Sites Around Natchez

Only have 3 days to sight see so we took advantage of the 80 degrees and sunny skies and headed out.  As we traveled the Natchez Parkway the day we came here we had passed a couple of sights and wanted to go back to see them.  Our first stop was to Mount Locust, also known as Locust Inn and Plantation, the oldest original structure still standing in the Natchez area. Built in 1780 along the Natchez Trace and only 10 miles from the town of Natchez, it was originally built as a farm/plantation but with the increasing numbers of boatmen known as "Kaintucks" who were returning from floating their goods down the Ohio to Mississippi to New Orleans, selling the boat and all and returning by land on the Trace, the travelers compelled the owners to turn their home into a 'stand' which was a crude inn.  A place to spend the night and have a meal was a welcome sight to the returning Kaintucks. According to records the traveler paid $.25 for meal and place to sleep, in today's value it would be $3.37!  Mount Locust is the only remaining inn of 50 that once thrived along the 444 miles of the Natchez Trace.

Mount Locust/Locust Inn and Plantation
furnished in 1805 period pieces

Amazing to see the home, walk the grounds and see the slave cemetery as well as the family's cemetery plots, envision what life would have been like in the early 1800s.  From there we drove closer to Natchez on the Parkway and stopped at an interpretive sign about Loess soil, something we learned about back in Nebraska.

Can't escape from the Loess!

Then on to Emerald Mound, second largest Indian mound in North America, the biggest is located in Cahokia, Illinois.  Dating back to 1200 to 1730 CE, this mound is huge!  Archaeological excavations over the years have determined that there were 3 mounds at this location, used for ceremonial as well as burial grounds.  Explorer Hernando de Soto passed through this area in 1540 and described these mounds in his journals.

This is from the first level of the mound - looking down at car

From the Mound we traveled back into Natchez and went to the Natchez National Historical Park, Melrose, and toured the 1841 - what is considered to be the finest home in the Natchez region - Greek Revival-style home. Very opulent and as the journals of the McMurran owners stated it was furnished with "all that fine taste and a full purse" could provide.  Rich, rich, rich.  And of course they had slaves to tend to the wishes of the family from cooking, cleaning, laundry, taking care of the children, tending to the yards and gardens, tending the horses and cattle, etc.  I have to say - I was amazed at the grandiose of the home but turned off by it.  Too gaudy for my taste but showed how the rich folks lived.  I stopped taking pictures after the first two rooms, just was stunned at the fru-fru.  So - 60 years ago the Locust Inn was built and served travelers and then Melrose was built to serve it's owner and family. What a difference!  I felt at home and pictured myself at Mount Locust instead of Melrose.

Mahogany punkah over table - slave pulled rope
so it could swing back and forth and keep flies away

Gold

Exterior under renovation - heated by 10 fireplaces, one in each room, 
no kitchen (other building)
slave quarters in another, laundry, dairy, all in other buildings

And last, we traveled just a couple miles from the Melrose mansion and within the city limits visited the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians.  Again, depicted the culture and ceremonial practices,  walking tour of the mounds of the Natchez Indians who lived in the area as early as 1200.  French settlers around 1700 described the life and ceremonies of this village.  Have since learned that in this area alone there are over 200 known Indian mounds, some have been dated back 3500 years ago!

Indian huts made out of mud and grasses