I couldn’t resist this pull-off due to its name: “Yockanookany”, a Choctaw word meaning “has been lost”. The Yockanookany River is nearby. (Seeing fun place names is an added benefit to RV travel!)
A view of the tranquil Natchez Trace Parkway at this spot, with large, round bales of hay in the background:
As mentioned in an earlier post, the Ross Barnett Reservoir is actually an impoundment of the Pearl River. Just after the Cypress Swamp site is one called River Bend. It’s a beautiful view of the Pearl River and worth a stop. There are picnic areas and rest rooms.
The river enters the picture on the right:
Another view with the main channel in the center to the left of the dark clump of trees:
At the north end of the Ross Barnett Reservoir, north of Jackson, MS, is the Cypress Swamp site.
[The sign makes the stroll through this site sound so tranquil. It would be except for the mosquitoes!! They were out in full force!!]
Several people had recommended that we stop here. It’s really a good example of what early explorers and travelers typically had to deal with when traversing this part of the country. And during the Civil War, troops and supplies often had to move through these hazards. Insects and disease were prevalent.
Nevertheless, it was quite interesting to view. And, despite swatting away the “skeeters”, it was a tranquil place. Many shades of green and many different textures.
The predominant tree types are water tupelo and bald cypress. The latter are known for “cypress knees” which rise up from the tree roots (see the photo above). They’re a bit of a mystery. They don’t function as roots per se and possibly to help stabilize the tree. They’re certainly interesting shapes. The water tupelo doesn’t produce the “knees” and has a smoother bark. (Sorry I don’t seem to have a photo of one! Oops!)
We found it odd that we didn’t see any wildlife as we quietly walked the trail. No turtles. Even the birds were illusive.
We continued our day trip from the Choctaw Agency (MM 100.7) north along the reservoir. Almost immediately, we discovered access to the parkway from Ridgeland, location of the Mississippi Crafts Center. Several interesting sites/pull-offs follow in the next 4 or 5 miles, one of which is the Reservoir Overlook (MM 105.6). The parkway parallels the reservoir for the next 8 miles.
The 31,000 acre reservoir is owned/managed by the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District. The dam is on the northern edge of Jackson; the reservoir then stretches north up the Pearl River for just over 15 miles. There are 105 miles of shoreline. It provides Jackson’s water supply and is a major recreational focal point for the area.
There are 4 campgrounds on the reservoir, all supervised by the Pearl River Water Supply District. Two are convenient for use while visiting Jackson or pausing on a journey on the parkway. Timberlake Campground is nearest the city and all amenities (see earlier post). Goshen Springs Campground is a bit further north. Both are within easy access to the Natchez Trace Parkway. The fee for a full-hookup RV site is $24/night; senior citizens receive a $2 discount so pay $22/night. In summer, it’s wise to call for a reservation. The website and phone numbers are:
http://www.rossbarnettreservoir.org/about.html
Timberlake Campground: 601-992-9100, 143 Timberlake Dr., Brandon, MS 39047; Goshen Springs: 601-829-2751, 4248 Hwy. 43 North, Brandon, MS 39047
With the motor home, Richard and I had traveled up the Trace as far north as I-20 at Jackson before pausing to explore Jackson itself (see postings on Jackson). During our stay there, we drove our truck up the Trace north from I-20 to well above the north end of Ross Barnett Reservoir at about MM 135. We turned off at MS 16 which took us into Carthage, MS. We “dined” at Little Richard’s Seafood Diner – we just had to!
Our first stop on this segment of the Trace was at the Clinton, MS, Visitor Center (+/- MM 88 or 89). This building has won numerous awards for its design incorporating the distinctive style indigenous to Mississippi. The “ell” on the left side is attached in the style known as a “dog trot”, a covered walkway open at both ends which allowed for good air circulation and a sheltered spot to sit in warm weather. One’s farm dogs could “trot” right on through. There’s a covered gallery which also invites sitting in a rocker out of the sun or during an evening.
The building’s interior was well-planned to look like a home, except this one displays racks of brochures of interest to tourists. There are display cases on the walls with historical artifacts and fine art, as well as gift items made locally.
