Tracing History - The Final Chapter

The Natchez Trace Parkway - History Repeats Itself

We were on our final leg of our trip up the Natchez Trace Parkway. This part goes through the foothills of the southern Appalachian Mountains. You can stop in Tupelo, Mississippi and see Elvis' birthplace, (we didn't) and near the Northern Terminus, you can visit the grave of Meriwether Lewis, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. We were looking forward to that.

As we drove this part of the Trace , we saw a sign that said "Tornado Damage April 2011". For the next eight miles, trees were uprooted, snapped in half, bent over and most had the bark stripped off. Over the next twenty miles, we saw many more damaged areas from other tornadoes that had torn their way up the parkway. There wasn't anywhere to pull over and get pictures, and I can't find any in the public domain that I can post here, but search the images on Google for " natchez trace tornado" and you'll see the damage for yourself. I suggest you do that because this April 2014, three years later, many of these same areas were about to be hit again, and here we were leisurely touring our way through, just days before all hell broke loose again.

Davis Lake Recreational Area

We spent two nights at Davis Lake Recreation Area just south of Tupelo, MS, one night at Tishomingo State Park near the parkway milepost 304,

David Crockett State Park

two nights at David Crockett State Park in Lawrenceburg, TN

David Crocket State Park

and had planned to spend two nights at J. Percy Priest Lake Seven Points Campground near Lavernge TN, but...

Seven Points Campground at J. Percy Priest Lake

I have to admit that in our life as full-time RV nomads, we pretty much ignore the media. If it ain't happenin' to us, it ain't happenin'. We have a weather radio that's set up to alert us for severe weather warnings, but not watches. If we had it set to alert us for every sever weather watch, it would never stop going off. We didn't know that we were just ahead of all these storms until we spoke to our friend Norb, who told us what was forecasted. We left Seven Points a day early and headed straight for Sevierville, TN, (no Meriweather Lewis Monument for us this time,) where we were scheduled to attend the RV-Dreams.com Spring Educational Rally. It was only after we arrived in Sevierville that we saw the carnage from the outbreak from Arkansas to East Tennessee.

Praise God, we missed the whole mess. Many others were not so fortunate.

Tracing History Part 4

The Natchez Trace Parkway - French Camp

We were driving on a stretch of the trace that goes through the northern part of Mississippi. We had been enjoying Spring in reverse as we ventured north. We had traveled from fully leafed out trees and shrubs in Luzzianne, to ones that were in their mid-Spring bloom in central Mississippi, and were entering a zone where the trees had just gotten to their post-bud state. The Dogwoods and Redbud were at their showiest, and there were wildflowers everywhere. Every meadow we passed was covered by acres of yellow flowers, (no not Dandelions), or purple-rust colored clover. Clumps of Daffodils or Irises bloomed in the shadows of evergreens.

It was into the grandeur that we arrived at our next stop, French Camp Historic District. This is a collection of buildings located at what was once a Stand on the original Trace known as the Frenchman's Camp. It was built sometime in the early 1800's, during the Antebellum Period, by Louis FeFleur. It ended up in the hands of Louis' son Greenwood who later changed the family name to LeFlore.

Greenwood LeFlore was a Chief of the Mississippi Choctaw Nation, and a member of both The Mississippi House of Representatives and the Mississippi State Senate. In his role as Chief, LeFlore traveled to and from Washington DC to work with President Andrew Jackson's administration, on the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. The treaty was approved in 1831 resulting in the the Choctaws becoming the first non-caucasians to be granted American citizenship.

The main house on the grounds did not belong to the LeFleur/ LeFlore family, but instead was owned by Colonel James Drane. Built in 1845, it was disassembled from it's original location some seven miles away, and moved to where it is today. Being built before the war, it is an antebellum home. Check out the open space going right through the middle of the first floor, front to back. 

Houses built in this style were called dog-run houses. During the hot summers, family and guests gathered in the opening to take advantage of the shade and the breezes that blew through it. When people weren't using it, the family dogs would use the space, giving it the dog run name.

