St. Mary’s Basilica – Go Sassy Sisters!

St. Francisville, LA to Vicksburg, MS

No rush this morning, except to get to breakfast at the inn by ten o’clock, as we thought we’d just be going to Natchez tonight. It was nice to wake up slowly! We looked around the inn now that we could see it in the daylight – I had stuck my toes in what I had hoped was the hot tub part of the pool last night, but since it felt the same as the rest of the pool…Kim watched a big ole frog hop right in the pool this morning – made me feel right at home! We eventually wandered over to the dining room for breakfast, which was a nice buffet. I had an egg roll (not the Chinese variety), a bite of sausage, some bacon, fried potatoes, some really yummy little apple treats, and cheese blintzes with blueberries. Nice way to start the day!

As you may have noticed, we’ve been indulging in some mighty good food on this trip, so we thought we might take a little walk this morning in hopes of getting rid of a fried something or two. Armed with Laurie’s map, we headed off for the visitor center/museum. Before we had even gone a few blocks, we were glowing. Seriously. Like with sweat dripping off of us – it was just a bit humid! We passed several houses with official-looking plaques and descriptions on them, but according to our map, we were not officially on the walking tour yet. Where was that visitor center??

We found it! And it was air-conditioned!! We took our time examining the exhibits, and seriously, they had done a good job giving us a taste of what life was like in antebellum St. Francisville. When we were ready to face the heat again, we started our tour. There are a lot of old homes here, most of which appear to have been restored and are being lived in today. We passed the Methodist Episcopal Church, which is now the Methodist Church, several houses with lovely gingerbread trim and wrought iron balconies, the old bank building, the courthouse, and the Episcopal Church. There was a wonderful old graveyard next to the Episcopal Church, and since it was full of huge old live oaks covered with Spanish moss, it was shady and several degrees cooler, so we took our time exploring it.

We finished our walking tour and made it back to the inn to collect our car, and we went straight to George’s for some cold tea! They weren’t quite open yet, but we must have looked really hot and thirsty, because they let us have our liquid refreshment! Now we were off to tour one of the plantation houses in this area, and we had chosen Rosedown, the home of Jefferson Davis’s mother and named for the flowers she loved. It wasn’t far away, and we got there shortly after eleven, with the sky looking fairly threatening. Bad news for us – a tour was just underway, and the next one didn’t start until noon. We decided to pass, and then the lady asked us if we didn’t want to tour the gardens between now and then. We were going to just have a short stroll through the rose gardens and then leave, until she wanted to charge us half price just for that. And mind you, it’s late September – there was not all that much in bloom! So we just said thanks, but no thanks and went on in search of a plantation that suited our schedule.

That led us to The Myrtles, which was built in 1796 by General David Bradford, who led the Whisky Rebellion. Guess he decided to come South after that worked out so well… Anyway, The Myrtles is haunted, or so the story goes. We were only allowed to take pictures in one area of the interior of the house, and that was this huge mirror in the entryway. Even though the glass in the frame has been replaced on multiple occasions, the same markings always appear back on it in the same places. We were told a story about a slave girl who supposedly haunts the house, but after reading the accounts at I have decided not to relay what we heard. Check it out and decide for yourselves! After our tour, we walked around the grounds for a while, then got some gas and took off for Angola and the Louisiana State Penitentiary.

You know how sometimes you just know you should follow your intuition rather than doing what someone or something else is telling you to do? Well, this afternoon was one of those times. Once again, Kim was led astray by her navigator, and we soon found ourselves deep in the woods, first on a road, then a gravel road, then a dirt road, and then on a one-lane dirt road, all going nowhere fast! We saw few signs of life, other than the “Posted: No Trespassing” signs, so after a while, Kim performed a lovely seven or eight point turn and we went back to the highway we never should have turned off of, and before too long we were at the prison gates.

Just outside the gates of the prison was a museum about the history of the Louisiana Penitentiary, which was known as one of the bloodiest and most awful prisons in this country. I found it interesting that the current warden was willing to share that history, although it’s hard to see how far you’ve come unless you’re willing to admit where you were. This is the prison where “Dead Man Walking” was filmed as well as the place it was written about, and many other prison movies have been filmed here.

