhile. It is very historic, founded in 1716, and is the oldest settlement on the Mississippi River. New Orleans was settled two years later. Prior to the Civil War (1861-1865), over half of the millionaires in the entire United States lived in Natchez!! There are a lot of beautiful OLD homes that were spared through the war.
This is Choctaw Hall, 1836. This was interesting: In 1855, the house became home to a wealthy planter and lawyer named George Malin Davis. His outspoken support of Mississippi’s secession from the Union led to Choctaw’s occupation by U.S. forces during the Civil War. It wasn’t uncommon for Union forces to take over a large home.
This one was really cute – the sign said “White Wings 1833-1854”.
The grandest of all homes in town is Stanton Hall. It takes up an entire two-acre city block, sitting on a bluff. Stanton Hall was built during 1851–57 for Frederick Stanton, a cotton broker, as a replica of his ancestral home in Ireland. Stanton named it “Belfast”, but only lived in it for nine months before he died of yellow fever. The house’s scale and opulence made it a great financial burden on his heirs, but it survived the American Civil War, and in 1890 was made home to the Stanton College for Young Ladies. In 1940 it was acquired by the Pilgrimage Garden Club, which uses it as its headquarters and operates it as a museum and event venue.
I have two homes in mind that we should tour while in Natchez, but we’ll probably only do one. We’ll have to decide – this one, or Longwood?
I had sent an email to a local tour company about doing a one hour history tour around town on Thursday morning. The lady called me and said she only had two spots at 3:00 in the afternoon. But she gave me a list of places we should see while out on our own, so I took notes, and we’ll meet up with her tomorrow afternoon. (She highly recommended touring the Longwood home.)
We walked over to the edge of the bluff to see the sunset over the Mississippi River. Notice the HUGE wall curving around to the left? Yep – this is a natural bend in the river, and the land was eroding away, so a bluff wall was built sometime. I need to research that. We learned that this side of the river is a natural high bluff, and the other side (Louisiana) is very flat and flood prone. Yet, the Native Natchez Tribes did not settle here on the bluff, because it was too difficult to get down to the river, so they settled on area streams on this east side of the great river.
This historical little street is referred to as “Under the Hill”. This is where the ships have come in to Natchez for centuries. Back in the day, this is where the brothels and taverns took care of the rivermen with “flexible moral codes”, while the wealthy enjoyed “more refined” life on the bluff.
Speaking of taverns, this is the Under the Hill Saloon, and it is 200 years old. I don’t know how it has survived the flood waters of the Mississippi river over the centuries!! And apparently, Mark Twain stayed here in the little gray building on the left, so there are three rooms for rent with one shared bathroom on the upper floor of the saloon.
Welcome to a building that holds more stories that we can imagine.
Before going inside, we enjoyed the beautiful sunset!
Inside the saloon has all the makings for a seedy place. Dark wood, narrow room, long bar, money on the ceiling, bedrooms upstairs. There were lots of historical photographs and memorabilia all over the place.
This was a weirdly decorated room in the back, but it was very dark, so hard to get a good photo.
I was trying to take a picture of a long wooden house type boat hanging here. It is hard to see, but you can see some other cool stuff.
These floor planks intrigued us. They were huge pieces of old growth wood… at least 14” wide and 20’ long, and not very knotty. We wondered what kind of wood this is.
It was Wednesday and they had live music! The three piece band was quite good. We know that most churches in the south have services on Wednesday evenings. Well …. we had church pews here – does that count? And the band played “Knockin on Heaven’s Door.”. 🤷♀️. Draw your own conclusions.
Back at camp, we got new neighbors in a Skoolie!
On Thursday, we headed into town for more adventures and history lessons. Sally, our tour guide for later, suggested that if we don’t see the Longwood House, our trip to Natchez would not be complete. So – that is where we headed first. We drove on a road named the Natchez Trace Parkway, which actually follows a historic forest trail which extends 440 miles from Nashville Tennessee to Natchez Mississippi.
Our first stop was to see the Longwood House. It is the largest octagonal house in the U.S. Construction started on it in 1860, about two miles from the then downtown of Natchez. It was built for cotton planter Dr. Nutt and wife Julia. Construction stopped in 1861 due to the Civil War, and the top five floors have been left unfinished, just as they were. The the lowest (basement) floor was finished, and that is where the family lived. Dr. Nutt died of pneumonia in 1864 and his wife and children continued to live in the lower level for many years.
The property was deeded to the Pilgrimage Garden Club in 1970 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971.
This shows a view of the front porch, which is the first level with white railings and pillars. The brick level below is the basement, where from some windows, all you could see was the retaining wall. The house was built into a hill in the front, but the basement was ground level in the back. That lower level is where the family lived.
