NATCHEZ, MS 8-31-2017

“Y’all” is Southern-speak for “you.”  The plural of “y’all” is “all o’ y’all.”

For those of you who have asked, I called the rv park in New Orleans.  Bee is high and dry and safe.

Natchez soil is loose and sandy and unreliable if a stable foundation is desired.  As a result of this, a plant called kudzu was brought from Asia because of its extensive root system.  Yes, it stabilized the soil but kudzu took over and the overgrowth is out of control.  They can’t get rid of it!  It is invasive, noxious and grows rapidly and fatally shades other vegetation.  In addition to this greenery, another type of plant grows all over the trees, up the trunks and all over the branches.  It is called resurrection fern.  It is called an epiphyte, which means it isn’t harmful to the tree.  It just makes the tree look fuzzy.  Everything is green and wet and it is humid and there are bugs that I don’t recognize. 

Got the picture?

And spiders.  And snakes.  And alligators.  And chiggers.  And fire ants.  And the squeaking cicadas never, ever give it a rest, but the sound isn’t bothersome.  It’s kind of pretty, really.  But my dry Nevada heat is starting to look pretty good to me!  (And I need a haircut, which is completely irrelevant.)

A picture of the South

The Natchez Indian tribe traded with the French and lived peacefully beside them for awhile in this area.  But the French started screwing with the Indians and it pissed them off.  When they’d had enough, the Indians attacked and killed a number of the French people.  The French retaliated and attacked the Natchez people and pretty much obliterated them.  The British aligned themselves with the Natchez because they wanted control of the region.  They were into cotton and wanted all the cotton they could get.  But the Natchez Indians lost the battles anyway and they no longer exist.  Because of the cotton and the ease of shipping, Natchez became one of the wealthiest towns in the country and there are dozens of stunningly beautiful, historic homes in this area that were occupied by plantation-owners and shipping magnates.  The population was just 5% Jewish but they controlled 1/3 of the business in the town.

King's Tavern

Charboneau Distillery

Midday, we stopped at King’s Tavern, one of the oldest buildings in Natchez and maybe in Mississippi, built during the Spanish occupation in the 1780s.  The flatboats that shipped merchandise and cotton on the river could not be sailed upstream and so they were often dismantled and the wood was sold.  It is believed that King’s Tavern was constructed using the timbers from the flatboats.  It is still a bar and restaurant and our delicious lunch featured pork belly pot pie, crawfish pot pie, three bean soup and their famous flatbread topped with mushrooms, prosciutto and shrimp.  Next door to the King’s Tavern is their own rum distillery, Charboneau Distillery, where oak barrels hold the rum hostage while it ages.  One is welcome to sample their rum and it can set a warm fire in the tummy and put a flush on the cheeks.  If you wish, you may drop $35-45 for a quart of their hand-crafted rum.

Inside King's Tavern

Near where the boat was tied, there is a row of brick buildings.  The city of Natchez itself, a hub of heavy trading, was located up on the bluffs but this row of buildings down below was called the “Under-the-Hill” district.  As mentioned, flatboats could only travel downstream and the boatmen were then paid for their labor.  At the saloons and whorehouses in the “Under-The-Hill” district, they dropped all their earnings, fought, drank, stole each others’ money, murdered people and departed penniless, stumbling home to faraway places along a trail that is now referred to as the Natchez Trace.  The process was then repeated when another shipment arrived at the Natchez port.  Today, this district is home to a few nice restaurants and bars and a small hotel.  The Under The Hill Saloon had cold brews with our names on them, who knew? 

Under the Hill District

“We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any in the world; and its efficiency is only marred by the difficulty of finding twelve men every day who don’t know anything and can’t read.” – Mark Twain

"Hi!" from Lindy and Rob at King's Tavern