The Lunch Box Journals

Vicksburg, MS to Natchez, MS (Hwy 61)
One of the early “super highways” of the frontier was the Natchez Trace, a trail which grew into a road that headed southeast from Nashville, TN, to Natchez. Highway 61 heads south of Vicksburg and meets up with the Trace south of a small town named Port Gibson. The ribbon of highway wraps around the rolling terrain.

This is rural Mississippi delta country where small farms and minimal industry provide what little economy appears to exist. Houses are somewhat rundown, most could use a coat of paint, and a tidy yard is hard to find. I have high hopes for Port Gibson, a town that Ulysses S. Grant chose not to destroy during the Civil War noting, “Port Gibson is too pretty to burn.” To my dismay I find that, for the most part, modern times seem to have passed Port Gibson by and “pretty” is probably no longer apt… Like most of the towns that I pass, a county courthouse dominates the skyline of the central area, in this case, built in 1845.

The memorial in the round park in front of the courthouse is a memorial to the C.S.A. (Confederate States of America) and is inscribed “Claiborne County’s Tribute to Her Sons Who Served in the War 1861-1865.” Hmmm. The vibe as I walk around town is a bit odd, but I trek on. South of the courthouse the small downtown area stands in a general state of disrepair. There is not much evidence of economic activity with the only building presenting any semblance of prosperity is a bank (go figure!). The building was built as a bank in 1840, operated up to the Civil War, re-opened as a bank in 1890 and has been one ever since.

Otherwise life seems a bit depressing along Main Street.

Beyond the small commercial core are residential structures again in deteriorating block after block. Several are of note. The Judge Maury House (left-1827) often hosted dignitaries of the early 1800’0s, including Henry Clay. The O’Hara Cottage was built in 1850 (center) and Miss Phoebe’s House was built in 1811 (right).

The real story of Port Gibson is the churches, I counted 13 churches within three blocks of Main Street. Most were built in the 1800’s.

One of the religious buildings that stands out is not a church, but rather a synagogue. Port Gibson had a substantial German Jewish population in the late 1800’s and the Temple Gemulid Chasses was built in 1891. Around the corner is a house with rather unique mosaic tiles on the second floor, built by German immigrants Samuel and Jacob Berteimer around the same time.

As I walk around I’m increasingly aware that people are watching me. Not too big a surprise, it’s a small town and a stranger is walking around with a camera. Then another characteristic of the town hits me. I have been here for over an hour, walked around Main Street and neighboring residential blocks, and I have never seen another white person. Make of that what you will…. Given my less than great impression of Vicksburg, and now another sobering visit in Port Gibson, I head for Natchez not really knowing what to expect. Who knows, another southern river town that never recovered from the Civil War? Let’s find out. Travelling towards Natchez there is little hint that the mighty Mississippi lurks to the west. The land continues to be rolling and heavily forested. Hwy 61 bypasses the actual town of Natchez (which is on the river) and just off Hwy 61 to the east is a reminder that life existed along the Mississippi long before the Europeans arrived in the 1600’s, the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians.

The Grand Village of the Natchez
The Natchez Indians lived along the Mississippi for hundreds of years prior to the 1600’s. When French explorers reached the area in 1682 they found a relatively peaceful society ruled by the eldest son of a family known as the “Sun”. Several explorers wrote detailed reports of their experiences and during the existence of the French colony at Natchez witnessed a number of ceremonies. The Grand Village actually was not very big and served primarily as a ceremonial center. The Natchez were an agrarian society and most lived on small family plots out in the surrounding countryside. The Grand Village clustered around two ceremonial mounds on either end of a flat plaza. (There was a third mound on the site that had apparently been abandoned some time before the French arrived, they do not mention it in their reports and it no longer exists). The mound on the left is the Sun Mound, the mound on the right is Temple Mound.

The day I was there was also field trip day for several classes of local sixth graders. It certainly added to the experience… Temple Mound (left) has an earthen ramp leading up to the top, where a temple was built that included an “eternal flame.” Across the plaza is the Sun Mound, which was topped with the chief’s house. (and today, a class of sixth graders!).

