North to Natchez, MS

5/27/09

Interesting drive up through Alexandria, LA, to Natchez. We passed through the “Nursery Capital of Louisiana” from Forest Hill to Woodworth: acres of flower, shrub and tree nurseries. An enormous and stunning “crazy quilt” of color, though the individual color blocks were extremely neat and tidy.

After a stay in the Texas Tropics, Louisiana’s countryside looks so lush and green! Blooming along the roadside are magnolia and mimosa trees, lilac, and others I have yet to learn.

Churches of all types and sizes are in abundance – the South is known as the “Bible Belt” for good reason! We’ve seen several mega-churches up through Texas and into Louisiana. It’s comforting to know we’re in such good hands!

Our home for the coming week was the River View RV Park in Vidalia, LA, just across the bridge from Natchez, MS.  We found this park through RV Park Reviews. River View honors the Escapees RV Club 15% discount as well as Passport America (50% discount for first 3 nights). The park graciously gave us the Passport America for our 1st 3 nights and Escapees for our last 4 nights. The park is clean, quiet, and very convenient to Natchez, and nearby grocery stores. Our site had a pretty good view of the Mississippi River, so we enjoyed watched the tugs and barges navigate up and downstream. We quickly became tuned to the thrumming of an approaching tug.

View Full Album

Our week was exciting (we viewed it as the official kickoff to our summer tour!); it was also educational, and restful. Natchez itself was not damaged by Civil War battles; the fighting occurred further north, thus its buildings remain well-preserved. It was a cotton capital and wealthy plantation owners built numerous antebellum mansions now available for tours. (We were reminded that “antebellum” means “before the war” -- in this case, the Civil War –- therefore, before 1863.) They’ve been beautifully restored and preserved, though many have been converted to bed-and-breakfasts. Ironically, the actual plantations were across the Mississippi River on flat Louisiana floodplain; the Natchez bluffs and hills discouraged such agriculture. However, the bluffs offered panoramic view of the River.

And, next, our tour of Natchez…