An exhibit, “Journey Stories”, was set up in 2 or 3 of the rooms. This remarkable exhibit was organized and circulated by the Smithsonian’s Traveling Exhibition Service. The brochure states: “Journey Stories is a compelling Smithsonian exhibition that shows how our evolving mobility changed a young nation and how transportation made us grow. The accounts of travelers themselves express the hopes and promises of fresh starts, the grim realities of forced migrations and difficult journeys, and the thrills of personal travel.” For some this was a one-way journey to America; for others, an arduous trek made by covered wagon; a railroad trip across country; steamboat travel on our mighty rivers; and also stories of family vacations full of fun and adventure. It all involved travel – how apropos for the Natchez Trace Parkway!
We’d read about a restaurant in Lorman, a speck of a community just off the Parkway. It’s called the Old Country Store and its owner, Mr. Arthur Davis, cooks and serves reputedly the “World’s Best Fried Chicken” – while wearing a crisp white shirt and fine red tie. He and his establishment were featured in Alton Brown’s “Feasting on Asphalt” television program on the Food Network. From the outside, it isn’t very impressive. As the name implies, the building has served as a general store and several other things.
Remnants of of the building’s days as a general store can be seen in the sliding ladders (one on each side of the store’s interior), the shelving, and the drawers. Today, this area serves as a dining room.
The food is served buffet-style in an adjoining room. There was fried chicken, field peas, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans with bacon, mustard greens, salad, cornbread, fruit, and homemade desserts (including banana pudding with vanilla wafers, quite popular in MS). With your choice of non-alcoholic beverages, this all-you-can-eat array cost a mere $8.95!
While I was eating, I could hear Mr. D crooning in a bluesy, Mississippi Delta way that there was “Fresh hot fried chicken” as a new batch was put out on the serving table. When you pay for your meal at the register, Mr. D signs a menu and gives it to you as a gift. You just have to go there! It’s remarkable!
Incidentally, there is nothing remotely healthy in Mississippi cuisine. It’s either fried, has lots of sugar in or on it, or a combination of both! Vegetables have been cooked too long and often with bits of pork fat or bacon in them. This is the South, where you are asked if you want “sweet” or “unsweet” ice tea. “Sweet” tea will give you such a sugar buzz!
This segment of the Trace is fairly uneventful, enjoyed mainly for its being a quiet green snippet of time away from “civilization”.
We’d read about a restaurant in Lorman, a speck of a community just off the Parkway. It’s called the Old Country Store and its owner, Mr. Arthur Davis, cooks and serves reputedly the “World’s Best Fried Chicken” – while wearing a crisp white shirt and fine red tie. He and his establishment were featured in Alton Brown’s “Feasting on Asphalt” television program on the Food Network. From the outside, it isn’t very impressive. As the name implies, the building has served as a general store and several other things.
Remnants of of the building’s days as a general store can be seen in the sliding ladders (one on each side of the store’s interior), the shelving, and the drawers. Today, this area serves as a dining room.
The food is served buffet-style in an adjoining room. There was fried chicken, field peas, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans with bacon, mustard greens, salad, cornbread, fruit, and homemade desserts (including banana pudding with vanilla wafers, quite popular in MS). With your choice of non-alcoholic beverages, this all-you-can-eat array cost a mere $8.95!
While I was eating, I could hear Mr. D crooning in a bluesy, Mississippi Delta way that there was “Fresh hot fried chicken” as a new batch was put out on the serving table. When you pay for your meal at the register, Mr. D signs a menu and gives it to you as a gift. You just have to go there! It’s remarkable!
Incidentally, there is nothing remotely healthy in Mississippi cuisine. It’s either fried, has lots of sugar in or on it, or a combination of both! Vegetables have been cooked too long and often with bits of pork fat or bacon in them. This is the South, where you are asked if you want “sweet” or “unsweet” ice tea. “Sweet” tea will give you such a sugar buzz!
We first explored the Parkway from MM 0 north to near MM 60, slightly s.e. of Vicksburg. It would be incredibly challenging to stop at every single historic site or pull-off, so we can only mention the ones we chose to visit.
