Hello Everyone! It’s been another amazing week on the road, dodging the rain, learning some history and thankfully catching some breaks in the weather to get some cool shots of some wonderful small towns as well. I’ve got a lot of photos that need to be edited and published, but I’ve really enjoyed taking them and am looking forward to getting to them ASAP. This week started in Vicksburg, took me down to the one-time State Capital of Natchez, up the Natchez Trace Parkway through Port Gibson to Jackson, east to Meridian, northwest to the Choctaw Indian Reservation and then due south to the coast here in Pascagoula. It’s been a busy week with lots of miles clocked, but I’ve seen some amazing places along the way. I want to give a big shout-out to one of my readers, Todd, who gave me a lot of suggestions for this week, all of which were spot-on. Thanks Todd!
After I left y’all last week, I had a pretty quiet night there in Vicksburg. Thursday morning I woke up early and headed straight for the Old Courthouse Museum high above town. I had a nice chat with one of the men working there as I entered, and then had a great long wander through the collection. I realized at some point that I had been there before, but it’s been at least a decade. I really enjoyed it. There was a hammer made from the wreck of the Star of the West, some original Dix banknotes (Dix is 10 in French, and people used to say they had some “dixies”, which then offered up “Dixieland” and the rest is history), the tie Jefferson Davis wore at his inauguration, an original Teddy Bear presented to a local child by Theodore Roosevelt himself and so much more. The courtroom itself has been nicely preserved, and I loved the swivel seats for the jury – it was probably all the rage when they were installed in 1890…
Hello Everyone,
It’s great to see you, and I’d like to extend a very warm welcome to our new subscribers this week, I’m happy that you’re here. It’s been a pretty quiet week here in Mississippi, but a busy one as well. I haven’t done a lot of traveling, but I’ve been to some pretty cool places and met some wonderful people. This week has brought me from Columbus back through to middle of the state with stops in French Camp, Kosciusko and Winona. I spent a couple of nights Cascilla in a pretty rural part of the state with my friend John and his family, and then wound up the week traveling northwest into the Mississippi Delta. Of all the time I’ve spent in Mississippi in the past, most of it has been in the Delta, so it’s pretty comfortable to me. I love it here, and have always been fascinated by the music and the culture. Sadly, I know that poverty levels in the Delta are high, and that this factor contributes to both the music and culture of the region, but I’ve also seen the region develop a reasonable tourism industry in the 15 years or so I’ve been coming here, and hope conditions continue to improve for the area’s residents. Regardless of any of that though, it’s always great to be back in the Delta.
When we last we spoke, I had just pulled into Columbus, in the far east of the state near the Alabama border. My first impressions of the town were good, but my lasting impressions were even better. I really found it to be a delightful and hospitable town full of history with surprises around every corner.
Hi Everyone, I hope this week’s This Week finds you all well. It’s almost February and I see spring at the end of the tunnel. It’s been a good week out here on the road, my first full week in Mississippi, with plenty of things to keep me occupied. I’ve visited some cool small towns, learned somefascinating history, eaten at some wonderful restaurants and caught up with friends old and new. It’s been good to be back on the road. Before I get started recapping my week for you, I want to give a big Thank You Shout Out to Todd, one of my subscribers, who sent me a huge list of recommendations for my time in Mississippi. Many thanks, Todd, your recommendations will come in really handy in the weeks ahead.
After leaving y’all last week, I did make my way out to the tiny town of Jacinto. The town was founded in 1836 and named for the Battle of San Jacinto in the Texas Revolution. It became the county seat of Tishomingo County and a stately two-story courthouse was built. In 1869, Tishomingo County was divided into three counties, Tishomingo, Alcorn and Prentiss, and the county seat of the new, smaller Tishomingo County was moved to Iuka. The town declined to the point where the courthouse was sold for scrap. Thankfully some concerned citizens stepped in to save the courthouse and the town. Nothing is open there in the winter, but it was still neat to wander around the courthouse and some of the buildings. It was really quiet and pleasant and there are a few houses and cars around so it’s not quite a ghost town, but it’s close. I did get a bit of a scare when I stood on my tip-toes to get a glance through the window and saw a life-like mannequin inside the courthouse. My heart jumped out of my chest.
From Jacinto, I headed down to Brices Crossroads Battlefield and wanted to visit the small Mississippi’s Final Stands Interpretive Center but unfortunately they had recently sustained some tornado damage…
It's been another great week on the road, this one spent in wonderful West Tennessee. It's been a hot week, as summer is moving in fast here in the south, but with it come the festivals and fun of the season. My week has been full of barbecue and music and really good people. West Tennessee is very distinct from the eastern part of the state, more resembling the Mississippi Delta which it is intimately connected to, than the rest of Tennessee. This region is flatter and poorer than the east of the state, but it is still full of wonderful stops and cool things to see.
When I finally left Nashville, I headed down the Natchez Trace Parkway. The parkway roughly follows the old Natchez Trace, an ancient trail which leads from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville. In the days before the great paddle wheelers plied the Mississippi River, boats carrying cotton, hides and other goods made a one-way trip down to the major port of Natchez. The boatmen would then sell their boats, whole or for scrap and walk back up the Natchez Trace 400 miles or so back to Nashville and start all over again. It was interesting to duck off the Parkway and walk some of the historic trail and imagine myself back in those days doing the same.