The French witnessed two ceremonies marking the death of important natives and documented their observations. In 1725 the “Great Sun” died and the ceremony included the strangling of his wives and retainers so that they might accompany him to the afterlife. Tattooed Serpent, a war chief, died in 1728 and one of the Frenchmen, La Page du Pratz, sketched the ceremony in his record “The History of Louisiana”. The procession with the body started in front of the Sun Mound and then was walked in a circular pattern up the plaza to the Temple Mound, passing on both sides those who were to be killed as part of the funeral. When a chief died his house was destroyed and buried under a layer of soil, thus raising the height of the mound. The Natchez Mounds are one of the smaller examples of a mound village in the area. Having done due diligence to the heritage of the natives, it’s time to head to downtown Natchez.

Natchez, MS
Natchez was established by French colonists in 1716 and the town continued to grow in importance as it was ceded by France to Spain, then back to France, and then finally to the United States. Natchez served as the capital of the American Mississippi Territory and then capital of the state of Mississippi until it was replaced by Jackson as the state capital in 1822 due to Jackson being in the center of the state. Natchez was the southern terminus of the Natchez Trace, the major trade route between the Mississippi River Valley and the north. It wasn’t until steamboats were developed in the 1820’s that the river itself became a major transportation route. In the first half of the 1800’s (known as the antebellum period) Natchez was considered the queen city of the Mississippi River and at one time prior to the Civil War had more millionaires than any other city in the United States. Wealthy plantation owners built fabulous town homes and mansions in Natchez as a respite from plantation life. The advent of the railroads spelled the end of the boom in Natchez as the Mississippi River railroad bridge was built in Vicksburg and the local economy entered a slow period of decline from which it has never recovered. Today a population of barely 16,000 call Natchez home and tourism has become a major driver of the local economy. This is the view of Natchez looking east from across the river in Vidalia, Louisiana. You can see the edge of Natchez perched above the Mississippi. The large building on the left is the Natchez Grand Hotel, which sits at the western terminus of the historic Natchez Trace (Main Street).

The difference between Natchez and my visits to Port Gibson and Vicksburg was dramatic and obvious from the get go. The downtown area is vibrant with life, no empty store fronts to be seen, and chock full of well-maintained buildings and residences. The central city is clustered along Main and Franklin Streets, running parallel from the river bank east before coming together at a historically significant spot, Forks of the Road, which connected to the Natchez Trace. Forks of the Road was the site of the second largest slave market in the south and operated until 1863. No trace of the market remains, just a small marker. A mile to the west is the center of town. Space is obviously at a premium, even a narrow alley has been pressed into service as an outdoor restaurant!

Three historic public buildings border the Main Street corridor on the south: The Adams County Courthouse (left-1821), First Presbyterian Church (center-1828) and Adams County Jail (right-1891).

Also to the south are block after block of historic homes.
Auburn House (left-1875), Van Court Townhouse (center-1835), LaCroze Townhouse (right-1843)

Caroline Stier House (1835), Edward House (1830), Presbyterian Manse (1830)

Peter Crist House (1800), Wilkins Townhouse (1835), White Wings (1833)

Much like giant colored jewels dangling from a necklace of diamonds, the magnificent town mansions of plantation owners decorate the residential blocks just steps from Main Street. Magnolia Hall, built in 1858, is made of brick covered in plaster and painted to look like stone. This was a common practice as natural stone for building was not easily available. Faux painting was used to mimic stonework on walls, marble for fireplace mantles, and other places where decorative stone might be expected.

Cherokee Hall was built in 1844 as a townhome for planter William Stanton.

Stanton later built a new house down the block in 1857 and named it “Belfast”. In 1890 it was converted the Stanton College for Young Ladies and then converted back to a private home in the early 1900’s and named Stanton Hall.

Choctaw Hall was constructed in 1836 by planter Joseph Neibert.

On the southwestern edge of downtown overlooking the Mississippi is Rosalie, named after Fort Rosalie, which occupied the site in the early days of Natchez. Both the front (left) and back (right) feature dramatic columns. Rosalie was built in 1820 and was the headquarters of the Union Army under General Walter Gresham, who protected the house and its contents during the war. After the war the house was returned intact to its owners where it remained until 1938 when it was purchased by the Mississippi State Society Daughters of the American Revolution, who maintain the mansion into the present.

These mansions were not the center of grand estates, they were townhomes for the planters and are in the middle of town, surrounded by smaller homes, many of which are obviously historical but have no particular date of origin posted for the curious tourist!