Morning in Vicksburg

We started the day with a walking tour of Vicksburg, “Historic Vicksburg Comes to Life”. Vicksburg is a very hilly city, so they took us up to our first stop by bus and we walked the rest of the tour. That first stop was Anchuca, an antebellum house which is now a tour home, restaurant, and B&B. It’s loaded with Confederate memorabilia, including a flag which was flown over the house by its original owner soon after the Confederacy was originally declared, probably in 1861.

The ladies’ parlour is the only room I could get a decent photo of, so here it is.

We left Anchuca and walked around the neighborhood, stopping outside the Duff Green Mansion, another antebellum house which is now a B&B. It had been used as a hospital during the Siege of Vicksburg, with both Union and Confederate patients, and came through the shelling almost unscathed.

We walked down the block to look at Christ Episcopal Church, which was also used as a hospital during the siege (as well as holding services every day during the siege).

Our next stop was outside the house of Vicksburg’s first rabbi, Rabbi Herman Bien. He was an inventor and poet as well as a rabbi.

We continued walking until we reached the Old Court House Museum, which had exhibits about various facets of Vicksburg’s history. There was a lot about the Civil War and the siege, of course, but they also gave a good amount of space to the struggle for voting rights.

Vicksburg’s Jewish population has dwindled to a very few elderly people, no longer enough to support or maintain their synagogue, Anshe Chesed (Men of Loving Kindness), and they donated many items to the museum so they wouldn’t be lost.

The men’s room featured a sink which had been taken from Saddam Hussein’s palace by Mississippi soldiers serving in Iraq!

The court room was upstairs and reminded me of a place of worship. There was a picture of Jefferson Davis on the front left side, and a room dedicated to him and his wife, but I didn’t have the time to go in.

Vicksburg was the first place that Coca-Cola was bottled for home consumption (instead of only being available at soda fountains), so our final stop was the Biedenharn Coca-Cola Museum. It was loaded with Coke memorabilia, ads, merchandise, old bottles, special bottles, and more.

They even had a Coke Bear that looked exactly like the one our son had gotten as a gift nearly 30 years ago (at the top of the page).

We enjoyed a complimentary Coke before leaving to return to the ship for lunch.

Natchez, Mississippi

We woke up this morning to a beautiful sky in a new state for us, Mississippi. Our morning excursion took us to the largest octagonal house in the United States, Longwood.

It was mostly built by enslaved people (like most plantations), but there were also many skilled craftsman from Philadelphia working on the project. The entire structure had been built, requiring a million bricks, all made on site. The basement was finished, and the workers had started on fitting out the principal floor, ready to add windows and doors, plaster the walls, and so forth – it was going to be a beautiful summer house (a mere 30,000 square feet).

But it was April, 1861, and the Civil War had just begun. The Northern workers dropped tools and fled back to their homes. They never returned. The family moved into the basement rooms (probably 10,000 square feet) temporarily, planning to finish the project after the war. But the owner, Haller Nutt, died in 1864, and his wife never had enough money to finish the house. Neither did his children. Or their children. By 1969, no one lived in the house and it was in bad condition; Kelly McAdams, a Texas millionaire, bought the house for $250,000, spent a similar amount to repair it, and donated it to the Pilgrimage Garden Club to be used as a museum – on the condition that it never be finished.

Here’s what the outside looks like today.

The basement is fully furnished (most of the furniture is original to the house). Our guide James (who is also the curator) showed us this bedroom chair, which has a special feature for overnight use.

There were other interesting touches, too, like this plate warmer near the fireplace. The interior rotated, so you could get the plates nice and hot, then turn them back into the room and use them.

We ascended the stairs to the first floor to see what the rest of the house looked like.

There was no glass in the windows (screens were added once the house became a museum); the ceiling beams were all visible; and yet, it was still beautiful.

The house was intended as a summer house, and it gets hot in Natchez, so they’d designed a huge airshaft that ran from the first floor to the attic. The idea was to open a window in the cupola at the top level and let natural ventilation cool the house.

There was a piano in the basement; its box was still in the house, here on the first floor!

There was a great view from the veranda.

You could see the workmanship that had gone into the house; the decorative capitols on the columns around the veranda are intricate and still mostly in good shape.