Our main interest was in the Old Trace itself, its history, and the remaining portions of it. When it was being heavily traveled, there were inns established along the way called “stands”. A good example of that is Mount Locust (MM 15.5), dating to 1780, one of the oldest buildings in Mississippi. It was restored in 1956 as a frontier home of the 1820s, the peak of the Trace’s foot and horse travel.
It was easy to imagine travelers reaching this stand, located a one-day walk from Natchez, and emerging from the trail out of the woods. An interesting note, according to the NPS ranger on-site, was that travelers were not allowed to sleep in the house. They had to prepare their own meals outdoors and likely slept in an outbuilding furnished with wall-to-wall corn shuck mattresses. The stand offered them safety, since the Trace was also frequented by thieves and scoundrels.
While exploring around the stand’s exterior, I was captivated by a sweet scent. I followed it and found, almost hidden away at one end of the house, what seemed to be a whole gardenia bush!
I imagined that it brought quiet joy to Pauline Ferguson Chamberlain, the innkeeper from 1801 through her death in 1849. (I just planted a gardenia in my patio in south Texas before we left on this summer’s adventures.)
[NOTE: The Natchez Trace Parkway is the National Scenic Byway and All-American Road created to honor the historic Natchez Trace. The latter, referred to as the Trace, was a system of trails used by buffalo and other wildlife in migration or searching for known salt licks; Native Americans (Natchez, Choctaw, and Chickasaw), hunters and trappers, and by men returning north from selling their wares/goods in Natchez or New Orleans. They would float their goods down on a flatboat, sell their wares and the lumber from the boat itself then walk or ride horseback to their home.
The Trace was mapped as an Indian trail by the French as early as 1733 and, by 1810, it was the most heavily traveled route in the “Old Southwest” -- Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. The steamer New Orleans arrived in Natchez in January of 1812, thus began a shift to steamboat travel, leaving the Trace to melt into the forest once again.]
OVERVIEW: Neither of us remember being taught much about the Natchez Trace (the Trace, for short). After we started RVing full-time and met other RV folks, we began to hear and read about it and the Parkway. All reports said the latter was a beautiful and informative drive. One thing leads to another…
Last fall, we began thinking about this summer’s 5 or 6 months’ travel opportunities. Our primary desire was to see our niece Catron, her husband Chris, and their 2 gorgeous toddlers living up in northern VA.
So, road atlas in hand, we developed a reasonable route up to VA and back. Coming from TX, it was natural to wander up through LA and MS, thus a decision was made to “do” the Trace as we headed north.
The Parkway, administered by the National Park Service (NPS), is 444 miles long, beginning at Natchez, MS, and ending 15 miles s.w. of Nashville, TN. There are no commercial vehicles allowed on the Parkway; no businesses or services are located on the Trace itself but are available in nearby towns and cities. The speed limit is 50 mph (strictly enforced), enabling visitors to enjoy the beauty and history of the Trace at a leisurely pace. There are no billboards. There is NO LITTER – the parkway is continually patrolled by maintenance workers who pluck up any roadside litter with special tongs and empty the trash containers at all the pull-offs.
In our busy lives, when do we ever get to drive slowly along a route, savoring the tranquility, enjoying the fresh green landscape – no visual insults, no pressure – and get to learn so much in addition? The Trace offers many lessons about the Civil War, about slavery and the Emancipation, about the “Old Southwest” (as mentioned above), about today’s South and about southern hospitality. There are many locations en route where you can view portions of the Old Trace itself, worn down by possibly hundreds or thousands of years of foot and, later, carriage travel.
We enjoyed the actual design of the Parkway itself. The Parkway Visitor Center (MM 266) has an exhibit that mentions the concept of “viewshed”. (Yes, like “watershed”) Viewshed means everything within the visitor’s view along the Parkway must be pleasing and appropriate. Therefore, even the way the roadside grass is mowed has a design plan. There are very few straight lines, only along fences; the tree line gently undulates in and out. A small grove stands in the clear, neatly mowed around its feet. A little “cove” is created by mowing back into the tree line, inviting the eye to wander back in. All this thought creates a visual banquet that is so restful and interesting.
