After Vicksburg, we traveled down to Vidalia to see the Delta Music Museum in a small town nearby called Ferriday. Turned out to not be so great but we got to see other sights including the view from our motorhome of the Mississippi River as well as the city of Natchez (pronounced Naaaa-chez...accent on the first syllable).
The tugboats would push or pull the barges up and down the river all day and night. Going upriver was sloooow but downriver they really got to moving.
The best part of being so close to the river was to just see the vastness of it daily.
 |
| Nigh time view of the bridge connecting Natchez to Vidalia |
 |
| Of course, we had to take our traditional self portrait. We're looking right into the sun. Notice the river running downhill ! |
 |
| Kim is taking Nattie for a stroll along the levee next to the river. |
 |
| The royal princess. |
Vidalia, Louisiana is where there were many large cotton plantations. The owners lived in Natchez in impressive homes as well as being above the flood plain.
 |
| This is where the cotton bales used to be housed before loading onto the steamboats. Now it's a restaurant. |
 |
| This steamboat is now a casino but, in the cotton days, the decks would be completely filled with bales. |
 |
| ..like this. |
 |
| This was a carriage business building that catered to the people as they arrived via steamboat. He would meet them down closer to the river and offer a carriage ride up to this level for lodging, food, etc. |
About 10 miles west of the river is a place we found called Frogmore Plantation.
The people that own this working cotton farm have recreated a cotton plantation from original buildings they've found around the area and open it up to people to see what a plantation was like in the 1800s.
 |
| This used to be where the cotton was cleaned and made into bales. |
 |
| This was the Overseer's house. He was like the General Manager of the plantation. Bedroom on one side, living area on the other. The space in the middle was to make a nice breeze throughout the house. |
 |
| The view from the Overseer's house looking at the slave homes. This was for him to keep watch and care for them. Part of his responsibility was to make sure they were healthy and fed properly. |
 |
| Typical slave home and later a sharecropper's house.. |
 |
| This is the stove as well as the irons they used. |
 |
| Kim is having a ball feeling the soft texture of the cotton. |
 |
| They made the guard rails on the porches to keep the farm animals off the porch and out of the house. |
One last stop we made was to Mammy's Kitchen...south of Natchez about 6 miles.
 |
| This is an actual working breakfast restaurant. Food is supposed to be decent unfortunately, we did not make it time to try it out. |
 |
| I got our van in the photo to show how large she is. |
 |
| Pretty cool huh? |
Oh, during the flood in the spring of 2011, the river rose to over 67 feet here. The RV park was partially flooded. As a comparison, Vicksburg levels got to 57 feet.
We had a nice time in Vidalia and Natchez. Being so close to the river was terrific.
