NOTORIOUS NATCHEZ

Posted on December 31, 2017 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

Natchez-Under-the-Hill, the neighborhood at the bottom of the bluff where the American Queen landed, was notorious during steamboat days. Violence and vice attracted the rough adventurers from the boats on the river, but the location kept the behavior isolated from the town’s more prominent citizens.

Those “prominent” citizens were wealthy, thanks to cotton—and their slaves who harvested it. In 1860, it was the richest city in the U.S., and there were many antebellum mansions that were spared during the Civil War when the town surrendered to Farragut’s fleet.

We toured the restored Rosalie Mansion, after getting a hop on-hop-off bus tour of the town. Hurricane Harvey was passing through, so it was nice to get out of the high winds and pouring rain, bag up our dripping plastic ponchos, and have a look at how the one-precent’rs lived back in the 1860’s.

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Like all of the other mansions, Rosalie was owned by a wealthy white cotton plantation owner and owner of slaves who was part of a small group that dominated the antebellum South. (Acquiring land and slaves provided the surest route for a person to achieve elite status in the South.)

Ronald L. Davis, author of The Black Experience in Natchez, describes what life was like for those blacks in Natchez who were not owned as slaves: “Freedom for Natchez blacks was not the opposite of slavery. Each ‘free person of color’ was expected to function as an essentially marginal person. The extent of one’s freedom depended upon one’s deportment as well as one’s conformity to a role in life accommodating the white community… the free blacks of Natchez lived, in other words, somewhere between slavery and freedom.”

Another mansion we toured was Magnolia Hall, where we learned that during the Civil War, a cannon ball had been fired by the Union that blasted through the kitchen wall and landed in a soup terrine. How’s that for a soup garnish?

Hurricane Harvey had blown through town by the evening, so we went for a stroll to enjoy the beautiful sky that Harvey left behind:

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The “Mayor” of Natchez-Under-the-Hill

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Coming up next: SCAMPERING AROUND ST. FRANCISVILLE

FROM TIFFANY WINDOWS TO COCA~COLA NOSTALGIA: VARIETY IN VICKSBURG

Posted on December 30, 2017 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

Although President Lincoln described the Siege and Battle at Vicksburg as “the key to victory” of the Civil War, and Vicksburg is full of Civil War history, we opted to pass on seeing the battlefield, monuments, cemetery, U.S.S. Cairo, museum, etc. Civil War buffs we are not.

It was a bit of a dreary, rainy day in Vicksburg; however, we didn’t mind walking the town with our umbrellas in hand, after we took the hop on-hop off bus tour for an overview.

Being the glass buffs that we are, we chose to spend time viewing and learning about the six priceless Tiffany stained-glass windows at the Church of the Holy Trinity, listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In all of Mississippi, there are only eleven Tiffany stained-glass windows, so the windows at this church are quite significant. A husband-wife docent team gave an informative talk about the gorgeous windows.

When the church was built, the original church windows were clear. The stained-glass windows were paid for by contributions from Civil War veterans around the country, dedicated to the soldiers who died in battle during the Siege of Vicksburg. The front wall windows were the first ones installed at the church as a memorial of reconciliation in the South following the Civil War. (It’s interesting to note that Vicksburg was 70% Union.)

Six of the windows were created by Tiffany Studios in New York under the supervision of Louis Comfort Tiffany. Opalescent glass was used for the windows, giving them a watercolor-like appearance. Tiffany felt that not only should the color be part of the design, but the texture as well; so, texture was added to the glass to give a life-like appearance. In one of the windows, the woman is wearing a robe that has wrinkles, created quite effectively with added layers of glass. Surprisingly, we were encouraged to go ahead and touch the textured glass in these priceless windows. (Since no insurance company will insure the church, a value for the windows cannot be determined.)

Tiffany was also a genius in how he worked with color to capture light. In this window, “The Good Shepard,” we were told that no matter what time of day or ambient light, the lantern always looks lit.

Having the opportunity to see and photograph those incredible windows was well worth visiting Vicksburg.

For a fun bit of nostalgia, we popped (no pun intended) into the nicely restored Biedenharn Candy Co. building to have a look around the Beidenharn Coca-Cola museum. Owned and operated by The Vicksburg Foundation for Historic Preservation, they did a nice job restoring the building and creating enjoyable exhibits about the Biedenharn family who were the original bottlers of Coca-Cola. Alongside reproductions of the first bottling equipment used to bottle the iconic soda-pop, they explained the bottling process. In addition, Coca-Cola memorabilia and advertising from past to present were on display.