The NPS map is arranged by mile marker, corresponding to the actual numbered markers alongside the road. The parkway property varies in width on either side of the roadway, sometimes no wider than a few hundred feet on each side (a total of 800’ wide at its narrowest). Other times, there are dense woods on either side, and a sense of blissful separation from civilization. Oh, there’s an occasional glimpse of a farmhouse or outbuilding but it’s never jarring.
Signage along the Parkway is discrete, identifiable by its brown color and by the arrowhead-shaped signs at the various pull-offs or historic sites. Access to the Parkway from county or state roads only has one brown sign saying “Natchez Parkway” in each direction; they are really easy to miss!
There are 3 free NPS campgrounds on the Trace, offering basic amenities but no hookups or dump stations: Rocky Springs (MM 54.8), Jeff Busby (MM 193.1), and Meriwether Lewis (MM 385.9). All are first come-first served (no reservations) and all three campgrounds are open year-round. They each have a few sites which can accommodate today’s larger RV’s but suit smaller rigs or tents a bit better. Please visit the websites noted below for further information.
We chose to explore the Trace in segments, making one-week stops in Natchez (already posted), Vicksburg, Jackson, and Tupelo, MS, and two weeks in Hohenwald, TN. We then drove the Trace to its northern terminus in Pasquo, 15 miles s.w. of Nashville.
Our posts on traveling the Parkway itself are next.
RESOURCES: We recommend purchasing “Guide to the Natchez Trace Parkway” by F. Lynne Bachleda [2005, Menasha Ridge Press, Birmingham, AL]. It was FULL of valuable information and more than worth its $15 price! We found our copy at the Natchez Visitors Center; it’s for sale at all the Visitor Centers along the Parkway.)
Helpful websites:
Before we left Texas, neighbors recommended that we visit Frogmore Plantation. So, we built it into a day trip in conjunction with a visit to Catahoula National Wildlife Refuge. Frogmore is appropriately located in Frogmore, LA, just across the Mississippi River from Natchez. It’s named after a town in England by the same name. The Plantation’s website noted at the end of this post is exceptionally well-done!
This place is a definite “must-see”! It’s devoted to the history of slavery, on a general level and particularly how it related to local history. At the beginning of the tour is an introductory film narrated by Lynn Tanner who, with her husband, owns Frogmore. The film is very professional and well-researched. What fascinated us was the portion on the Emancipation. What we DON’T learn in history classes is that freeing the slaves was not always a good thing for them. First, they no longer had a place to live, no source of income or livelihood, no supportive community, and nowhere to go in order to find those things. Second, out of desperation, many of them returned to their previous plantations. Third, for some, their masters made them sharecroppers. They now had land to live on and work but they didn’t own it. They were obligated to share a certain percentage of the income derived from crops harvested off the land. Finally, a very small minority were given land to own. Still others managed to move to other states where slavery wasn’t allowed.
The main house at Frogmore is not part of the grounds tour. The 19 dependency buildings (outbuildings) were well-preserved, modest, not too noteworthy nor photo-worthy. The tour guide does give a good idea of how slaves lived during this era.
This property is still a working cotton plantation and the modern cotton gin is on the second part of the tour. However, we visited during the off-season so the gin was inactive and undergoing maintenance. During the introduction, we had viewed a second film which explained the ginning process: how the cotton balls are cleaned of trash (stems & leaves) and seeds, then baled, and readied for shipment to cotton mills. Both films are worth seeing by themselves!
Helpful website:
5/29/09
(NOTE: Not posted in order time-wise; should have been inserted earlier. Sorry!)
Our first destination in Natchez was the Visitor Center, well-located just across the bridge from our RV park.
We opted for a 1 1/2 hour bus tour to get an overview of Natchez. With some time to spare, we dashed to the “Pig Out Inn” nearby for a delicious BBQ sandwich for lunch. (We liked the food and atmosphere here so much, we returned one evening for dinner! Customers are given stickers reading “The Pig Out Inn BBQ, Best Smelling Pits in Town!”)
