Natchez Pilgrimage

From 03-08 Natchez Pilgramage

We stayed in Vidalia, Louisiana to finish out the rest of winter before heading north for spring and summer. (We will be seeking cooler weather for the summer :) ) Our time in Vidalia coincided with the Spring Natchez Pilgrimage. Natchez has many antebellum homes that date from the late 1700‘s to mid 1800‘s. Fortunately none were destroyed during the Civil War. Some are operated by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), the National Park Service or the Natchez Garden Club. These are open year round. During the Pilgrimage, additional homes that are owned by private individuals are also opened to the public to tour. We enjoyed touring some of these homes.

Included with this update are pictures from some of the 5 houses we toured. All were interesting and we would recommend taking time to visit Natchez if you are ever traveling through Mississippi. Natchez is about 80 miles south of I-20 from Clinton (near Jackson) by way of the Natchez Trace. We also highly recommend a tour along the “Trace”. The Natchez Trace is a National Park that runs from Nashville, TN to Natchez, MS. It was the route men would use to return north to Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, etc, after bring their flatboats down river to New Orleans with products to sell. The Trace is about 400 miles long and about ½ mile wide. There are no commercial developments or billboards and no commercial vehicles are allowed on the Trace. It is just beautiful forests and farm land. As far as I know there is not a stop sign or red light along the whole route.. You can only drive 50mph, but it is a lovely drive and a great way to travel north from Louisiana and Mississippi. We met many “snowbirds”, especially Canadians, who were heading back home by way of the Trace after spending the winter in their RV in the south,.

The first home we toured was Melrose. It was built in 1847 on the site of an ancient Indian village and is now a National Park. The home was beautiful and the park guide gave an excellent tour. He balanced his tour with descriptions of the house, the furnishing and the history of the owners with the story of the slaves who kept everything working. He used the analogy of a prized grandfather clock. The house was like the beautiful face and exterior of the clock. To work, the clock has many gears, weights and pulleys working inside behind the cover. He liken the slaves to this inner workings of the clock. Without them the building and operation of the house would not have been possible.

The next house we visited was Richmond. It is a private home that has remained in the same family since 1832. It was built in 3 stages in 1784, 1832 and 1860 in 3 different styles French Plantation, Colonial and Greek Revival.

We then toured Rosalie. It was built in 1820 and sits right on the bluffs above the Mississippi River at a spot near Fort Rosalie where the Natchez Indians massacred the French soldiers who established the fort. It was used as the headquarters for the Union General in charge of the occupation during the Civil War. Fortunately he made sure that the furniture and other family possessions were stored away and protected. So many of the pre-Civil War furnishings remain in this house and for that matter all of the other houses. What a different fate for the homes in Natchez than for those in Georgia and South Carolina where Sherman came through.

Next door to Rosalie was “The Parsonage”, built by the Presbyterian church in 1852 on land donated by Peter Little, the owner of Rosalie. It was later sold and has been in the same family since the late 1800’s. In all of these houses various hostesses greeted us at the door and as we went from room to room. They were dressed in beautiful hoop skirts a la Scarlett from “Gone with the Wind“. Many of these ladies had grown up in Natchez and played in these homes as children. However others were transplants. One of the guides was from England. Another was from Michigan. She and her husband routinely visited Natchez over the years and decided to retire to Natchez. So she has become one of the “local” guides.

The last home we toured, Longwood, was perhaps the most fascinating.

It was built in 1860 - 1861 just before the Civil War broke out. The designer and the craftsmen were from Pennsylvania. The guide said that at one point, about 200 skilled craftsmen and 600 slaves were at work on the home. They completed the exterior and the first floor or basement (not below ground). When the War started, the skilled Pennsylvania workers asked for their pay and went home. The owner, Haller Nutt, thought the War would only last a few months, and these workers would come right back. Of course that did not happen and the house was never finished. Haller died during or shortly after the War and his wife Julia and their children continued to live in the first floor. It passed down through the generations until it was donated to the Natchez Garden Club as a tourist site. You will see from the pictures that it is a most unusual octagonal design. All of these plantation owners were trying to out do each other with the building of these fancy homes. I think Longwood would have won the prize if it had ever been finished

Riverview RV Park, Vidalia, LA

We stayed at the Riverview RV Park in Vidalia, Louisiana while buying our Dutch Star and then shifting all our belongings over from the Pace Arrow (which took way more time and effort than we expected). This has turned out to be one of our favorite RV parks.