We were the only visitors, and soon we were joined by a nice-looking man, all dressed in white. He proceeded to give us a guided tour of the museum, and it soon became evident that his knowledge was first-hand. He was the nicest guy, very gentle and soft-spoken, and he will be turning 50 soon. He’s been incarcerated for 25 years, serving 60 years for aggravated burglary. Seemed a shame to us – such a heavy sentence – don’t think they pass those out much these days. He’s coming up for parole, but he’s been turned down twice already… Anyway, his name is Edrick and we liked him! He showed us his ‘crafts’ – remember those chains we used to make out of chewing gum wrappers? He makes all kinds of things using that same technique and cigarette packages. The museum was really interesting and well worth the out-of-the-way stop. Later, when we learned there had been an escapee last week, we were glad we had found our way off of the back roads and back onto the highway…

The rain started falling about the time we got back on the road, but it just drizzled on us as we made our way back to Natchez. Our original plans were to make it there in time for lunch at Mammy’s Cupboard (it was really good!!) but we missed that, so we decided to stop for a treat at The Malt Shop. We both got chocolate malts and split a shrimp po’boy and enjoyed them on the picnic table out front. The sky was really gray and threatening, and it was very hot and humid, but at least it wasn’t raining! We went back to the Basilica, which we were able to see this time. Wow – more beautiful stained glass! There are some gorgeous photos on the website and if you make it to Natchez (we highly recommend it!) be sure to stop at see for yourself.

It started raining in earnest as we drove out of Natchez, so that put a damper on our plans to stop in at the places on the Trace that we missed in the dark on our way down. We did stop at the Emerald Indian Mound, which is huge and centuries old, but then it started pouring. Kim gamely drove on to Vicksburg through the driving rain, and we were done for the day. We ordered pizza and did laundry and called it a night. We were really sorry to have missed getting to spend more time in Natchez on the flip side – we enjoyed it a lot! FYI, they do ‘pilgrimages’ in the fall (this year it’s now – Sept 26 – Oct 10) and for four weeks in the spring where the plantation homes are on tour with guides in antebellum attire. It would be a fun time to be there!

A little soggy but overall, I can’t complain about the rain!

Jan

18 September 2009

Although we had very few ideas about what we might be seeing in Natchez today, we were excited to find out what the possibilities were and we were stoked to know we’d be in New Orleans by dinner time. At least, that was the plan!! We found a little breakfast place on one of the downtown streets and tried to be a little healthier than usual. We split a yogurt, granola, and fruit cup, and Kim had a cranberry orange muffin (she said it was like eating cake!) and I had a blueberry scone that was about the size of a softball. I didn’t even eat half of it!! We asked the nice lady in the coffee shop what we shouldn’t leave Natchez without seeing, and she suggested St. Mary’s Basilica, just around the corner, and the Longwood Plantation, also not far away. We already knew we would be driving out of town past Mammy’s Cupboard, so that seemed like a good start – we could always come back through this way on the flip side.

We had noticed the basilica on our way to the hotel last night, even commenting on it, but we hadn’t known what it was. There was a lovely park just behind the church – trees festooned with Spanish moss, a gorgeous fountain, a Civil War statue, and benches set in shady spots. We walked around the corner to the TALL front doors of the building – it was quite an imposing ediface! After taking a few photos from the outside and noting that mass was at 8:30 AM (it was about 11 AM), we started to go into the sanctuary when we realized there was a service of some sort going on, so we made a note to stop back in on our trip home, because the stained glass windows are supposed to be stunning.

Off we went to Longwood, following the instructions on the Garmin, so we saw neighborhoods that most people would have missed. We passed several other plantations on the way, so we wondered what made Longwood so special. We pulled into the drive and were instantly transported to an earlier time, driving down a long drive under an arcade of trees full of Spanish moss. Our first glimpse of the house was impressive – it was very tall, and it was octagonal! We couldn’t wait to see the inside of it! We parked and found our way into the gift shop, which was darling and full of funny books about the South, lots of good sounding cookbooks, postcards, and little pretties. We did a bit of shopping as we waited for our tour to start – reading material for the road!

As is typical on many of these tours, we could not take pictures of the main floor, so I won’t be able to share a whole lot with you, but here are a few of the details I remember. The house was the dream of Dr. Haller Nutt, who wanted a different kind of plantation home, hence the shape and style of the house. To build the facade, a kiln for making bricks was built on the property and 750,000 bricks were produced here. At the time the war broke out, the facade was finished, as was the 10,000 square foot basement, consisting of nine rooms. The house was six stories and would have 30,000 square feet of finished space when it was done, but most of the builders and craftsmen were from Pennsylvania and other states in the northeast, so they left most of their tools and supplies and went home. At the time, people thought this ‘uprising’ would be settled quickly, so the workers thought they would soon be back to finish their work. As you may have guessed, this never happened.