In typical Antebellum fashion, the family's private living quarters were upstairs, and were not at all ornate. They weren't even painted. 

The parents and infant shared the "Master's Room",

while older children slept in the hall above the dog run,

and guests got the room on the other side of the house.

Even though the house has been staged to look the way it does today, and not all the objects inside are original, it still gives a fascinating glimpse into life during the Trace's heyday.

Check out this old log splitter.

The other buildings on the site where also brought over from their original location, but, they are still used for what they were built for. Huh? Still used? Waddya mean by dat? The French Camp is a working museum, academy, business, and ministry. There's a Bed and Breakfast, a cafe, and a store that sells items made onsite by young adults who live there as recipients of the ministry. 

Another Dog Run

In one of the buildings, the room has again been staged to look "period". The paint however has been restored to its original colors. Seamstresses work in this room, producing hand made quilts to sell in the store.

Colonel Drane

These are the grave markers of Colonel Drane and his wife. As their house was moved here, I'm guessing these markers were too. I don't know if the actual graves are there.

Mrs. Drane

Check out the wrought iron work on the gates and fence.

The coolest (at least to me) ongoing function at French Camp was the production of that sweetest of Southern delights, SORGHUM MOLASSES! Every autumn the residents harvest sorghum. Like sugar, sorghum is a grass. When it's ready for harvest, it looks like corn stalks without ears, and has seed heads instead of tassels. 

Once the stalks are cut and stripped, the cane are fed into a cane press, just as sugar cane is. 

A mule is harnessed to the pole that turns the press.

The juice extracted by the press is poured into long flat evaporation pans. The pan is lower onto a long brick wood-fire pit where the juice is cooked until it's the perfect consistency and sweetness. 

The resulting product is not as sweet as molasses made from sugar, but in climates too far north for sugar cane to grow, sorghum molasses fills the bill. The store at French Camp sells jars of molasses made on-site. We did not get any because it would take us forever to eat a whole quart. Instead, we got some sorghum cookies, and some molasses cookies. Just like Mom used to make. YUM!

Who knew history could taste so good.

Tracing History Part 3

The Natchez Trace Parkway - Mount Locust

Our next stop on the trace was Mount Locus. Here's some background:

Constructed circa, 1780, this home is one of the oldest structures in Mississippi. It functioned as both a working plantation and as an inn, where travelers on the Natchez Trace could rest for the night. Mount Locust is the only surviving inn of the more than 50 that existed during the period of greatest use of the Old Natchez Trace.
Beginnings of Mount LocustThe American Revolution caused several thousand British sympathizers to move into the Natchez District. During the American Revolution, Spain moved against Britain and seized Natchez in 1779. John Blommart, a retired British naval officer, probably built Mount Locust about 1780.
William FergusonWilliam Ferguson, a Virginian, migrated to Natchez in 1774. In 1784 the recently married Ferguson bought the Blommart tract, Mt. Locust. As the Ferguson family grew, so did the house and its outbuildings. William Ferguson's widow Paulina married James Chamberlain in 1806. The Ferguson-Chamberlain family lived at Mount Locust for over 150 years.
Mount Locust as an InnAfter 1795, the Mississippi River was legally opened for American traffic. Settlers from the Ohio River Valley floated their products downriver and sold them at Natchez or New Orleans. Most of them walked back home over the Natchez Trace, because their boats could not go upstream.
Mount Locust as a PlantationWhen steamboats came to the Mississippi, travel on the Trace declined. At Mount Locust, cotton growing replaced the tavern business.

Source: http://www.natcheztracetravel.com/natchez-trace-mississippi/lorman-natchez-ms/191-mount-locust.html

We stopped at this historic "stand", got a little background from a volunteer in the office, picked up a brochure, and then proceeded to tour the building on our own. We looked at the rooms, took some pictures, pointed to and marveled at stuff, and talked among ourselves.



























































Then we went outside to get some pictures of the Old Trace that ran through the property. The path looked well used and maintained.