We joined a tour that started about two minutes before our arrival. I’m pretty sure we weren’t supposed to take any pictures of the basement, but I snuck in a couple. This was cool. The headboard includes a very heavy rolling pin that was used to roll the lumps out of the mattress.
As was custom in this century, the kitchen was not in the main house. So in the dining room in front of the fireplace (one of 12 fireplaces in the house, I think?) was a plate warmer. It’s blurry because I was being sneaky. 🫣
Above the dining table was a paddle fan with a rope to the other end of the room, where a servant would pull the rope to shoo flies away from the food and table.
We went up one level to what was supposed to be the main floor. We are standing in the entry way just inside the front door.
The design of the house was very interesting. There were no hallways, since they ‘wasted space’. So each room had a side door to the next room or verandah, and a door that opened into a more central room which then opened to the center.
Each of the three lower floors were something crazy like 10,000 square feet EACH!
The center of the house was a rotunda with sky lights that would send light all the way down to the basement. What a cool house it would have been when completed!
The tour and house was very interesting, because we could see the construction and plans of the house, and imagine how it would have been. I love looking at old architecture, so this house tour was really a good choice for us. It was focused more on design than on furnishings.
There were a couple of out buildings. This one was full of old original farm tools, wagon, etc.
When we were done wandering around here, we went back to town to see some more things that Sally gave me on my list. First up was the First Presbyterian church, which was built in 1830. They have a chapel that is full of historical pictures of Natchez.. all the way back to the mid 1800’s. There was SO much to look at! Then I took a minute to see their sanctuary. It was on a slope toward the front which was neat, and notice that the pews have doors? The floor was very creaky, so there was no sneaking in during a prayer! The Roman looking rotunda(?) behind the altar is actually a painting on a flat wall, framed by the white mantle piece.
Just a few blocks away was the St Mary’s Basilica. Construction began in 1842 as the only church built as a cathedral in Mississippi. Today it is called St Mary’s Basilica.
I don’t know how the hierarchy works in the Catholic church, so I had to look it up. When the construction of the church was completed in 1886, it was consecrated and remained the Cathedral of the Natchez Diocese until 1977. In that year, the Diocese moved to Jackson, and St. Mary became a church (demoted?). Then in 1998, St Mary’s was designated a Minor Basilica (promoted). The difference, I ask? A church is a general place of worship. A basilica has the highest permanent designation. A cathedral is the location of the home parish for the Diocese Bishop. So when the Bishop’s ‘seat’ moved to Jackson, St Mary’s lost its Cathedral designation. A basilica is a designation given to churches with special spiritual, historical, and/or architectural significance, and given only by the Pope. Once designated a basilica, it cannot lose its status.
The interior is stunning! 12 of the 16 stained glass windows were designed by an Austrian, and were installed from 1884-1893. This is looking forward.
And this is looking back. Yep – there are pipes for a big pipe organ back there! Whether it is a church, a cathedral, or a basilica, it is very, very beautiful!
Along our walk, we also found the Episcopal church. It was founded in 1822, and is the oldest church building in Natchez. The doors were unlocked, so we stepped in for a minute. The outside front of the church looks very Roman-esque, with huge columns.
It also was very pretty inside, with more beautiful stained glass windows. It has two that are genuine Tiffany.
I picked one window that looked lighter and brighter than the rest for a picture. Jesus, the Good Shepherd.
We had lots of time before our town tour with Sally, so we headed back to “Under the Hill” to try out another place for lunch. Oh look!! The American Queen is docked here! Well, not really docked, but tied up with it’s bow in the mud. That’s how they do it here since there are no docks or piers on the Mississippi due to the dramatic ever-changing water levels.
We had a good lunch, then headed up to the Visitor’s Center to meet Sally for her historic tour. She was delightful!
We admired this house earlier when we were walking around town. Come to find out, it was her childhood home!! And I think she said that a Governor even lived here at one point in time too.
Here is another classic shot of Stanton Hall, with the big Natchez water tank in the background.
We looked at a lot of houses and she had so much great history to share with us. This one was unique. It used to be old fire station livery #3 (that’s for horses & wagons) built in 1839. I don’t remember the details, but after it was decommissioned as a livery, it sat empty for a long time and was to be demolished. Somebody smart came to town and asked to buy it from the city, and turned it into a unique townhome. I think it is now used as a VRBO/Airbnb.
We really enjoyed our visit to Natchez. The history was fascinating, the town was walkable and interesting, and we enjoyed watching the big tows going up and down the river. This is the “Lower Mississippi”, and we saw tows here that were five barges long and four wide… 20 barges. The biggest we ever saw on the “Upper Mississippi” was three wide and five long. That was probably due to the size of locks on the river up there. Anyway – Natchez is a neat place. Tomorrow we’ll head to Natchitoches Louisiana for more history.