We couldn’t go to the higher levels, so we went back out to the lawn and stopped at the Selfie Station (probably not part of the original design).

Our afternoon excursion was “Path to Freedom”, about the Civil Rights movement in Natchez. We started with a short visit to the Zion Chapel AME Church, where we were greeted by the pastor and heard a few beautiful Gospel songs from their soloist.

We traveled to the William Johnson House, part of the Natchez National Historical Park. Johnson was a free man of color who built up a barbering business and became wealthy; he was killed in 1851 because of a land dispute and his murderer was never convicted because he claimed to be white, so testimony from non-whites was inadmissible. Later investigations showed that his murderer was also a man of color, but it was far too late.

Our next stop was the Natchez Museum of African American Culture. A guide met us and told us a bit about Natchez black history and the Civil Rights movement; then he showed us a video from the Mississippi Department of Archives and Museums which gave a very superficial overview of the subject (I couldn’t read the copyright date on the video because it was a blurry VHS copy, but I think it was 1997).

The exhibits in the museum are a mixed bag; there are artifacts and lots of books and magazines, all mixed together.

Despite the technical issues, I found the museum moving; it gave me a little bit more of an idea of what it was like to be black and face active discrimination (not just covert racism).

We next stopped at Forks in the Road, which was the site of the largest slave market in the South. There’s not much to see there now, just an open field, but there are many interpretive signs explaining the market and the economic environment it operated in.

Our final stop was the “Proud to take a Stand” monument, commemorating the more than 400 people who were thrown into Parchman Prison for protesting for civil and voting rights in 1965.

We walked back to the ship along a trail above the waterfront.

I’d like to come back to Natchez sometime and explore it more thoroughly.

Exploring West Feliciana Parish

We docked at the edge of Bayou Sara in West Feliciana Parish early this morning; today’s excursions would take us in and around St. Francisville. Our first excursion took us to Rosedown and Catalpa Plantation Houses. Both were originally owned by the same extended family and were cotton plantations.

Rosedown is the older of the two plantations, originally built in 1834 by the Turnbull family. It originally occupied a plot of land seven miles long (3455 acres total), but most of the land has been sold off over the years. Like all Louisiana plantations, it ran on the labor of enslaved people, both inside the house and out in the fields. The owners were fabulously wealthy and furnished the house accordingly.

This tapestry was sewn by Martha Washington.

The children were home-schooled, of course.

Today, the house is part of the Rosedown State Historic Site.

In contrast, Catalpa is still owned and lived in by descendents of its first owner, William Fort, whose wife was the daughter of Sarah Turnbull of Rosedown. The house was severely damaged during the Civil War, but it survived…until 1885, when it burned down. The house we visited was built a few months after the fire on the footprint of the original house.

We were greeted by Mary, the owner, and given a tour (and a glass of sherry!).

The house was filled with wonderful antiques, like this Sevres lamp.

This fireplace is actually cast iron – even the bricks.

The family was well-connected, and was even invited to attend Mardi Gras parties thrown by the Krewe of Rex in New Orleans.

The family were also fashionistas; this is a 3-D illustration of the latest fashion from Paris.

Mary had the Spanish Land Grant for Catalpa on display.

I really enjoyed visiting Catalpa and hearing Mary tell about her life and family history; Rosedown was grander, but Catalpa made me want to come back.

This afternoon, I went to Port Hudson State Historic Park to learn about the Battle of Port Hudson. We walked out to Fort Desperation to see the earthworks that the Confederates had erected, like this dry moat (well, it was dry in 1862; the recent rains have turned it into a mosquito hotspot, and I have the bites to prove it).

The Confederates repelled two Union assaults but were eventually starved out after the longest full siege in American history and surrendered a few days after Vicksburg, giving the Union full control over the Mississippi and cutting the Confederacy in two.

We also visited the museum on site, where we saw many artifacts recovered from the battlefield and saw (and heard) them fire a cannon.

While I was at Port Hudson, Diane was exploring St. Francisville. People who live close to the Mississippi have to worry about flooding, so they build their houses on cinderblock stilts.

The houses in town are prettier.

St. Francisville was our last stop in Louisiana; it’s been a good visit.

Low Water in the Big Muddy

This afternoon, we took a Baton Rouge walking tour. The weather was very threatening, so only fifteen of us started the tour.