The war lasted four years, Dr. Nutt lost his fortune and then died before the end of the war, and his wife and eight children lived in the finished basement of the house for the duration. As hard as it is for me to believe, the house NEVER got finished, yet it somehow survived. It was finally purchased by a Texas man who has stipulated that it never be completed but that it be open for the public to enjoy as it is.

One thing that adds to it’s historical value – since the facade was completed and the flooring put in for the other floors, the top five stories of the house were used for storage. That means that almost EVERYTHING – packing crates, even for the piano – was stored in the house and many of the original boxes are still there. Be sure to visit it when you come to Natchez! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable, and you can tell that the people caring for and showing this house really love it!

Although we were sure when we started out this morning that we would be on the road before Mammy’s Cupboard opened for the day, we were now going to be lucky to get there before it closed! Only open from 11-2 and closed on Mondays, we were afraid if we missed it today, we might have missed it for good. The Garmin sent us off in exactly the opposite direction than we should have gone, but common sense, a phone call, and the iphone got us to Mammy’s. And yes, Mammy’s could be considered politically incorrect, although she is now painted more of a flesh-tone than I’m sure she used to be, but who could help but want to eat lunch under the skirts of a 28 foot tall woman? Okay, that didn’t sound exactly the way I intended it, but maybe you get the picture. If not, look at our picture and then go to http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/3344 for the rest of the story.

Even though we were still stuffed from breakfast, we could not resist lunch here! Homemade bread, delicious sandwiches, and mile high pies – oh my goodness!!! My roast turkey sandwich came with avocado and blueberry chutney, and it was served with homemade vegetable soup and a side of potato salad. It was SO GOOD!!! Kim had a ham sandwich that looked equally tasty, but so that we could have some pie, we each only ate half of our sandwiches, then we shared a piece of chocolate icebox pie (we only shared it because it was the last piece…) We could not wait to come back here when we were really hungry!!

By now we were afraid Rex would arrive in New Orleans before we did, so we skedaddled off down Highway 61 (the Blues Highway) bound for Baton Rouge and New Orleans. No more stops for us (except for tea!) and we probably passed the airport about the time Rex’s plane landed!! But since we were sure we would have already been in NOLA and drinking by then, we’d had Kim’s friends Jim and Alex arrange a ride for Rex! We found our way into the city, to the hotel, and into the parking garage without incident, and soon we were joining Jim and Alex for drinks at the Old Absinthe House, just across the street from our hotel. Rex got there not long after we did, so our New Orleans party weekend could officially begin. I probably forgot to mention that we were celebrating Rex’s double-nickel birthday, which is really on the 26th, and ORIGINALLY, the rest of his family (adults, not our kids) were to be partying with us. We see how well that went over…they won’t know what fun they missed and will have to read about it here!!

We met some of Jim and Alex’s friends at the bar – thanks for the great hotel rooms, Allison!! – and then went back to the Royal Sonesta to make arrangements for dinner. Russell, the concierge, set us up with late reservations at Clancy’s, on Annunciation in Uptown New Orleans. We cleaned up a bit, then took a taxi over to St. Joe’s Bar for a drink before dinner. It was a cool bar complete with church pews and other icons. We sat out on the back porch until it was time to walk over to Clancy’s.

Clancy’s was a hopping place – packed with people (mostly local, I’d say) having a good time and enjoying great food – and it was loud! I’m sure I won’t remember what everyone else had, but I got some shrimp and crab gumbo, the Clancy’s crab salad, and an order of fried green tomatoes. With crabmeat! Rex and Kim got the gumbo, too, and I think Jim and Alex got salads. Jim and Alex got veal, Kim got the same crab salad I did, and Rex got the lobster risotto that I was thinking about ordering – saved! We had a pretty long wait for dinner (good thing the bread was good!) but it was worth it – delish!! We split some desserts – Kim, Jim, and Alex shared a big brownie with ice cream, and Rex and I had a frozen lemon pie. Oh man, we hit the mother lode! That pie was fantastic!!

Somehow, we made it back to the French Quarter and walked around a bit. Kim had never been to Nawlins, so we made the obligatory trip to Pat O’Brien’s for a nightcap. The streets were wild – it’s Friday night – so we saw all we needed to see and then went back to rest up for our big lunch date at Galatoire’s. I probably gained five pounds today – it was great!!

Where’s the wheelbarrow when I need it?

Jan