Fun things to do in Mississippi

A working plantation for over 200 years, the house was begun in 1789 by wealthy Virginia planter Thomas Marston Green Jr.

Andrew Jackson and Rachel Robards were married at the plantation in 1791.

You can visit the inside of the house, a selfguided tour is available. The furnishing is not from the very beginning but a later period.

To our surprise we found several pictures of our dutch royal family there.

Near Port Gibson you can find the ruins of what once was one of the largest and finest antebellum houses in Mississippi. Twenty-three monolithic columns are all that remain.
It was called Windsor and was the home of Smith Coffee Daniell II, a wealthy planter. It was built between 1859-1861.
The houses costed $175,000 back then.
It survived the civil war but was destroyed by fire in 1890 when a party guest threw a lit cigarette into a waste basket.

The site is administered by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
Entrance is free.

The Natchez Trace is an historical path. It started of as a series of hunter paths by the indian tribes living here. Around 1733 the french made a map of the area showing an indian trail from Natchez to the northeast.
By the end of the 1700's Ohio River farmers began to float down the river to sell their crops and products in Natchez or New Orleans. As they sold their flatboats for lumber they had to go back overland. By 1810 the trail had become an important wilderness road. Many stands (inns) were in operation along the trace, most providing basic food and shelter. The road was dangerous though, thieves, swamps, floods, insects carrying disseases.......
In 1812 the steamer New Orleans arrived in Natchez. And people preferred the comfort of travelling at the steamers along the river over the road.
The trace became abandonned untill in the late 1930's the Parkway was started. Now it is complete for 95% of the route between Natchez, MS and Nashville, TN.

More pictures and stories in our travelogues.

Do visit Natchez, an entire city full of historic atebellum homes. The rich plantation owners spend the wet period, when the river flooded in Natchez. Most of them built big houses to show of their wealth.

First visit the Natchez visitor center where you can get all the info you need to enjoy this beautifull city.

This is the inside of one of the many Civil War plantation homes that you can visit while in Natchez, MS. Many of the original relics and artifacts are original to the homes, which helps to create a sense of what it must have been like living there. To obtain a map of the homes in Natchez, go to the Natchez Convention and Visitors Bureau for information.

This is one of several pre-Civil War antebellum homes in Natches, Mississippi. You can take tours of many of the homes. This one, although it looks finished on the outside, the only part of the inside that is complete is the basement. The Civil War prevented the home from being finished.

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Mississippi is not a land of expansive vistas, so this is special. A pleasant hike brings you to the highest point on the Trace, all of 603 feet! This is also a picnic area and campground.

(On February 15, 1934, while serving as U.S. Congressman from Mississippi, Thomas Jefferson Busby introduced a bill authorizing a survey of the Old Natchez Trace. Four years later, the historic road was designated a unit of the National Park System. This area is named in Jeff Busby's honor to commemorate his part in the Parkway's establishment.)

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This is not officially related to the Parkway, but it made a fitting exit for me in Tupelo.

This is another of those poky but charming museums of Southern rural life, with an old schoolroom, and old dairy, an old trolley... Nothing earth shattering, but a pleasant visit. I'm sure that during the school year, it must be packed with field-trippers.

Oh, and in the back room, there is an oddly somber War Memorabilia section, with Nazi collectibles. Hmmm...