It is located right on the Mississippi River. We can sit in the coach and watch Tow Boats pushing barges up and down the river. I (James) grew up in Greenville, Mississippi which sits on Lake Washington, a lake formed when the mighty Mississippi shifted its course eons ago. When young I lived next to the levee that protected the flat Mississippi Delta region from flooding. I would go up on the levee and watch the tow boats come into port. Plus many tow boats and barges were constructed in Greenville near where I played on the levee. So seeing all this again brings back a lot of fond childhood memories.

The city of Vidalia has built a nice park and walkway along the river that comes about 1 1/2 miles down the river from the bridge and connects to the RV Park. It provides a great place to walk Clay, our Golden Retriever. He loves taking these walks greeting people and sniffing the air for the smells of critters that live along the river bank. There are a couple of spots where he always wants to stop and investigate. I imagine a coon, possum or perhaps a feral cat lives in the brush and trees along the bank.

We stayed here a couple of weeks and then went to Timberlake Campground near Flowood Mississippi, a suburb of Jackson. This campground was right on the Ross Barnett Reservoir and pretty nice. It was really convenient for shopping and visiting with family. We had a good spot next to the water on an inlet of the reservoir. They have a two week limit before you have to leave or shift to another site. So we are headed back to Vidalia to spend March and wait for the weather to warm up before we move north. Our rough plans are to go to Russellville, Arkansas for some more repair and service work. Then probably over to Memphis to visit friends; up to Napannee, Indiana to have a desk installed; Chicago to visit our son Ward; Du Quoin, Illinois to attend a Newmar rally in late June. We will visit whatever strikes our fancy along the way. Plus we have to make a side trip, probably by car, to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to get our drivers license and make other arrangements to establish South Dakota as our legal residence. As "full timers" without any real estate in a fixed location, we can pick our home state. South Dakota has no state income tax nor personal property tax. The sales tax is only 3% which was a savings on the recent purchase of our Dutch Star.

We are using Alternative Resources for our mail forwarding. Our mailing address is:

3700 S. Westport Ave #4050
Sioux Falls, SD 57106

We hope to hear from you all when you have a moment to update us on what is happening with you.

James and Monique

New RV for the Thompson's

We have a new toy - a new (to us) RV!

To begin our new journey as "full timers", we left Lexington, SC in January 2008 seeking a different RV for our travels. We had done much research and decided we wanted a good used diesel pusher motor home,with one of our top choices being a Newmar Dutch Star.

During our research we had spotted a used 2002 Dutch Star model 4090 in Natchez, Mississippi for sale by an individual. Our research had also pointed us towards PPL, a large RV consignment dealer in Houston, Texas. We figured we could go to Texas to look for a new unit and then use PPL to sell our existing Pace Arrow motor home once we found a new one. Along the way we could stop in Natchez. So that is what we did, and we liked the Dutch Star in Natchez well enough to buy it.

As is often the case it was not 100% of what we were looking for, but was close enough. Plus the owner was a very nice gentleman who had taken excellent care of the unit. He and his wife traveled in it full time for about 18 months before buying a home in Natchez. They built a special shed to store the Dutch Star and regularly exercised it to keep everything in good shape. It turns out the motor home has not had many miles added since 2004. So far we have found few problems, but there are a few things we must fix and some upgrades we wish to make.

We came to Jackson, Mississippi to purchase new tires and to have routine service done to replace all the main fluids (oil, transmission, etc.) The service was not due based upon miles, but rather upon number of months. We are going to play it safe and have all the key services performed.

We also plan to go to Nappannee, Indiana this summer or late spring to have a desk unit built that will interconnect with the existing dining table and make a very nice work area while we travel. Somewhere along the way we will add satellite TV service and upgrade to a flat screen HDTV. We also have a few repairs we need made. We have found a highly rated dealership in Russellville, Arkansas and will go there the first of April for the repairs, after it warms up a bit more.

We have included some pictures so you can see our new toy. It has full body paint in a thunder gray color with 3 slides which give us much more room.

As we had planned, we took our Pace Arrow to PPL in Houston to sell. The folks are very nice there and very experienced in selling used RVs. We are hopeful they can be successful selling ours.

We are glad the trip to Houston is behind us. We had to travel over some terrible roads in Louisiana. They are all being rebuilt. Future travelers will have a better time, but it was a tooth jarring ride most of the way for us. Then when we got to Houston, we spent the night on PPL's lot before turning the coach over the next day. It turns out they are located right under the intersection of two interstate type highways. Monique counted 7 overpasses within a few yards of where we were parked. (See the picture). Needless to say that was not a restful night!

On the other hand we found a very nice RV park in Vidalia, Louisiana, one of our favorites among those we have visited. We are headed back there for most if not all of March. More about that in another update.