See and Eat Mississippi - Natchez 2016

wngrog

Adventurer
I started a food and travel blog to document the small towns, backroads and good places to eat in and around the State of Mississippi a couple of years ago. I have been documenting the travels on my local Land Cruiser site, but I have had many others asking about some of these spots so when I get some good routes I am going to share them here on Expo Portal so more people can get out and see some of these places as well.

Last weekend we did a trip to Natchez Mississippi. The weather was good on Friday so we packed the M416 with our bikes and hit the Natchez Trace. We unloaded for a quick spin around Rocky Springs.

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Rocky Springs was a thriving farm community prior to the Civil War. Now, it is just a stop along the Natchez Trace with an old cemetery and church.

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The only thing left of the bank....

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Just south of Rocky Springs there is a waterfall we stopped at and hiked around

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Failed Christmas Card photo attempt.......

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wngrog

Adventurer
Next stop was Port Gibson. Grant declared the town too beautiful to burn so many of the homes and churches here are antebellum.

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Outside of town, there is a National Park property called Shaifer House. This is the location of the first battle of the Battle of Port Gibson in 1863 when Grant's army landed in Mississippi. Take Rodney Road to Bessie Weathers Road and then turn on Shaifer Road for about 2 miles through some of the best SW Mississippi backroads.

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Looking into the cistern

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We continued on Shaifer Road to where it ends at an old bridge. This bridge is blocked off now but the drive to and from it is fantastic.

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wngrog

Adventurer
After backtracking out Shaifer Road and the bridge, we hit Highway 51 for the short drive to Lorman Mississippi, home of Mr D's Famous Fried Chicken.

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It's the best fried chicken in the world.

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From Lorman, we hit Rodney Road which is a mixture of bad pavement and gravel to get to the ghost town of Rodney Mississippi.

Rodney was once in consideration for capital of the State of Mississippi until the Mississippi River rerouted during a flood and left the town without a port. Now, only the bones of the town remain.

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wngrog

Adventurer
We took Rodney Road south towards the Natchez Trace and rolled into town at sunset, unloaded the bikes and tooled around the bluffs until dark.

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We hit Fat Mama's for tamales and margaritas and called it a night

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wngrog

Adventurer
The following day it rained like crazy but we just hung around town and toured a couple of the mansions. Stanton House and Longwood. Both awesome examples of filthy rich cotton planters in the mid 1800's. Nearly 1/2 of all the nations millionaires resided in Natchez Mississippi in 1850.

Stanton Hall

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Longwood

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Longwood has only one finished floor, its 10,000 square foot basement. The rest is unfinished due to the family losing everything after the Civil War.

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We breaked for coffee and the Steampunk

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That afternoon we cruised around Natchez City Cemetery and the National Cemetery, both located on the Mississippi River bluff. Both breathtaking.

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wngrog

Adventurer
The next day we headed back up the Natchez Trace and stopped off at Emerald Mound, the second largest Indian Mound in the US.

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From there, we stayed to the west of the Trace and drove through Church Hill to check out the old country store and the Chapel.

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wngrog

Adventurer
Our final stop was Prospect Hill Plantation. This place is 8 miles east of Lorman off Red Lick Road. The road going in there was pretty nasty but we made it fine.

This place is being saved by the Archaeology Society from falling in with a new roof and protection on the sides. Last year when I first visited, this place was almost a goner.

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ghostingrey

New member
Great photos from a part of the country that doesn't see much exposure here on Expo. Makes me miss the years I spent in the South. Not enough to move back mind you, but there's just so much interesting history and architecture there. Thanks for taking us along.
 

fortel

Adventurer
From a Mississippi boy living in Missouri now, nice trip and photos. Makes me want to get back down there and explore some more.
 

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