natchez ms

Natchez Mississippi is named after the natchez tribe who lived here before the arrival of the Europeans. It is significant because it became the home of extremely wealthy southern planters on the backs of slave labor. It became a principal port for cotton export to Europe as well as slave import. There is a spot, called Forks of the Road, which became the largest slave market in the south. Two business men rented this property and became the most active slave traders in the US. They took advantage of the low prices for slaves in the Virginia area by bringing the slaves down in coffles (walking chained slave caravans) and selling them in the high demand, high selling price Natchez. They would also be transported by ship to new Orleans and then on to natcnhez from there. It was because of the high demand for cotton in Europe and the growing slave market that Natchez planters were able to become the nations most elite and Natchez had the most millionaires in the US. They built antebellum (pre civil war) mansions to show off their extreme wealth.
We had never heard of Natchez or forks of the road nor had we ever seen any antebellum homes. First we took a drive around the city and figured we would tour one of the homes. We were disappointed to find out that the charge for admission was way out of our budget. We continued our drive, noticing the extreme poverty, broken down homes in contrast to the ultra elegant homes you would imagine Rhett and Scarlett lived in.

We did a little research on Forks of the Road and were imagining the tragedies that occurred in that very spot before we got there. In contrast to the admission charging , full parking lot, complete brochure explaining antebellum homes, forks of the road was merely a grassy spot, with a placard explaining a bit of the history of the spot, nobody else was there. We were shocked by the dichotomy. This is a spot where actual human beings were bought and sold, the very reason for for the extreme wealth and the significance was more than understated.

We found out that one of the mansions is now a US national historic park, which is free this week so we decided to go see it. A greek revival, complete with 24 carat lined wallpaper and curtain rods, original oil cloth floors, over 1500 piece spode china, etc, etc the mansion was a perfect example of the opulence of the time. Our tour guide gave us a very informative explanation of the home, furnishings and families who lived there and spent all of 4 sentences discussing the slaves.

Driving trough Alabama and Mississippi has been a real eye opener for us northerners.

Of course, no trip to mississippi would be complete without some real southern bbq so we had lunch at the Pig Out Inn...delish!