Mississippi - Magnolia State
From the far north of Minnesota to the deep south of Mississippi, we live in a country with vast differences – cultural, climatological, lingual, and gastronomical. And the scenery varies widely from one region to another, too. We traveled to Mississippi in May of 2010 and became immediately immersed in history, especially Civil War history.
We stayed at the historic Fairview Inn in Jackson. It is mentioned in the book The Help and there are scenes in the movie that were filmed there. The Fairview Inn is on the National Register of Historic Places and exudes southern charm and elegance. I loved sitting in the rocking chair in the gazebo which was situated in their elegant garden. The Mississippi state flower is the magnolia, and there were many magnolia trees on the property. After breakfast, we took a walk to nearby Millsaps College, a liberal arts institution with a lovely campus.
The state capitol of Mississippi, which exemplifies Beaux Arts classicism in architecture, is also located in Jackson. Windows of stained and leaded glass are original and adorn the grand staircase, domes and walls of the chambers of the Senate and House of Representatives. As with the other state capitols we have visited, many types of marble are featured throughout the building. On top of the capitol is an eye-catching American eagle coated in gold.
Vicksburg National Military Park was a highlight of this trip. We hired a guide for a half day tour because on our own, we would not have known where to start. Over 1400 monuments and memorials dot the 1700-acre landscape. Our guide took us to the most important places and explained the significance of what we were seeing. There were several monuments for each state that fought in the Civil War. Texas had the largest, of course, and we spent time at the Iowa monument, too, because my mom was born and raised there. The USS Cairo Museum, the site of a restored warship circa 1861, was very interesting. We learned that during the Civil War, both sides agreed on one thing: Vicksburg was vital to victory. Jefferson Davis described it as “the nail head that holds the South’s two halves together.” Lincoln remarked “Vicksburg is the key” to victory and could be the north’s lifeline into the south. We came away feeling very sad; so many lives lost, such devastation.
Visiting Ole Miss was a more uplifting experience. We liked Oxford very much, which reinforced our belief that college towns would be a great place for us to live, no matter what the state. There were colorful cafés and restaurants, bookstores, boutique shops and lots and lots of energetic students riding bikes and walking through downtown. The combination of historic buildings, such as the County Courthouse, and hip student hangout places, gave it a fun vibe. On the campus itself, we were very impressed with the Medgar Evers Memorial. His admission to Ole Miss was a major step in securing civil rights in the state. Another location on campus that we particularly liked was the Magnolia Tree Memorial. Estella Hefley, Dean of Women from 1933 – 1957, and her students planted a grove of trees in 1945 as a living memorial to the Ole Miss students who died during World War II. Nearby was William Faulkner’s Home, which he called Rowan Oak. This primitive Greek Revival house was built in the 1840’s. Faulkner bought the house in the 1930’s and did many of the renovations himself.
We decided we would drive the entire Natchez Trace from the northeast corner of Mississippi to the southwestern edge of the state. It’s a historic forest trail which links the Cumberland, Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers. This travel corridor was used by American Indians, European settlers, slave traders, soldiers and future presidents. We started in Tupelo, the birthplace of Elvis Presley. We went to his house, a white clapboard cottage. The shotgun house was repossessed when Elvis was only a few years old because his father could not afford to repay the loan. The Assembly of God church where he began singing, Gospel of course, was also located on the property.
The diagonal Natchez Trace Parkway provides many opportunities to stop and enjoy monuments, historical markers, plantations, cemeteries and beautiful landscapes – even a waterfall a few miles off the main road. The gentle sloping and curving alignment of the current route closely follows the original footpath. In the city of Natchez, we especially enjoyed visiting the restored Rosalie House. Built in 1823, it served as the architectural inspiration for many of Natchez’s grand Greek Revival mansions. We were taken on a tour of the house and in our group were three women with bouffant gray hairdos wearing long skirts. We wondered who they were but couldn’t think of a way to ask. They looked like sisters from another century, but they fit in beautifully with the furniture and interior décor of the Rosalie House.
Longwood, also known as Nutt’s Folly, was another fascinating house to see. It is the largest octagonal house in the country, although it was never finished due to the onset of the Civil War. Built in part by enslaved people, it is on the US Register of Historic Places. Of the 32 rooms planned for the house, only nine rooms on the basement floor were completed.
The Natchez Under-the-Hill District has a colorful history. In the 19th century, Natchez had a split personality. There was Natchez proper and Natchez improper. Natchez proper was the town on top of the bluff; Natchez improper was the boat landing beneath the bluff on the bank of the Mississippi. A popular saying is: “Where a little vice is kinda nice!” During the 19th century, it was described by many travelers as one of the rowdiest ports on the Mississippi River. The buildings looked pretty run down even when we were there, but it was a lively place to have lunch.
We ate dinner one night on the patio of a restaurant in Natchez. The tables were placed close together, and a couple sitting next to us was apparently listening to our conversation. The woman said, at a pause in our conversation, “Y’all don’t sound like you’re from around here. Where are y’all from?” When I told her we were from San Francisco, she said, “Oh, don’t you just hate that Nancy Pelosi?” I thought about it, then went ahead and said, “Actually, I like Nancy Pelosi a lot!” At that, she turned her head and never looked our way again. Andy gave me a little kick under the table, but I didn’t regret speaking my truth.
Heading south, we had lunch at Hub City Diner in Hattiesburg on our way to the Gulf Coast where we visited friends, Rod and Claudia Chambers, who lived in Waveland, near Biloxi. We’ve all heard about the devastation in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina, but there was less reporting about the damage to the southern Mississippi coast. Rod and Claudia were living part time in Nevada and part time in Waveland, in a beautiful home right across the street from the beach. They were in Nevada when the hurricane descended and it destroyed their home, sweeping everything away except a car, which Rod later found upside down, partly buried in the sand. They rebuilt their home but put it up 26 feet. At the ground level was their garage and some storage space, but it was open so that if another hurricane came ashore, the water would flow underneath their house. There were stairs and an elevator to the upper floor where they lived. It was lovely to sit on the deck facing the ocean, gently rocking in the painted white rocking chairs while sipping a glass or two of wine. Later, we enjoyed a delicious lunch at Mary Mahoney’s Old French House in Biloxi, built in 1737.
They drove us for many miles along the coast and it was shocking to see that only about 10% of the empty lots had homes on them despite this being five years post Katrina. On the plus side, they took us to see some local sites, including Jefferson Davis’ home, called Beauvoir, in Biloxi. Some folks in this area still refer to the Civil War as the War of Northern Aggression, which we found interesting. On our last day in Mississippi, we had lunch at Shaggy’s located directly on Biloxi Beach. It has a fun island ambiance with open air dining, great margaritas and good seafood, too. It was the perfect venue for the completion of this trip.
