Postcard Friendship Friday

Our delightful postmistress Marie arranges Postcard Friendship Friday.

This time last year we visited Natchez, Mississippi
and a grand time was had by all!
Here are a few of the postcards I brought home with me --
a wonderful way to remember our trip.

There is a Fall Pilgrimage in Natchez every year.
They open some of the beautiful old homes that are privately owned
to the public.
This card shows some of the homes that are open year round:
The Rosalie, Stanton Hall, Longwood, Donleigh, Melrose and Glen Auburn
all historical mansions in Natchez.

This post card reads: "Riding in a typical 'surrey with the fringe on top' is a grand way to see the elegant antebellum mansions in downtown Natchez. Many are situated on the crest of a hill, so that they are pleasingly displayed."

We flew into Jackson, Mississippi and rented a car
driving to Natchez along the Natchez Trace.

The back of this card reads: " During the late 1700's and early 1800's thousands of travelers walked the Natchez Trace, a primitive pathway through the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian Nations. The trip of nearly 500 miles between Natchez and Nashville required as much as four weeks. In places the trail was eroded deeply into the land giving rise to the term 'sunken trace.'"

The Trace is now a two lane parkway that winds its way to Natchez from Tennessee. The speed limit is set at 55. There are no conveniences along the road except for an occasional rest stop with "facilities". No gas stations. Very little traffic. You have Mother Nature all to yourself. Lots of wildlife. It is beautiful.

"Inns were erected along the Trace with encouragement from the Government, and were usually run by half-breed Indians or white men with Indian wives. The Parkway is administered by the National Park Service, U. S. Department of the Interior."

I hope you enjoyed this short visit along the Trace to Natchez.

Be sure to visit Marie for other Postcard Friendship Friday posts.

I've Been Reading...

I have three books to tell you about. All of them brain candy for me, one more than the others and I’ll start with the most candy!

***

Night Huntress by Yasmine Galenorn is the fifth book in the Otherworld Series. It is urban fantasy and Berkley calls it paranormal romance. Each book features one of the the D’Artigo sisters: sexy, savvy operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency. Being half-human, half-Fae means their supernatural talents always go haywire at the wrong time. Camille is a wicked-good witch who attracts men like honey attracts flies. She has three husbands. Menolly’s a vampire who’s still getting the hang of being undead. Delilah, is a werecat who’s been marked by the Autumn Lord as one of his Death Maidens.

Night Huntress features Delilah. Her boyfriend, the human Chase, mutters another woman’s name in his sleep. Then the Autumn Lord has very special plans for her. Karvanak - the Raksasa and really, really bad guy returns. In order to get his greedy hands on both the fourth spirit seal and his former associate, Vanzir, he kidnaps Chase.

Did I mention one of Camille’s husbands is a dragon?

If you are at all interested in this book, start at the beginning of the series to keep all the characters and ins and outs straight. First book is Witchling and features Camille. Galenorn has several other urban fantasy series.

***

Next is the novel Turning Angel by Greg Iles. The first Iles book I read was Quiet Game. We read it in preparation for the trip to Natchez that we made last year. Both books, Quiet Game and Turning Angel are set in Natchez and Iles really does justice to Natchez as a place. The turning angel really is an angel in the cemetery that looks as if she turns to watch you. Iles is from Natchez and he gets it right -- even the folks living there say so!

“After winning the most dangerous case of his career, prosecutor Penn Cage decides to remain in his Southern hometown to raise his young daughter in a safe haven. But nowhere is truly safe - not from long-buried secrets, or murder. When the nude body of prep school student Kate Townsend is found near the Mississippi River, Penn’s best friend, Drew Elliott, is desperate for his counsel. An esteemed family physician, Drew makes a shocking confession that could put him on death row. Penn will do all he can to exonerate Drew, but in a town where the gaze of a landmark cemetery statue - the Turning Angel - never looks away, Penn finds himself caught on the jagged edge of blackmail, betrayal, and deadly violence.”

Mr. Dragon and I both enjoyed Quiet Game and The Turning Angel. Set in Natchez, Penn Cage is in both novels.

***

Lastly, another book in a mystery series I finished last night: the sixth Jane Austen Mystery, Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House by Stephanie Barron.

“On a raw February morning, Jane Austen first learns of the case of Captain Tom Seagrave, who faces execution for a murder he swears he didn’t commit. Together, she and her brother Frank, a post captain in the Royal Navy, set out to uncover the truth.

It is a journey that leads from the troubled heart of Seagrave’s family, through the seaport’s worst sinkholes, and finally to the prison of Wool House. Risking contagion or worse, Jane comes away with more questions than answers. Did one of Seagrave’s jealous colleagues frame the unpopular captain? Was a veiled political foe at work? And what of the sealed orders under which Seagrave embarked that fateful night on his ship, the Stella Maris?”

