Mississippi

The Magnolia State

June 2018

Mississippi called the Magnolia State wasn’t by chance, but by the abundance of these ancient and glossy leaves trees everywhere. Also, in abundance is the forever presence of vines that cover everything; from trees to fence, from deep ravines to tall buildings. We learned later that these are called Kudzu and even comes with a voracious nickname “the vine that ate the south!”. The benign vines were introduced as an ornamental plant and planted as soil conservation aid by farmers in late 1980.

The southern landscape permanently ornamental
Kudzu eats out the mortar and sucks all moisture out of the joints which weaken structure
The Good-Plant-Gone-Bad is taken over a historic factory
It rots wood straight through and soon this building will be just another rubble

Kudzu, a mispronunciation of its Japanese name, kuzu, has been labeled noxious weed by the US government in 1997, and it appears that southerners are fighting a losing battle!

We stayed at Grand Gulf Military Park Campground for a few days and originally didn’t care for anything called the military park. We rather see the famed Windsor ruins with its interesting history, or former Confederate president Davis Jefferson house. But to our pleasant surprise, this campground has lots of things to see.

A 1948 water wheel used to provide about 450W of electricity for a house ¼ mile downstream
The Confederate Memorial Chapel was moved from the town of Rodney to the park in 1983
Inside the Dog Trot House, no pun intended

30 minutes south of Grand Gulf Park, the looks of burned-out Windsor ruins instantly transport bleary eye visitors to the Temple of Apollo in Greece.

This impressive structure was one of the largest antebellum Greek Revival mansion ever built in Mississippi

Having a peaceful picnic on its lawn, we were staring in amazement at the 29 Greek columns still standing after the 1890 fire. Although only 23 columns still retained their beautiful iron Corinthian crown.

The forest gradually and surely erases other features around once magnificent estate

Entire mansion built by blood and sweat of the slaves and in just blink of an eye, a fire left nothing but only a few columns and rails standing. One of the largest antebellum architecture mansion in the south having survived the Civil War, only to be destroyed by cigarette ashes.

The Windsor’s ruins appear in two movies; Raintree County and Ghosts of Mississippi but we’d seen neither one of them!

One of the scenic road in Mississippi that encapsulate deep south histories is the Natchez Trace Parkway. The 444-mile Natchez Trace stretches across 3 states. Camping and picnic areas are placed at a reasonable distance from each other, and the wilderness area is wild enough to make an enjoyable drive. While on the high-speed parkway for sightseeing, we spotted a small box turtle trying to make it way across the busy highway.

We picked up the cute Gulf Coast box turtle and place it farther from the potentially murderous road
This racoon turns tail and ran soon after we discovered him in a trash bin

While passing the town of Fayette, we noticed there was a sign out front of the small building says, “Fresh Coon”. To be sure, we poke our head through the door to investigate and was surprised by the inside look of a barbershop! Like any tourist, we ask the proprietor what that sign meant? A quick nod and lift of large freezer door… there must have been half dozen cleaned and wrapped raccoon carcasses inside.

Ah, nothing beats “fresh coon” and “freeze pops” for those hot days

Seeing the look of astonishment from our faces, the man explained quietly “You can stew or grill ‘em… tasted good but coarse!”. Not sure if we want to buy by pounds or the whole carcass, so we just get a haircut instead!

Leaving Grand Gulf Military State Park behind, we pull Cozy Snail to Vicksburg National Military Park roughly 34 miles north of Port Gibson. The expansive hills and valleys used to be battleground for the American Civil War that ended in 1863.

Illinois Memorial has 47 steps, one for each day Vicksburg was under sieged
Minnesota Memorial Statue of Peace holding weapons from both armies in her keeping
One of the 144 Civil War cannon is on displayed here on Battery De Golyer
Reflection of Ranger Office near the Surrender Interview site

From the forested interior of LeFleur’s Bluff State Park, we traveled 263 miles south to Gulf Island National Seashore. The change of scenery was dramatic and remarkable; crystal white sand with the deep blue sea is refreshing to the eyes and the cool ocean air is good for the souls.

East Beach along the Mississippi Sound
The ocean air turns cool and breezy at sunset
Boat docks lit up as well as Golden Nugget Biloxi casino on the other side of the sound

Little that we know, the sparkling and beautiful Gulf Islands National Seashore was once the recipient of the worst man-made disaster in history, the explosion of Deep Horizon oil rig off the coast of Louisiana in April 2010. An estimated 3.19 million barrels of crude leaked was almost 13 times greater than that Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.

We stayed at Davis Bayou Campground inside Gulf Island National Seashore for few nights to explore Biloxi. The small southern city has some very interesting histories; the Dorsey’s house for instance. The Dorsey out of their goodness, let Jefferson Davis, the former confederate president, live in a small cottage after he been released from Fort Monroe prison in 1867.

Davis wrote “The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government” from this cottage
The main house where he purchased in installments and live there until his death in 1889
Painted-in designs from ceiling to windows and door to look like moldings

The other interesting spot was the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum Of Art. The museum named after Biloxi “Mad Potter” George Edgar Ohr, together with the funding from fighter pilot ace wife, Annette O’Keefe, built a five-building campus that shaped like stainless-steel pods dance around live oak trees. Unfortunately, the museum is closed when we were planning a visit.

City of Biloxi Center for Ceramics (left) and George E. Ohr Gallery (right)
The Pods has exhibition space for Ohr pottery art pieces from late 19th and early 20th century
A centralized walking path connects all 5 buildings

Mississippi has beautiful beaches and, in some cases, surpassed the Florida Keys in term of sparkling white sand beaches, rich Civil War history, and the amazing recovery from the worse man-made disaster in maritime history.

GPS Coordinates

  1. Grand Gulf Military Park – 32°01’48.8″N 91°03’14.5″W
  2. Windsor ruins – 31°56’28.4″N 91°07’46.0″W
  3. Natchez Trace Parkway –
  4. Starts in Nachez, MS 31°32’45.6″N 91°22’11.6″W
  5. Ends in Nashville, TN 36°02’08.0″N 86°58’31.7″W
  6. Vicksburg National Military Park – 32°20’38.7″N 90°51’05.4″W
  7. Gulf Islands National Seashore – 30°23’28.2″N 88°47’25.6″W
  8. Davis Bayou Campground – 30°23’52.5″N 88°47’43.4″W
  9. Beauvoir (Home of Jefferson Davis) – 30°23’32.7″N 88°58’15.1″W
  10. Ohr-O’Keefe Museum Of Art – 30°23’36.6″N 88°52’18.7″W

References

  • Destination details from local knowledge, some were extracted from hand-out literature/brochure, or website, and Wikipedia
  • Coordinates are from Google map in Degrees, Minutes, and Seconds (DMS)