Indian Mounds on the Trace

I was surprised at all the mounds along the trace. I guess it makes sense given the trace was a path between Native American villages. But there was more than I expected.  The mounds were built from 400 to 2000 years ago and varied between ceremonial and burial mounds.

We visited Emerald Mound in November 2011, but since it’s the 2^nd biggest mound in the U.S., we had to stop again.  It’s an eight acre mound built 1300-1600 CE by the ancestors of the Natchez Indians, the Mississippians.  The flat-topped mound was supposed to be used for different ceremonies. 

 

Mangum Mound - No information on this one.

Boyd Site – Built 500-700 CE.  This one is a burial mound with 41 remains.  It was built in three sections over time.  One part we found disappointing is that you can’t see any of the pottery or other items found in the mounds.  I suppose they are worried about vandalism at the actual sites since no rangers are there.  But even the visitor center didn’t have any artifacts, just reconstructions.  Apparently this is due to needing special environments (air and light) along with objections by Native Americans to displaying ceremonial items.

 

Bynum Mounds were built between 50 BCE and 200 CE.  There were originally 6 mounds here but most were completely excavated in a dig during the 1940's.  These are restorations.  Today digging by archeologists is much more limited.

Owl Creek Mounds were ceremonial and built 1000-1500 CE by the Mississippian culture.  Two of these mounds are on state property while 3 more are on private property. One of the smaller mounds was farmed until it was realized it was an Indian mound.

Pharr Mounds encompasses the largest area for mounds on the trace, 90 acres.  The eight mounds were built100-200 CE (you can see 4 mounds in the picture).  These were burial mounds.

Bear Creek Mound is a ceremonial mound and was built sometime between 0 – 1000 CE.  Did I say there are a lot of mounds along the trace?

 

 

Tricks for RV’ing

It’s been awhile since we’ve traveled.  I forgot how small the RV is.  After living in an RV for over a year, you develop certain tricks. I’m sure this is nothing new but it took us time to learn.  After not being on the road for a few months, I had to remind myself about a few of these.
        

·         Angle your awning front to back along the RV.  If you don’t, when it rain it sags and fills with water.  I’m amazed at how much water! 

·         A place for everything and everything in its place. Not only can you find things quicker, but it stops fights like “I thought you had the keys last!”

·         Use clips for all your food bags.  No matter what you do bugs (mostly ants) get in the RV.  So bags of cereal and other foods should be clipped.  Or, some people transfer the food into plastic containers.

·         There is no need to buy trash bags.  When you are RV’ing you have plenty of Walmart bags and you should take out the trash every day to reduce bugs.  This is a good set-up we use for trash using some hooks.  We put this on the end of the counter so it’s close to everything and easy to take out the door.

·         Use the park shower when you can. It’s bigger and saves on the hassle of showering in the RV (too much moisture and a very small space).
·         Buy a roll of the double sided & insulated foil at an RV store.  You cut this to fit in your windows.  You stick in in when you want to use it and remove it when you want light.  While it’s great at reflecting the hot sun, it’s also great at keeping your RV dark when ‘security’ lights are on nearby.

 

·         You can buy a special insulated piece to fit into the square fan / skylight area.  Turns out our couch pillows fit perfectly.  One less thing to store!

By the way, my pet peeve is security lights.  To me, parks are ruined by people who leave lights on the outside of the RV’s along with extra lights the park adds.  Studies have shown the security lights rarely make things more secure.  Besides the fact that crime is pretty rare in parks, since the lights are on all the time (versus a motion sensor) it tends to make your RV stand out and provides lighting for someone who wants to break in.  In the meantime, your light is shining into someone’s windows, destroying the view of the stars, and wasting energy.  I’ve enjoyed the parks on the trace.  No electricity except in the bathrooms so it’s nice and dark.

First Day on the Trace

The last time we saw Mount Locust was during the fall.  Now everything is green and still damp from the rains.  Only 2 out of the 50 inns along the trace still exist.  Well, not really an inn, they call them “stands”.  It’s not like the inns I picture.  You paid for food and a place to sleep on the porch.

The First Presbyterian Church in Port Gibson is the most famous building in Claiborne County!  OK, that’s not saying much.  The story is a 17-year-old carved a 10’ wood hand that was covered in gold leaf.  The hand is pointing the way to heaven 165’ above ground.  The current hand is steel after the original one was damaged by weather and woodpeckers.