All of Barron’s Austen novels are filled with history and written in the style of Miss Austen. This one is set in 1807. Lots of naval history. I admit that this is not my favorite in the series, but I must have enjoyed it as I finished it in two days! If you like historical mysteries set in England, you should try one. Again, it’s probably best if you start with the first one in the series: Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor. There are some repeating characters and you don’t want to miss any of Jane’s relatives!

***

Joy To You on This Thursday!

Read a Book.

Any Book!

Natchez, Day 5

This was our last day in Natchez. It was our literary morning. We walked to the Historic Natchez Foundation and watched the documentary film, "Richard Wright: A Force for Right." We discussed Wright's short story "Almos' a Man." Then it was off to the courtroom of the Adams County Courthouse, where scenes from The Quiet Game by Greg Iles take place. Susanne Kirk Tomlinson, retired editor and vice president at Simon & Schuster/Scribner talked about "Greg Iles and Natchez: An Author's Use of Place."


Then it was off to The Towers. (It lost its Towers long ago -- one by fire in 1927 and the other to make the house symmetrical.) This is the fountain at the front of the house. An 80 foot Magnolia once stood here. It was hollow and a disaster waiting to happen. It was removed and replaced with this fountain surrounded by Knock Out Roses. We were greeted by beautiful music outside and in the house and by the owner on the front steps.


Out of the car and the group dashed to the fountain to check out the roses! The Italianate facade was added to The Towers just before the Civil War. The Towers was behind the fortification lines of the union army and was occupied by officers for several years while soldiers camped on the grounds around the house.


There is a story about then General Grant being unhappy with the soldiers who were occupying the home. He felt they were too nice to the family and ordered the family removed. The officers allowed the family to leave with most of their possessions. Grant is said to have ridden his horse up and down the main hall of the house and here, on the hearth, it is believed he put his pistol down, stepped hard on it and broke the hearth. This was the only picture we took inside the house ... Grant and the broken hearth.

We both thought this was the house highlight of the tour. The house has undergone a complete renovation with magnificent wall coverings and draperies, antique lace sheers, extensive plaster moldings and wainscotting, Aubusson carpets and high rococo antiques. Ginger Hyland, Owner and James Forde, Manager have done an exquisite job. It is obviously a labor of love. Ginger has wonderful and unusual collections all tastefully shown. Among them: 350 antique beaded purses (I'll never look at anything beaded the same way again!), antique tiaras and crowns, antique lace, gentlemen's mother of pearl and ivory watch fobs, chatelaines, Moser glass, vintage costume jewelry, furniture by Belter, Meeks, Roux and Mallard.


The almost five acres of gardens feature 24 bronze sculptures representing some of the finest artists of wildlife in the world.

This is the owner, Ginger, with one of her kitties - Snowflake.

Snowflake loves visitors and begs to have her belly rubbed!

Lunch at Biscuits and Blues. If you read Greg Iles, he will have introduced you to this hangout!

A puppy on the balcony near Biscuits and Blues.

We had some free time after the tour at The Towers and we used it to get some packing done. Dinner this evening was at The Castle Restaurant on the grounds of Dunleith. It was another excellent meal: Petit Dunleith salad: mixed greens, mandarin oranges, purple onion, almonds, Dunleith dressing. Entree: sauteed snapper with beurre blanc, over roasted potatoes and sauteed vegetable medley. Dessert: Key Lime Pie.

After dinner we went to the Natchez Little Theatre to see "Big River" a musical based on Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. The kids in the show were really cute. But, it was a very long day and there was still packing to do. We both thought the tour would have ended on a higher note if the "end" had been dinner at The Castle after the wonderful tour of The Towers.

We enjoyed our tour of Natchez and the people we met. I still have a few more Natchez pictures to share. Another day!

Natchez, Day 4

We started Day 4 off with a program by Natchez historian Tom Scarborough in the Melrose carriage house. All of the speakers on the tour were excellent.

Melrose Plantation

The fortunes of Pennsylvania born John McMurran began rising soon after his arrival in Natchez in the mid-1820's. Mr. McMurran established a profitable law practice, won election to the state legislature, married into a respected local family, and acquired the first of five plantations. In 1841, McMurran purchased 133 acres of land just outside of Natchez. Over the next eight years, a combination of free and slave labor constructed the estate's mansion and outbuildings.

Back of Main Building

The grounds behind the main house contained the outbuildings housing a kitchen, livestock, carriages, tools and the estate's slaves. The Melrose slaves tended vegetable gardens and fruit trees planted behind each of the large brick dependency buildings.

