How to kill four hours in Vicksburg, MS on a Sunday...

Instead of Doing Dishes spent two days touring the Vicksburg National Military Park and checking out the Living History exhibit going on there.  The second day didn't last quite as long as the first, so we went home.

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Just Kidding! Come on people...you know us well enough by now to know that we did NOT go home...we got lost instead.  I will go ahead and preface this with the fact that we ended up somewhere in Louisiana before we DID decide to return to Hamburg. :)

First stop, the Anshe Chesed Jewish Cemetery just outside the gates of the Vicksburg National Military Park.

                                                  

On the map given by the NPS, the cemetery is listed as a private cemetery, but the Vicksburg Tour brochure states that the cemetery is open to the public everyday except Saturday.  Seeing as it was Sunday that we were roaming about, we decided to drop by for a visit.

Some very beautiful monuments!

We then headed downtown.  We were going to check out the Old Capitol Building Museum, but got stopped at a memorial to the Vicksburg Soldiers who lost their lives in World War I.

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After this beautiful moment in the middle of a downtown street (literally, that is where the monument and attached garden is) we finally made our way to the "Closed until 1:30 on Sunday" Old Court House Museum. Heather got some great shots and we decided we would return when it was open to tour. *Spoiler Alert - We got lost and never made it back, but one day we will get our tour!

Following signs, we found our way to the Cedar Hill Cemetery.




We did not even cover half of this massive cemetery! It compares in size and magnificent stonework to the Natchez City Cemetery. I do have to give some props to Vicksburg.  The cemetery was very easy to navigate.  The cemetery is divided into small sections that can easily be driven through. There is even a Confederate Soldier section to the cemetery. Here, hundreds of Confederate soldiers from several states are laid to rest. I believe I read that this is the largest interment of Confederate soldiers in the country.

We decided to leave the cemetery in search of sustenance...which seems to be the reason we leave a lot of places. Once again I did not know where exactly we were.  You know, you follow signs to get to places of importance...but there are no signs going backwards... Anyway! I managed to get us back to downtown Vicksburg, but not the downtown Vicksburg I was accustomed to.  I usually ride around down by the river and around the museums and brick-paved streets.  We found ourselves on the far northern side of downtown Vicksburg where there were lots of historical buildings we did not know were there!

                                           

This Old Main Street District of Vicksburg was full of character and charm.

We grabbed a bite to eat and decided to wrap up our trip to Vicksburg by finding the Grant's Canal monument on the Louisiana side of the Mississippi River.  Now, you know we don't usually use maps, but the Vicksburg National Military Park map showed the location of the monument and some directions. If you go looking for Grant's Canal Monument, just a hint from an experienced traveler, follow the directions.  I was trying to recall them from memory...needless to say we ended up going in the wrong direction.  The road we took put us on a levee and eventually under the Interstate 20 Mississippi River Bridge.  Since we were driving through swampy...and I will say sketchy, areas, Heather used the sun roof of my car and captured some really great shots of the view we had. At one point she thought she saw an alligator, thus the continued use of the sunroof.

The road became extremely rutted and muddy, so we turned around and went back to where we started.  When we got back to the interstate, I went in the opposite direction.  No joke, this is what we saw five seconds later...

I would, at this time and much to Heather's disliking, like to point out the top sign of the trio we encountered.  Look familiar? Yes folks, that right there is a "Grant's March" sign! Do you recognize it? Here, let me remind you of the two days we spent starving, wandering drunkenly, meandering somewhat aimlessly about Southwest Mississippi following these signs.  I plan on tricking convincing Heather that we should go back to what turned out to be Delta, Louisiana and follow the first part of "Grant's March."

The signs are super easy to follow(once you find them) and will lead you back under the I-20 bridge to Old Hwy 20 and a lovely monument in honor of those who worked on completing Grant's Canal.

Connecticut Monument

The original canal is still visible

       

For you non-history buffs, this was where Ulysses S. Grant originally tried to attack Vicksburg.  Vicksburg was the last hold out along the Mississippi River for the Union to have control of the Mighty Mississippi.  The bluffs at Vicksburg were the perfect high ground to stop any Union boats from making it past. Grant's first idea was to dig a canal from the Louisiana side of the river and sneak into Vicksburg.  This attempt failed and he was forced to make his way south to Bruinsburg (close to Port Gibson, Mississippi), where he crossed and began his march towards, albeit not directly, Vicksburg.

We were on Hwy 80 and close to the town of Delta, we decided to check it out.  It was a small town with a playground, city hall, fire department, and a medical clinic.  We wondered how they survived when the Mighty Mississippi decided to flood her banks every couple of years...

Delta took all of 5 minutes to navigate around, so we decided, what the heck, let's trek on down HWY 80 west a few miles to the next little stop...Mound, Louisiana.  Heather was the one using good old Google this time, and found some information on an Indian Mound in the area, but we did not find it on this trip (hint hint).

While on the road between Delta and Mound, we realized some of the road signs off to the right were named "Plantation."  We took one off through a corn field...think massive corn field...I thought I saw children...But all we found was a house under construction, nothing remotely old about it.

We found a few older houses, but then we got to this road.

This is another road through a corn field with a house on one side and a lot of over grown trees and shrubs on the other. We made it to the end of the road...again...lots of corn, turned around and were on our way out discussing why all of the "Plantation" roads no longer held plantation homes. Then Heather spotted this off in the bushes!

Off in the overgrown brush, barely visible, sitting in and behind years of overgrowth and neglect was a beautiful plantation home. We did some digging and could find nothing but a census from the early 1900's stating that Nil Desperandum Plantation owned a mule. The name is Latin and roughly translates as  "Never Despair."