The Pig Out Inn’s interior is delightful! Various signs, compatible with a old river town, warn of avoiding gamblers, pickpockets, and women of ill-repute. The more recent and featured sign above reads: “We were invited to the recession but we declined.” Now isn’t that just SO southern in tone – so polite??!!
Our tour driver, Doris, spoke in a southern accent as thick as molasses on a cool day! Plus, she spoke in a type of local dialect which meant we had to ask her to repeat several things!! This just added to our discovery process – Doris was so agreeable and her summary of Natchez history was a great help. We were Doris’ only passengers, a real treat for us. Doris made 2 brief stops, one at Melrose, an antebellum mansion, and at Forks In The Road, the site of an enormous slave market many years ago. Slaves were dressed in fine clean clothing and paraded slowly in a circle; if not immediately purchased, they were waited until the next “parade”. (For more information about slavery, please see our blog posting about Frogmore Plantation.)
Melrose, now owned and maintained by the National Park Service is a “must-see” when visiting Natchez. On the grounds, various outbuildings still exist, one of which houses an exceptionally good slavery exhibit. Melrose has remained relatively unaltered, unlike the bed-and-breakfast conversions elsewhere in town. We feel that’s kept it more authentic.
Once our driving tour was finished, we returned to Melrose for a longer visit.
At this time of year, the magnolia and mimosa trees are all in bloom. Magnolias are so fragrant and the tree is quite handsome! The leaves are shiny green on one side and bronze on the other. Mimosas are covered with a haze of feathery pink blooms and are everywhere! They’re a very common native tree.
Also in bloom everywhere this time of year is Crape Myrtle, a flowering tree which blooms in several different shades of pink (both soft and bright), red, purple, as well as white. (I borrowed the photo below from HowStuffWorks.com) It has no scent and is a delightfully showy shrub or well-formed small tree. Southern gardeners use it with great spirit to add color to the landscape. It’s in the median of highways, in front of banks, in parks, and seems unparticular as to where it’s planted.
After wandering through Melrose, we came back into town and did the “Walking Tour”. We recommend it! (Maps are available at the Visitor’s Center.) “Downtown Natchez” is filled with dozens of tidy red brick, stone, and stucco buildings, many on the National Register of Historic Places. Several are currently being restored. There’s a real pride in preservation here. We apologize for not providing photos -- there were too buildings from which to choose! The websites below might be helpful.
FACTOID: the area near the border of LA & MS is known as “Miss-Lou”. So, the local newspapers and radio stations frequently use this as a point of reference. (For a brief moment, Richard and I had wondered just who this important “Miss Lou” was!!!)
Here’s a couple of good resources:
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.
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…
It’s departure time – off on our summer’s adventures. We’ve got mixed emotions about leaving – contented in our “winter perch” here, yet excited to be on the road again! Our route will take us north through Louisiana to our first major stop in Natchez, MS. We’ll make a brief stop en route in southwest LA, near Lake Charles, where we’ll drive the “Creole Nature Trail” down from Sulphur, LA, to the Gulf Coast at Holly Beach, over to Cameron, and back up to Lake Charles. Anxious to see how well that area has recovered from Hurricane Ike. And how wildlife has come back after the trauma.
Our overall route this summer will take us to or near numerous Civil War historic sites. This will be an excellent opportunity to “re-learn” about that important event. We’ve all studied it in school, but how much of it do we remember? Did we care about it? (Kind of like algebra!) Happily, as adults, now we’re truly interested.
Our itinerary includes the Natchez Trace Parkway which begins in Natchez and ends just outside of Nashville, TN; Great Smoky Mountains National Park; Asheville, NC; Blue Ridge Parkway; Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park; family in northern VA and Washington, DC; West VA, the one state in the Lower 48 we’ve never visited; the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY; Berea, KY, an Appalachia crafts center; Memphis, TN (BBQ & Blues); and the Great River Road from Memphis down into Louisiana.
We’ll be back home by about mid-October. Y’all, come along with us!
