Month: May 2023

This trip is from the northern terminus of Natchez Trace National Road and off it at the southern terminus into Mississippi and Louisiana.

We drove across the Mississippi bridge for a short excursion into Louisiana. As usual, there was a lot of barge traffic.

We saw the bluffs we’d heard so much about, which of course were best viewed from the Louisiana side.

We drover a short distance downriver to the Frogmore Plantation.

Driving back across the river into Natchez, we parked our motor home at their riverfront park and walked around. There was a picturesque gazebo.

A lengthy walkway. Note the locks. That tradition has caught on everywhere there is a bridge.

The park was situated atop the bluffs, giving a good view of the river below.

We then got back in our motor home and drove around to see some of the other historic buildings.

Such as this church. The many spires are striking.

And several old mansions.

And our first Spanish moss-draped tree.

After another full day, it was back to our camp site in Natchez State Park to relax.

Next Location – Windsor Ruins

This trip is from the northern terminus of Natchez Trace National Road and off it at the southern terminus into Mississippi and Louisiana.

We wanted to drive off the very southern end of the Natchez Trace, so we went 10 miles or so beyond Natchez State Park and had to double back on Hwy. 61 to 553, then go a short way south into the state park campground.

After resting a bit, we drove around to see the park. We found a large lake.

We stayed 3 nights and saw a good bit of Natchez. There was the bridge across the Mississippi River.

And a river access ramp.

After a good view of the Mississippi River, we drove to the visitor center. Where we learned we could have camped for free (with full hook-ups!), but we were already committed. We left the motor home parked there and walked around. Several blocks from the visitor center was the Rosalie Mansion and Gardens, which we toured.

As I’m sure you can guess, I wasn’t allowed to take photos inside. Here is a view of the Mississippi River from  the mansion’s spacious back yard.

Another with the bridge. Note the 2 paddlewheeler steamboats docked. I don’t know if they were casinos or just excursion boats.

And yet more barges. The Mississippi is really wide here, allowing a lot of traffic.

More exterior shots. There is an enclosed walkway between the main building and the kitchen. Because of fire hazards kitchens were never directly connected to the main house.

After our tour, we drove down to the riverfront. The Mississippi looks even wider when standing right on the bank.

There were some interesting old buildings preserved and repurposed into bars and restaurants.

And a casino. This is a new structure designed to look like an old building that might have been found on the riverfront a century ago.

Another view of the bridge spanning the Mississippi River.

And another barge. We saw a lot of these.

After a full day of touring we returned to Natchez State Park to crash at our site.

Next Location – Natchez, Mississippi 2

This trip is from the northern terminus of Natchez Trace National Road and off it at the southern terminus into Mississippi and Louisiana.

That evening we hiked up to a church, with an old graveyard next to it.

The next day our first stop was to see Owens Creek Waterfall (app. MM52).

Next stop was Magnum Mounds (app. MM45).

These weren’t nearly as well maintained as others we had seen.

We stopped to hike another trail along the Trace, I’m not sure where it was.

But the trees were getting big there.

At Mount Locust (app. MM16) we stopped to roam around another old inn that had operated when the Trace was active.

There was one last burial mound to see, Emerald Mound (app. MM10). This was the largest of them all.

We drove 10 more miles and we were off the Trace and in the city of Natchez.

Next Location – Natchez, Mississippi

This trip is from the northern terminus of Natchez Trace National Road and off it at the southern terminus into Mississippi and Louisiana.

This morning the sun was shining and the wind was gone. A much better day. We set off south on the Trace in a much better mood. We felt like we had really dodged a bullet. Our first stop of the day was at French Camp (app. MM182). At this location there had once been an inn for travelers along the Trace. Several original buildings have been restored.

We stopped at Cole Creek next (app. MM177). Because of the storm 2 days ago, everything still looked flooded.

Then we stopped to hike to Hurricane Creek (app. MM164). More flooding.

At Myrick Creek (app. MM146) we hiked back to another swollen muddy creek.

At Cyprus Swamp (app. MM122) we hiked into a swamp. Now it looked like we were seriously getting south.

Our next stop was at Reservoir Overlook (app. MM105) to view the reservoir for Jackson.

This was the most traffic we encountered during our entire time on the Trace, when it passed through Jackson, Mississippi. We were so anxious to get away from the city and back out into the country that we didn’t stop again until we came to the third free campground on the Trace, Rocky Springs (app. MM55). Despite being near a major city, even this campground wasn’t crowded.

Next Location – Natchez Trace Parkway south segment