Day 4 from Natchez to Port Gibson MS

Wednesday March 26, 2014 - 54 miles

We woke up Wednesday morning at the Travel Inn motel in Natchez and went to the office for a waffle breakfast ... that's ONE waffle each, served with weak coffee and orange-colored juice.  Jim decided to drive to a store to get some fruit, yogurt, and other goodies for a more substantial breakfast - Thanks, Jim !

We rode back to the start of the Natchez Trace, along some of the busiest roads you can imagine.  But once we got on the trace, it was magic - the traffic was gone, the sun was shining, and it was a beautiful day !  We stopped at the Natchez Trace entrance sign for a group photo. 

Our first stop of the day was at the Elizabeth Female Academy (mile 5.0), a school for young girls founded in 1818.  Not much remains of the Academy, just an old brick wall.

Next we stopped at one of my favorite spots on the Trace - The Emerald Mound (mile10.3).  We had to ride our bicycles a couple of miles down a rough asphalt and gravel road to get there.  The mound was built and used in the period 1200 to 1730 AD by the Mississippians, the ancestors of the Natchez Tribes.  The mound covers eight acres, measuring 435 ft by 770 ft and 65 feet high.  The view from the top was spectacular, and the wind was howling and sun was shining, a beautiful day.

I ended up alone on top of the mound for a bit, while everyone else was working on Dennis' bike, adjusting his rear derailleur.  It was very mysterious and spiritual, and I tried to imagine what type of ceremonies took place atop the mounds.  At one point, I felt a chill down my spine - maybe a visit from an ancient spirit?  I know I was feeling quite aloft and introverted the rest of the day's ride, falling off the back of the group and pondering the mystery of the mound.  A few hours later while we were riding there was a big gush of wind, and it felt like the ancient spirit was set free to fly away with the winds ...

Well, enough of this spiritual mumbo-jumbo, here's the pictures from the Emerald Mound -

Here's an ariel view of Emerald Mound, and a drawing of what they think it used to look like.  I got these two photos off the internet.

We rode back to the trace along the rough asphalt and gravel road, and met up with Jane Ann a little ways down the road for some lunch.

Our last stop for the day was at the "Sunken Trace" (mile 41.5), just a half mile past our exit to Port Gibson.  This is one of the few places where the original Trace crosses the newer park road.  This area is covered with a layer of Loess dirt, which was blown all over regions of the Mississippi River during the ice ages.  This dirt is soft and compresses easily, and ends up as a big gully where the Natchez Trace passes through it, worn down over the years by the wagons and erosion.

When we got to our hotel in Port Gibson, I said I wanted to ride my bicycle around the old downtown.  This is one of my favorite things to do when I'm on a bicycle tour.  I love to look at all the old buildings and read the historical markers.  Jim, Dennis, Jack and Gary all said they wanted to go, too, so we all rode around town together.

The highlight of the downtown tour was the old Presbyterian Church.  It has a most unique steeple, pointing the way, so you know which way to go ...

Back at the motel we had a beer, took a shower, and all loaded up in the van for a 10 mile ride south to the "Windsor Ruins".  After touring the ruins we drove into Vicksburg for a fancy dinner at a country club restaurant called the Roca.

Here's what Wikpedia has to say about the Windsor Ruins:

"The original name of the property has been lost, however it is commonly known today as Windsor, or Windsor Ruins, a name derived from the sound of the wind whistling through the columns. At one time the plantation covered 2,600 acres. Smith Coffee Daniell II, who was born in Mississippi in 1826, the son of an Indian fighter turned farmer and landowner, constructed the mansion itself in 1859-1861. In 1849 he married his cousin Catherine Freeland (1830–1903) by whom he had seven children. The mansion cost about $175,000.00 (equal to $4,593,426 today) to build and was completed in 1861. However Smith Daniell lived in the home only a few weeks before he died at the age of 34. Confederate forces used the roof observatory as an observation platform and signal station. After the capture of the area by Union forces, the mansion was used as a hospital following the Battle of Port Gibson and as an observation station. The home survived the war and continued to be used for social gatherings in the area. Mark Twain stayed at the home and is said to have used the roof observatory to observe the Mississippi River. On 17 February 1890, a guest left a lighted cigar on a balcony (it is also said that someone dropped a cigar or cigarette in a pile of wood chips left by carpenters working on the 3rd floor). The family said the fire started around 3:00 in the afternoon. Having planned a seated dinner, they had gone into town to pick up the mail. As they were riding back, they saw flames shooting through the shingled roof. The fire burned from top to bottom making it impossible to extinguish, and the house was completely destroyed in the conflagration. The only remnants today are 23 haunting columns, a few pieces of china, and a set of the wrought-iron stairs and portions of the balustrade."