Outbuilding at Melrose

Melrose was acquired by the National Park Service in 1990. It represents one of the most completely preserved antebellum estates in Natchez with many original furnishings and outbuildings.

After Melrose, it was off to the Natchez City Cemetery and a guided tour by Don Estes, author of The Natchez City Cemetery and Legends of the Natchez City Cemetery. For almost two centuries people of all nations, races, and creeds have been interred in the 100 acre cemetery. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the cemetery, established in 1822 when remains were moved from the burial ground in Memorial Park to the present site, has evolved as an archive of Natchez lore. Tombstone inscriptions embellished by romantic and mysterious tales draw portraits of engaging characters.

This angel may look familiar to you. She is the "Turning Angel" and gave her name to the bestseller by Greg Iles of the same name.

Originally verdant fields and hills overlooking the mighty Mississippi River, the cemetery has been shaped by man into a garden-like park of grassy plots against backdrops of towering oaks and cypress trees draped in Spanish moss; stands of dogwoods, magnolias, hollies, and camellias; rows of azaleas; scatterings of antique roses and crap myrtle-lined lanes. An outdoor museum for many unique art forms - marble statuary, ornamental iron fences and gates, magnificent monuments.

Lunch was on our own and we walked some more in the historic downtown area. Dinner was at the High Cotton Cooking School.

One of the chefs at High Cotton

Dinner was inspired by William Johnson's Diary entry of November 11, 1836. Johnson was a free man of color and owned several barber shops in the Natchez area. Not unlike a beauty salon, the barber shop was a place of gossip. He was one of more than 200 "free people of color" in the town of Natchez during the antebellum era. Johnson was a prolific diarist and kept journals covering sixteen years of his life.

The menu for the evening included: Mint juleps and Grillades Gritmales. Salad was Baby Blue Salad with spiced pecans, goat cheese, tsatumas and champagne vinaigrette on greens. Second course was seared flatiron steak (stake), with black coffee red-eye gravy, crawfish and andouille spoon bread, greens with braised bacon served with cast iron sourdough biscuits with stickerberry butter. Third course sweet potato donuts with vanilla sugar. Everything was delicious.

Natchez, Day 3

We were on the road by 9 a.m. and off to Frogmore Plantation in Louisiana. Frogmore is the home of the Tanner family, who have raised and ginned cotton for 200 years, first with historical gins and today with modern computers. We sat in an 1800's plantation church in the original pews and listened to wonderful music while Lynnette Tanner read from journals and archives.

Lynette Tanner greeted us and was our guide on the tour. She and her husband, Buddy share a common love of agriculture and history. They have saved and moved antebellum buildings to Frogmore in order to tell a complete story about the cotton plantation system.

The Tanner Home

The Cook House

Dog-trot House (overseer's home)

We got to pick cotton. Not an easy thing to do. Hard on the fingers and back. Did you know that CRISCO is made from the oil from the cotton seed? It's even part of the name: seed cotton oil. The visit to Frogmore was our favorite tour. We could have stayed all day. Instead, we were off to Ferriday, Louisiana and made a very quick stop at the Louisiana Delta Music Museum for stories about Jerry Lee Lewis, Mickey Gilley, Aaron Neville, Conway Twitty, Percy Sledge, Jimmy Swaggart, et al. Back to Natchez for lunch in the Carriage House Restaurant on the grounds of Stanton Hall.

Carriage House Restaurant

This is Tinkerbell -- the resident kitty on the Stanton Hall grounds. She is well fed. Chicken was being served.

Carriage House Restaurant

The Carriage House Restaurant is nationally known for its tiny buttered biscuits and Southern fried chicken. You'd be right if you guessed that the fried chicken was the meal of choice for the group.

After lunch we toured Stanton Hall, a Greek Revival mansion, built in 1857 for cotton magnate Frederick Stanton by Natchez architect-builder Thomas Rose. No expense was spared, from Corinthian columns topped with iron capitals to silver door knobs and hinges, Italian marble mantles, gold leaf mirrors and bronze chandeliers.

We had the afternoon and evening off. Good thing. We needed to walk off some of the great food we'd had and investigate historic downtown Natchez. We stopped in two bookstores (of course) and found the yarn shop: Natchez-Needlearts - A Fiber Arts Studio. They had a little of everything: yarns for knitting, crochet, needlepoint, embroidery, cross stitch, crewel and fabric for sewing and quilting. A very colorful place.

Yarns at Natchez Needlearts

Dinner was on our own and we decided we didn't need anymore food! We settled into the hotel and watched baseball.