After all that we found in Louisiana that day, we will definitely be returning to do what we do best...getting lost and taking pictures!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Summer and we will see you on the roads!

-Rosemary

Vicksburg National Military Park in two days

I am pleased to announce that this excursion did not begin with a trip to the grocery store. :)

We found an invitation on Facebook for Vicksburg National Military Park's Living History. Of course, we immediately made plans to attend! For those of you who are familiar with us, yes, we actually made plans to go to Vicksburg and made it!

If you have never visited Vicksburg National Military Park, boy are you missing out!  With an $8 per car fee, it is a very inexpensive activity for the whole family.  By the way, I also found out that once you pay the park fee they will give you a receipt that is good for free entrance to the park for the next six days! If you don't make it through everything in one day, no worries! And there is so much to see!  Some of the most impressive monuments outside of Washington, D.C. can be found within (and some with-out) the boundaries of the park.

The brochure said "Living History" would start on Friday, so that is when we showed up.  Turned out, Friday was set-up day and the actual demonstrations would not begin until the next day.  We were pretty bummed, but neither Heather nor myself had been to the park in many, many, many, many moons, so we decided to take the driving tour around the park. 

At this juncture I would like to point out that we had Heather's oldest boy (12) and my youngest (1) in the car.  I also forgot to gas up before we hit the driving tour. The lack of gas and the extensiveness of the park meant we were rolling with windows down in 90 degree weather.  The children were unamused to say the least. 

We cruised by several busts and monuments on the Union battle lines before stopping at a row of cannon to catch an amazing view of the Illinois monument in the distance.

This is probably the most well known monument in the Vicksburg National Military Park.  Once you get around to it, it is stunning.  The list of all the Illinois men who fought for the Union, the tile work, the detailing...it is all very beautiful!  I know my one year old enjoyed the echo and the cool place to run in circles after being stuck in the car for a few hours.

Next to the Illinois monument is the Shirley House.

This is the only structure still standing within the park that saw the bloody siege at Vicksburg! This house was trenched all the way around by Union troops.  The scars left by the deep trenches of warfare are still evident 150 years later! It was abandoned, but has now been restored. 

A beautifully cast statue in memory of all soldiers from Mississippi of African descent who fought in the Vicksburg campaign can be found in the park. 

The detailing was amazing! You can almost feel the struggle these soldiers endured from the looks on their faces. I was blown away by the craftsmanship.

Now, for those of you who have followed us for awhile, you know that a few months back we started out on Grant's March...but never finished it due to the fact that he didn't pass any McDonald's. he weaved drunkenly about the state. we ran out of time.  Well folks, I am here to conclude the search for Ulysses S. Grant.  We finally found him...and his horse...at the Vicksburg National Military Park!

***Spoiler Alert*** By the end of this trip we were across the River in Louisiana and found a Grant's March sign (maniacally laughing at Heather) and yes I do plan on us pounding out the earlier portions of Grant's March on the Cajun side of things, sometime in the near future! (Heather will probably go if I stock up on drinks and cheeseburgers first...)

Our next stop after harassing U.S. Grant, was the U.S.S. Cairo Gunboat and Museum.  Here, we got the kiddos out and looked around for a bit because it was air conditioned! because this was an amazing sight to behold.

The U.S.S. Cairo is a Civil War Era ironside gunboat.  It was retrieved from the Yazoo River where it was sunk during a skirmish. In the late fifties, the process began to bring her up and restore her to her former glory. Thanks to the Mississippi mud and silt, the gunboat was well preserved.

This framing for the paddle wheel was once a mangled mass at the bottom of the Yazoo.  Old wood and new wood is mixed to bring the Cairo back to life.  The museum portion of this stop houses thousands of artifacts also brought up with the gunboat.  Dishes and silverware, cannon and weapons, along with medicine bottles and lots of other artifacts are well preserved and great to look at.  There is also a small gift shop here (which I believe was Matt's favorite portion of the day).

Across from the Cairo is the Vicksburg National Cemetery.  Here you can find the largest interment of Civil War Soldiers in the country. 

In this serene setting, over 17,000 soldiers are laid to rest.  Throughout the cemetery are signs offering words of comfort to those with family buried here.

We were pretty tired by this point (that Mississippi Summer heat can wear you down!), so we headed into the Confederate lines with a sense that we were getting close to the end. After climbing a hill,we stopped at an overlook with a spectacular view!

We sort of rushed through the remainder of the park...hunger was setting in at this point.  Heads up...there are no soda machines or hamburger stands inside the park.

One more monument we couldn't pass up was the Mississippi monument. Again, we found the detail just astounding.


A this point, we left the park to find sustenance and retire for the evening.

We did return a few days later to catch the Living History at Vicksburg National Military Park.

When we arrived, this gentleman greeted us and informed us about what was going on.  Also, that we missed a great cannon firing.

 The rest of the re-enactors were in the trenches.

One young fellow went on to tell us about different types of cannon shots and how each was used during the Civil War.  We also found out that the cannon they were firing was a Napolean, thus named for the fact that Napolean Bonapart designed the first cannon that was adapted by others.

Life in the trenches was often boring. No cell phone games or handheld electronics back in those days.

Soldiers waiting on the next skirmish had to keep themselves occupied.  They sometimes took their hats, and using the rods from their long rifles, held the hats up over the trenches to see how many holes they could acquire.  From what we were told, there was often a bet accompanying this game. I think twiddling thumbs sounds a lot safer, personally.

We wrapped up our tour of the battlefield and decided to do a little more touring around Vicksburg before we headed home.

Here was the parting shot Heather got of our new Civil War friends. Were they not the most adorable things ever!

Next time we will tell you what happened the rest of the day. :)

Have a wonderful Summer!
Rosemary