Our guide told us that the Mississippi was very low; it would normally cover the brown areas on the banks, but it hadn’t been that high for months.

Baton Rouge isn’t as famous for music as New Orleans, but they’re still proud of their tradition, especially the blues.

We walked along the Levee Bike Path, passing the “Sing the River” sculpture. When it was first installed, the sculpture played music which varied with the river level; our guide said that it got burnt out during the first good thunderstorm and they’re still trying to figure out a way to repair it and keep it working. It’s still pretty, though!

We left the Levee Bike Path at its northern terminus and walked over to the main shopping district on 3rd Avenue, where we saw the city’s historic Coke sign – the building it was on had been a pharmacy for years, and when it closed, the sign went dark. Various groups worked together to get it relit – now that’s powerful advertising!

It had started raining by this time, but it was fairly gentle if you ignored the lightning and thunder in the distance. We made a brief stop at Matherne’s Market…and half of our group vanished.

The survivors continued onward to the New (1934) State Capitol. Huey Long had it built when he was Governor; he was assassinated there; and he’s now buried on the Capitol grounds under the big white pillar you can see on the right of the photo (yes, that’s Huey Long atop the pillar).

We left the Capitol grounds for Spanish Town; they take Mardi Gras very seriously there, and there are still LOTS of decorations weeks later.

The rain was coming down harder and we picked up the pace; our next stop was the Old Governor’s Mansion, built by – you guessed it – Huey Long. He had the electrical and plumbing set up to mirror the White House so that he’d be comfortable when he became President!

We made a brief stop by the Old State Capitol before climbing up on the levee to walk the last few blocks back to the ship.

When we got back, our shoes, socks, and pants were thoroughly soaked; I’m glad I didn’t bring my big, non-water-resistant camera on the walk!

After we dried out, we went to a great lecture on “Early Blues on Record” by Andy Flory from Carleton College. After dinner, we enjoyed an hour of Cajun and Zydeco music from Waylon Thibodeaux.

We sail away from Baton Rouge about 1am; I don’t plan to be awake to say goodbye.

The Battles of Baton Rouge

Our excursion this morning took us to the sites of the three Battles of Baton Rouge. The first took place near the current State Capitol (very near the river), where the Spanish drove the British out of Louisiana in 1779. The photo below shows the Louisiana Department of Public Safety getting ready to tell our bus driver to move the bus Or Else, but we can say that we stood at the site of the battle. Briefly. :-)

Once we were safely on the bus and away from the cops, our guide finished the story of the first battle and told us about the second Battle of Baton Rouge, a key part of the brief but glorious history of the Republic of West Florida. The Louisiana Purchase didn’t include Baton Rouge or the land due east which was still owned by the Spanish along with Florida itself; however, there were many Americans who’d moved into the Baton Rouge area, and they did not want to be under Spanish rule, so they stormed Fort San Carlos at Baton Rouge and took it over in a short fight. They created the Republic of West Florida; the United States did not recognize it and President Madison ordered its annexation – by force if necessary. A show of force sufficed, and the Republic eventually acceded to the annexation.

The third Battle of Baton Rouge is probably the best known; it took place a few blocks away from the river, much of it on the grounds of Magnolia Cemetery.

After our guide explained the battle and how it fit into the broader conflict at that time, we got back on the bus and drove to Magnolia Mound Plantation, which was originally built in 1791, renovated and expanded in the early 19th Century, used as a shelter during the Battle of Baton Rouge in the Civil War, and remained a residence until the 1960s. The plantation was 900 acres at first, extending to the Mississippi.

We began our tour in the kitchen (not the original building but a recent reconstruction).

Then we moved to the house itself, with period furnishings. I thought the most interesting single item I saw was the “shoo-fly fan” above the dining room table; it was human-powered (probably an enslaved boy).

Louisiana civil law is based on the Napoleonic Code, which allowed women to own property. Jane Stanley owned the plantation; when she died without a will in 1789, they had to do a full appraisal of the property to transfer it to her husband. It was originally in French, but they posted a translation; note how enslaved people are listed as property, just like the house itself or silverware.

Baton Rouge maintains more modern historical traditions, too, like the Frostop Diner. It’s almost close enough to the ship to walk over for lunch.