Mississippi Roads travels to Adams County to visit the town that has more antebellum homes than any other in the country. We are in the stately town of Natchez for the 75th anniversary of the Natchez Pilgrimage.
http://www.natchezpilgrimage.com/
http://www.natchezms.com/
In the spring of 1931, Natchez hosted the annual convention of the Mississippi Federation of Garden Clubs. A tour of the old fashioned gardens that landscaped the antebellum homes was planned, but a late freeze moved the visitors inside.
What they saw inside these homes was literally breathtaking. They had suddenly stepped back into history as they were surrounded by furniture, carpets and draperies that had been there since the homes were built in the early to mid-1800's. The people that owned the homes had just as much fun telling their stories about the homes as did the visitors listening to them. Thus the next year the Natchez Pilgrimage was born.
The Natchez Visitors Center is where you come for all your pilgrimage needs. The people at Natchez Pilgrimage tours can set you up with tickets, accommodations and entertainment options for your trip to one of the most popular events in town.
And Speaking of popular events, the Great Mississippi River Balloon Race has proven to be the most well attended weekend event that the town of Natchez hosts each fall.
The Great Mississippi River Balloon Race will be one of your most memorable weekends! Two balloon flights take place each day, weather permitting. Pilots compete in "Hare & Hounds" and "The Barge Drop" as they fly over antebellum homes and the mighty Mississippi River. You may see up to 100 hot air balloons take to the skies at the same time.
There is so much more than just balloons in the sky. Top notch entertainment can be found throughout the three day weekend on the grounds of the historic home Rosalie; which sits atop the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. There are also rides for the kids and a balloon glow and fireworks at night to make this the perfect festival for the entire family.
http://www.natchezballoonrace.com/
About twenty-seven antebellum mansions, many of them private residences, open their doors to visitors during the five-week Pilgrimage every spring and about eighteen homes are open for the two week Pilgrimage during the fall. Hostesses wearing period costumes welcome visitors to three or four houses each morning and afternoon. The selection of tour houses changes daily throughout both the Spring and Fall Pilgrimage.
These old jewels of the South hold numerous antiques, memorabilia and plenty of stories to keep you entertained for hours.
And speaking of stories, in our next segment we look back at the Old Natchez Trace and the many stories that surround this legendary trail.
http://www.nps.gov/natr/
The modern paved Parkway is just the latest incarnation of the pathway we now know as the Natchez Trace. This ribbon of asphalt connecting Natchez Mississippi to the Nashville, Tennessee area is a tribute to the old footpath that was the major roadway through the wilderness way, way back; connecting the Appalachians in the northeast to what was the farthest reaches of the United States at that time in the south west; the area south of the Choctaw Nation and to the north to the 31st parallel. The 31st parallel was the border between the United States Territory and the Spanish territory. It’s now the state line between Mississippi and Louisiana some 10 or so miles south of Woodville in Wilkinson County. The Natchez Trace was about the only way to get to the southwest territory over land from the mid 1700’s until the early 1800’s.
But then, perhaps for thousands of years before that, the Trace existed as interconnecting pathways and animal trails that had been used by the Native Americans of this area as they migrated from place to place and hunted, and as they traded with the people who lived along the east coast and also with the Great Lakes nations. Archaeologists have found sea shells from the Atlantic and copper from the Lakes in digs in Mississippi as evidence there was once a pretty well knit civilization here in pre-historic times. And the precursors of the Trace was their interstate.
The Natchez Trace is most famous as the walkway home taken by flatboats-men to get back to the Tennessee Valley or the Ohio Valley after floating their goods down on the Mississippi River and then selling their wares in Natchez or New Orleans, including the lumber their boats were made from. They walked home because before 1811 and the invention of the steam boat, there was no practical way to go back north on the Mississippi River against the current.
If you think there are only antebellum homes to look at during Pilgrimage you are sadly mistaken. The place to be at night is at the Natchez Auditorium for some first rate entertainment. The Historic Natchez Pageant is a brilliant musical production, depicting scenes of the Old South. It transports audiences to the days past when steamboats and gamblers filled the town. The Historic Natchez Pageant has become as famous as the old Natchez homes. There are more than two hundred local performers dressed in elaborate period costumes that help put on this extravagant production.
And speaking of entertainment, Firework shows have been entertaining us for years and in our next segment we go behind the scenes with PyroFire Displays of Hernando, Mississippi and show you how they light up the night.
http://www.pyrofiredisplays.com/
We take you behind the scenes of this multi-award winning company and show you the inner-workings of how they put on spectacular events around the world.
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