 As the mosquitos dined on my blood, we imagined what it must of been like for travelers to walk this trail for over 400 miles to get back to their homes in the Ohio Valley so they could build new boats, load them with goods to sell, and travel back down river to Natchez and New Orleans.

Once we came back to reality, we spied this gentleman. He was one of the workampers who  volunteered at the site. He was dressed and outfitted like a typical Kaintuck, albeit cleaner and better smelling.

Although they were known as "Kaintucks," these boatmen floated merchandise down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers from states throughout the Ohio River valley. Agricultural goods, coal, and livestock were among the many products that were floated to markets in Natchez and New Orleans. Once the goods on the boats were sold, the boats were often dismantled and sold as lumber. Before the age of the steamboat, Kaintucks had little use for these flatboats once they reached their destinations.

From Natchez, the boatmen would begin the long walk home. They traveled the Natchez Trace to Nashville, Tennessee. From there, they used more established roads to take them to their homes further north and east. Research indicates that more than 10,000 Kaintucks traveled the Old Trace in the year 1810 alone. The 500 mile trip on foot typically took about 35 days. Lucky travelers that rode horses could expect to cover it in 20 to 25 days.

Source: http://www.nps.gov/natr/historyculture/kaintuck.htm 

Our Kaintuck explained the gear he carried and what it was used for. He also asked us if we had seen such-and-such on the site. We told him what we saw, and photographed, and then explained we had just taken some picts of the Old Trace right there. Our guide was quite amused as he explained that what we shot was the maintenance road, (DOH!), and then asked we would like a proper tour of the place. We graciously and sheepishly accepted. Here's what we learned:

Though not as opulent as the mansions in Natchez, this too was an Antebellum dwelling. It was also a plantation with 65 slaves. If you look at the picture on the left you'll see that the house is painted white, but only up to a point. There was a town below and it had a commercial district with a "Main Street" that ran parallel to the Old Trace. Paint was expensive, so with the true Antebellum attitude, the only part of the house painted was what you could see from town. The only people who would see the unpainted parts where the family, the Kaintucks, and the slaves. No need to impress any of them!

When a Kaintuck arrived at the "Stand" he put his traveling gear on the back porch. Typically this was a walking staff, canteen, purse, hat and a rolled up rudimentary knapsack called a budget. A budget usually consisted of a wool blanket rolled around other sleeping items, and hung across the back with a rope. One who traveled in this manner was said to be "Traveling on a budget."

The picture below show the "Inn" part of the house. See how the table is on saw-horses? After supper, the table was cleared and put away. Then the guests set up their budgets on the floor where they would sleep. It sounds harsh, but it was warm, dry, AND indoors.

Two things were interesting about this room. The first is that a person who was born in this room was still living in the area. As a matter of fact his family lived in the house until 1944, and the mother who bore him was still alive and lived about 300 yards south of here. The second thing of interest was about the bed you see pictured here. Notice the ropes on the footboard? (Click on the picture to enlarge it so you can see them better.) Those ropes ran from the head of the bed to the foot. Their job was to support the mattress evenly. The mattress itself was constructed like a pillowcase, and it was stuffed with moss, pine boughs, hay, horsehair and other organic materials that were handy and soft. With the mattress stuffing originating outdoors, on the ground, and /or on an animal, it could be infested with insects. If the ropes became loose, not only would the mattress sag, but the contents could fall out. If the contents fell out, the insects would escape their confinement. This resulted in mothers wishing their children to "Sleep tight, and don't let the bed bugs bite." 

This room belonged to the family's only daughter.

Here we have the Master's bedroom. Not only did the Mr. and Mrs. sleep here, but business was also conducted at the desk. The room was connect to another bedroom where the family"s other son was born, and slept. He too is still alive today.

The last thing out docent showed us was two paths and a cistern. The path that leads to the left, past the cistern led to the family cemetery. The other path led to the slave cemetery.

By this point we had been at Mt Locust for over two hours, and our brains were busting with information. In spite of that we did not see everything the site had to offer.

Isn't History fun?