When the stopper was pulled out of the bottle, the rubber made a popping noise– “soda pop”.

Bruce and I also checked out the Old Courthouse Museum (built in 1859) and Lower Mississippi River Museum. Most memorable was exploring the river museum’s M/V Mississippi IV, a former river workboat that plied the river for the Corps for over thirty years and hosted public Mississippi River Commission (MRC) meetings, until she was decommissioned in 1993.

Headquartered in Vicksburg, the MRC was established by an act of Congress in 1879 with the purpose of controlling the Mississippi River. In addition, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers has its research headquarters in Vicksburg, and the town boasts more Phd’s per capita than any city in the U.S.A. Who knew?

In addition to Cape Girardeau and Paducah, Vicksburg also did a wonderful job turning an ugly river flood wall into a beautiful work of art. Here are some of the murals that graced the wall where American Queen was tied up:

Next up: NOTORIOUS NATCHEZ

MUSICAL MEMPHIS

Posted on December 23, 2017 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

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Prior to the American Queen’s visit to Memphis, Tennessee, we stopped in New Madrid, Missouri, and Ashport Landing, Tennessee. Neither stop was anything to blog about; however, I will throw in a few photos from Fort Pillow, where we learned way more about Confederates and canons than I ever cared to know. This photo of the museum exhibit on the subject explains my distaste for all things Confederate and Civil War:

Moving on to Memphis, this was a day Bruce was especially looking forward to, being the blues harmonica player that he is. I had been to Memphis in 2013, when I took my mom on a cruise aboard American Queen, from Memphis to New Orleans; however, I looked forward to returning and sharing the experience with Bruce.

Included in our cruise was a tour of Graceland, and what instantly came to our minds as we headed to Elvis Presley’s mansion and museum was Paul Simon’s song lyrics:

…I’m going to Graceland

Graceland

In Memphis, Tennessee

I’m going to Graceland…

I can just hear Simon’s voice now… but, I digress.

Graceland opened their doors an hour early for American Queen passengers, so it was great to get a nice head start through the mansion and exhibits, knowing we would have a full day ahead of us. Neither of us are huge Elvis Presley fans, but we enjoyed the experience.

Here are some photos from Presley’s mansion and the museum:

The stained glass peacocks were beautiful.

There were actually three TV’s in this room. Elvis would watch all three at the same time.

The entire ceiling and wall was covered in folds of fabric.

This room was just…bizarre.

The remainder of our day in Memphis was spent enjoying the sights of downtown. We were able to walk into the city easily from the boat, so we headed to the historic Peabody Hotel, home of ducks (Really, I mean it! Check out my 2013 post about it here. While you’re at it, check out the neon pictures taken at night along Beale Street.)

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The backstory on these famous Peabody ducks is that in 1933, the hotel’s owner had live ducks as decoys for duck hunting. As a joke to the staff and guests, he decided to put them in the lobby fountain. Well, it was a huge hit, so they have been at the hotel ever since. (Of course, not those very same ducks; they don’t live that long!) The ducks live up on the hotel’s roof and are escorted down to the lobby by elevator, led by their master, dressed in top hat and tails. He makes a big to-do about it that draws crowds of people each day to watch the ceremony of ducks waddling down the red carpet, across the little bridge, and into the fountain!

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W.C. Handy

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Our next stop was the Rock ‘N’ Soul Museum, an included attraction with our cruise that was especially fabulous. The introductory film we saw before continuing into the museum was well worth the visit alone. The exhibits, though, were very well done, and we could have spent all day just listening to all of the great music they had available throughout the museum!

Blues City Café was where my mom and I had gone for lunch back in 2013, and I had a hankering for another plate of their tasty tamales. I thought Bruce would enjoy them, too, so we stopped in for a quick lunch. Yum!

Next, we visited the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, located just across the street from the café. Although smaller in size and not as fabulous as the Rock ‘N’ Soul Museum, we still enjoyed the exhibits.

Carl Perkin’s guitar

When it started to pour down rain later in the afternoon, we decided to board American Queen’s hop on-hop off bus, and enjoy Memphis in dry comfort. One of the bus stops was at Sun Studio; however, we didn’t have enough time to take the tour. No worries; we’ll see it in January, when we return to Memphis for our American Duchess cruise.