Natchez, Day Two

Day two in Natchez meant we were up and at 'em early for a brief walk and talk about downtown historic Natchez. Then it was off to the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians for a walking tour and remarks by James Barnett, Director of the Division of Historic Properties.

View of the mounds

The Natchez Indians inhabited what is now southwest Mississippi c. A.D 700-1730, with the culture at its zenith in the mid 1500s. The Grand Village was their main ceremonial center according to historical journals and archaeological evidence.

The 128 acre site features a museum, a reconstructed Natchez Indian house, and three ceremonial mounds. Two of the mounds, the Great Sun's Mound and the Temple Mound, have been excavated and rebuilt to their original sizes and shapes. A third mound, called the Abandoned Mound, has been only partially excavated and will be preserved intact, representing a sort of time capsule from the Natchez Indians' past.

Reconstructed House

After the Grand Village it was off to Glen Mary Plantation, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is a private home that has been in one family for generations. We had a picnic lunch here and short tour of the house.

Glen Mary Kitty

Glen Mary

After lunch we took a short ride on the Natchez Trace Parkway to Emerald Mound and Mount Locust.

Split Rail Fence

Mount Locust

Mount Locust is one of the oldest structures still standing in the Natchez area. An increasing number of boatmen known as "Kaintucks" were floating flatboats down the Mississippi river to sell their goods at the markets in Natchez and New Orleans. Without an efficient way to navigate up the Mississippi river, the boatmen walked north on the Natchez Trace to make their way home. A day's walk from Natchez brought the Kaintucks and their gold to Mt. Locust. The growing number of travelers forced the owners to turn their home into a "stand," which is nothing more than a crude inn. Mount Locust was home to five generations of Chamberlains with the last leaving in 1944. The park ranger who met us here is a Chamberlain and told some interesting family stories.

It was at Mount Locust that we talked about the first author on our tour, Eudora Welty. We read her short story "A Worn Path" remarking about Ms. Welty's use of place -- the Trace.

We had some free time before meeting for dinner at the King's Tavern which was built in the 1700s as an inn, a tavern, and a postal stop at the origin of the Natchez Trace. Dinner was delicious (again) -- salad, prime rib, stuffed baked potato, bread pudding. The Tavern resembles the block houses of American frontier days. Its timbers were hewn to size and fitted together with wooden pegs. All rooms have low ceilings and the windows and heavy doors have narrow frames. Several ghost stories are told about King's Tavern.

End of Day Two!

Natchez

We've been gone a few days visiting Natchez, Mississippi. We signed up for a Road Scholar program called "Natchez: Black and White and Read All Over" before Hurricane Ike visited us. The trip was paid for and we needed a break from tearing out dry wall, contractors and insurance agents - so we decided to go for it and we are glad we did. Natchez certainly took us back to a time most only read about. Have to admit, it was nice to come home to reality and our own bed!

We flew into Jackson, Mississippi on Southwest (they had the cheapest fares) and drove down the Natchez Trace to Natchez. We had been on the Trace Parkway before around Nashville and it was as beautiful as we had remembered. Two lane road (no shoulder) with a 50 mph speed limit. Most of the time we felt like we were the only ones on the road -- just us, nature and the wildlife (hawks, vultures, wild turkey and road kill). No billboards. No facilities (restaurants, gas stations).

The Trace was probably a series of hunters' paths that slowly came to form a trail from the Mississippi over the low hills into the valley of the Tennessee. By 1733 the French knew the land well enough to map it and showed an Indian trail running from Natchez to the northeast. By 1785 Ohio River Valley farmers searching for markets had begun floating their crops and products down the rivers to Natchez or New Orleans. Because they sold their flatboats for lumber, returning home meant either riding or walking. The trail from Natchez was the most direct. Started in the late 1930's, the modern Natchez Trace Parkway parallels the old trace. It was named an All-American Road in 1995.

We stopped several times along the Trace. This is the view from the top of Mangum Mound one of several Indian mounds found along the Trace.

Mangum Mound

This is the view across the Mississippi River into Vidalia (no relationship to the marvelous onions), Louisiana from our hotel room (Country Inn and Suites by Carlson).

The *steamboat* is a casino and has no engine.

The Road Scholar group met briefly for introductions and then we were off to Monmouth Plantation for dinner. Monmouth is on 26 landscaped acres and is listed as a National Historic Landmark Circa 1818. We didn't take any pictures because it was dark, but it was eye popping. The food on this trip was out of this world. Here it was hors d'oeuvres before dinner along with two mint juleps (yes, two). Dinner included salad, fresh baked bread, catfish with a crawfish etoufee over greens, chocolate mousse. Unfortunately, (or fortunately), we ate like this everyday. Thus ended day one. Day two tomorrow!