Natchez Mississippi

 We are now back in Alabama as of yesterday. We were in Natchez for eight days, staying at the Rivers View RV Park in Vidalia, Louisiana. The rv park is on the Mississippi River across from Natchez. We had a good view of the river and the many huge barges that travel the river day and night. The river at that point is about .6 miles wide. There was no flooding while we were there.

I was interested in Natchez due to a series of books I have been reading. The books are fiction mixed with many things that actually happened in the 1960's. The author Greg Iles lives in Natchez. As they say, the names have been changed to protect the innocent. There were plenty of not so innocent people in the area. The books loosely tell the stories of scandal's, civil rights and race issues of the 1960's. 

Here is a link to some of the stories, researched by Stanley Nelson, editor of the Vidalia newspaper. Vidalia is the town across from Natchez. The book referred to is one of the series by author Greg Iles.

Story behind the book Natchez Burning

Natchez was a major slave trading point.

This is where most the slave trading companies were located,
a junction where two major roads came together.
http://mshistorynow.mdathe-forks-of-the-road-slave-market-at-natchez

These leg and neck shackles are embedded in concrete at the
Forks of the Road. These were actually used on the slaves.

This is the national military cemetery.

The new section with military graves for those that served in war.

The City Cemetery is huge and quite old. If you look close you will see these headstones say Unknown Soldier. These were from the Civil War.
There are many more like this in the cemetery.

This is called the Turning Angel, mentioned several times in Greg Iles books.
http://www.natchez.ms.us/278/Turning-Angel

Family plots at the cemetery were fenced in with wrought iron.
Many of these are very old. Some are buried, some above ground.

The bridge over the Mississippi is about 1.2 miles end to end.

Lots of Crepe Myrtle trees allover Natchez. They bloom every spring. I know
Crepe Myrtles because I trimmed many of them while working at Two Rivers Landing RV Resort.

Many mansions in the area. Some were closed due to Covid-19. We did not take any tours. This one is part of the National Park Service, called the Melrose.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melrose_(Natchez,_Mississippi)

Cypress trees at the Melrose.

The book author's house.

The Rosalie, tours are available.

No river front would be without a casino. We did not give them any money.

This was the Jerry Lee Lewis museum in Ferriday, Louisiana. It was closed. 

Now here is a house with a history. This was a brothel until 1990.
Take a look at this link for the entire story.
Nellie Jackson Mississippi Madam

This street goes down to Natchez Under the Hill.
River boat casinos were docked here but no longer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natchez_Bluffs_and_Under-the-Hill_Historic_District

This is a real restaurant south of Natchez. It still open for lunch,
closed when I took this photo.
https://www.mammyscupboard.com/

We took a city tour with Rev (masks on). He knows the history.

Standing where the river boat casinos once docked.
I had my glasses off because they fog up with the mask on.