The final stop for the bus was Bass Pro Shops, and we figured we had enough time to take a quick run around the huge store before the next—and last—bus arrived to take us back to the ship before departure.

This boat was for sale, as were all the others floating in their ponds.

This Bass Pro Shops location wasn’t your ordinary Bass Pro Shop store (although, none of their shops are ordinary!); it was housed in a 320-foot high glass pyramid, the 10^th largest pyramid in the world, and quite the spectacle!

From beginning to end, we made a (very) full day of seeing—and thoroughly enjoying—Memphis!

Next up: “Blues Boy” & Delta Blues

ROAD TRIP DAY 39: HISTORIC HARPERS FERRY

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

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I was so confused. Within a five minute span (at most!) we were in three states– one of them twice! We drove from Frederick, Maryland to Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, West Virginia; however, I kept seeing “Welcome to…” signs! “Welcome to West Virginia” one sign read. A couple of minutes later, another greeted us with “Welcome to Virginia”. Before we knew it, we were back in West Virginia with another sign greeting us once again. Whewww!

Situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers where the states of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia meet, Harpers Ferry is located roughly at the half-way point of the Appalachian Trail. It is named after Robert Harper who established a ferry service (Get it? Harper’s ferry?) in 1761.

Thomas Jefferson visited Harpers Ferry in 1783 and stood on these rocks (see below) to take in the view of the rivers. Jefferson called the site “perhaps one of the the most stupendous scenes in nature,” and also said it was “worth a voyage across the Atlantic” to see. This is now known as Jefferson Rock Overlook, and pillars have been inserted to stabilize the rock formations:

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In later years during the Civil War, Harpers Ferry changed hands eight times between 1861 and 1865. Suffice it to say the history of Harpers Ferry could (and does) fill volumes of books.

Some of this history was shared with us by Creighton Waters, an incredibly knowledgeable park ranger. By pure luck, we happened to stumble upon him and his tour when we arrived at the visitor center at 10:55 and noticed an 11:00 “From the Top Down” tour getting ready to depart. As it turned out, the 90-minute tour is conducted just once per day, three days each week. Wow, were we lucky!

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The tour departed from the top of Harpers Ferry where the views took in Maryland and the Potomac River to the left, and Virginia with its Shenandoah River to the right. By the conclusion of the tour, we were in Lower Harpers Ferry at the river’s confluence.

In between, in addition to taking in the views from Jefferson Rock Overlook, we visited this very historic cemetary dating back to the 1700’s where Robert Harper was buried:

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This is what remains of a church dating back to the 1850’s:

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Adding a little humor to the tour, we learned the history of the sign that is still visible on the side of the rock face of Maryland Heights across the river. See the square above and to the left of the train tunnel? It used to read, “Mennen’s Borated Talcum Toilet Powder,” and the painted sign dates back to 1903. It was the last thing train passengers saw before entering a long, pitch-black tunnel, so the marketing geniuses at Mennen thought it would leave a lasting imprint on their minds, and make them run out to buy some of their product upon disembarkation.

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Walking across the bridge, we took in the views and noticed those tubers below who had floated down the Shenandoah River from Virginia. Meanwhile, out of the picture frame there were two other tubers who had floated down the Potomac in Maryland. They met up in the middle while we watched from West Virginia.

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By the time we had reached the other side of the bridge, the sky grew dark and threatening, and it started to sprinkle just enough to warn us to take cover. So much for continuing our “hike” on the Appalachian Trail. We returned to explore the historic pre-Civil War- era buildings of Lower Harpers Ferry, instead, and ducked in to enjoy a Hershey’s Ice Cream (no relation to Milton S. Hershey of Hershey’s Chocolate, and the company dates back to 1894).

Now, that is good ice cream! “Moose Tracks” was LOADED with goodies, and the ice cream was creamy and delicious. YUM!

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Tonight, we are staying in Winchester and will explore more of the Shenandoah Valley tomorrow. Hopefully, it won’t rain like it did today!

Elaine-iaK's Travels: A Traveler's Tales of People, Places, Photos, Pools… and CHOCOLATE!

Tag Archives: Civil War

NOTORIOUS NATCHEZ

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FROM TIFFANY WINDOWS TO COCA~COLA NOSTALGIA: VARIETY IN VICKSBURG

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MUSICAL MEMPHIS

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ROAD TRIP DAY 39: HISTORIC HARPERS FERRY

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