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.