Friday, March 18, 2011

Natchez, Mississipi and the Natchez Trace

Melrose

Spent a warm night in the tent and was lucky to find that there was not much dew or condensation last night and so the tent stayed dry. We packed up camp and headed south, back to Natchez where we got breakfast at Natchez Coffee Company before heading over to Melrose, part of Natchez NHP. The tour of Melrose was interesting and the grounds surrounding the house were worth exploring as well. From Melrose, we headed to downtown to check out the other unit of the NHP, the William Johnson House.

After touring the Johnson House we got a sandwich at Subway for a picnic lunch on the Natchez Trace. We hit milepost 0 shortly after noon and started to make our way north. We stopped at several points along the way, including an old cemetery,
Natchez Trace Cemetery

Emerald Mound: the second largest burial mound in the US (second to Monks Mound at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Illinois which we visited at the end of our Yellowstone wedding roadtrip),
Noelle at Emerald Mound

the Sunken Trace: a deeply eroded section of the old Natchez Trace,
sunken trace

Mount Locust an old stand or inn on the old trace,
locust stand

and the old town site of  Rocky Springs.  

Rocky Springs was interesting in that a bustling town in the 1800s is now home to zero inhabitants. The only structure that remains is the old Rocky Springs Church
Rocky Springs Church

with its interesting graveyard.
Rocky Springs Cemetery

Other remains include a safe from one of the towns many former businesses.

Perhaps the best part of the day however, was enjoying the beautiful warm weather and flowers in bloom.
spanish moss hair

trillium

In just a day this warm weather will be thing of the past. it will be another two months before it gets this warm in Duluth.

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