 

 

 Loess is where dust storms from back in the ice ages dropped their dust in deep layers.  Where the trace passed, it wore down quickly as travelers passed through the area.  This particular area is called the Sunken Trace.  Just think how many people passed through this area to wear it down!

A family cemetery...

 

…and a waterfall were all quick stops along the trace.

Traveling the Natchez Trace

We enjoyed visiting a few parts of the Natchez Trace while full-timing, so we’ve been talking about traveling up the trace (http://tandtrv.blogspot.com/2011/11/natchez-trace.html ).  The Natchez Trace Parkway is a limited access 2-lane road (NOT a highway) that follows the old trace.  No gas stations on the parkway, just limited traffic winding through the trees. 

Natchez Trace runs from Natchez Mississippi to Nashville Tennessee. The trail has over 10,000 years of history.  Parts of it started as an animal trail.  Then it was a series of trails between earlier Mississippian tribes and then Natchez, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations. Later travelers formed it into a more clearly marked path, especially in the early 1800’s when it was the most heavily traveled route of the Southwest. Horse back mail carriers and solders have used the Trace. The parkway is the type of road my Dad would have used for ‘Sunday driving’ since the speed limit is only 50 mph. 

There are over 100 stops for historical sites or hikes along the 444 miles of the parkway making it an ideal vacation trip for young couples, families, and retired couples.  Many people motorcycle or bike the route.  Given that camping is free at three campgrounds (though drycamping) and all the stops are free, it makes for a frugal but fascinating vacation.  We talked to several friendly people biking, motorcycling, or RV’ing the trace.

We brought just our RV without towing the car behind us.  The RV is sized perfectly in that it’s large enough for 2 people but small enough we can find space in the small parking areas.  It’s even just short enough.  At one underpass to a side stop, we had to travel under an 11’6” underpass.  Our RV is 11’0”.  We noticed a lot of scrapes under that bridge!

Our first stop was Melrose Estate.  We’ve visited here before, so we didn’t spend much time but just picked up a map and enjoyed the spreading live oaks and the Spanish moss.

Our first new stop was Elizabeth Female Academy.  Opened in 1811, it was the first women’s college either in the U.S. or just chartered by Mississippi (the signs differed in their account).  Audubon was on the faculty.  Not much left!

 

Lake Mike Conner

Our first overnight stop was at Lake Mike Conner.  Who is Mike Conner?  I couldn’t find anything at the park to tell me.  Googling shows it may be honoring a Mississippi governor from 1936.  Or maybe it's someone more recent.  One of life's mysteries. 

Nice lake for fishing, but it was too hot and muggy to enjoy during the day and it rained all night.  The rain was hard enough we saw branches down along the road the next day.  I did enjoy watching a gaggle of geese take their morning bath.  Each one would clean their feathers over and over while in the lake.  When they were done, they would splash water over their head and then flap their wings as they walked up to land.  And then they all waited politely until everyone had finished.

Camp Shelby

 

We’re back on the road for a week (or so) trip.  Our first stop was the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum.  We’ve been to several museums at military bases.  This one is much bigger than I expected.  It not only discussed Mississippi’s role and Camp Shelby’s history, but the whole history of U.S. wars.  I kept seeing names of people, places, and events that I knew I should remember but have forgotten about since school.  It’s the type of museum you can visit over and over and still learn more.

The museum uses a lot of sounds to make you think you’re in the action.  You move from the trenches of WW I to battle at Flanders Field, copters in Vietnam, or just listening to WW II music.  The museum has quite a few mannequins posed with the uniform of different eras.  At one point I turned the corner to see a posed figure and then he moved.  Oops…one of the National Guard from Camp Shelby visiting the museum!

Outside there was a field of tanks and helicopters.  Even helicopters that pick up tanks!

 

Graffiti Philosophy

Near our house is Bay Bluffs Park.  It has boardwalks overlooking the water.  There doesn’t seem to be any easy way to get to the bay, but it’s there.

I visited the park earlier, but was scared away.  I like taking morning walks by myself and am pretty good with most situations.  But, it was early and the boardwalks had some rather disquieting graffiti on it.  When I heard voices, I wasn’t sure if they were hikers or the people who had done the graffiti.  Afterward, I went online to find things to reassure me about this park.  Turns out that several years ago vandals burned down some of the boardwalks and a guy was murdered here! 

This time I returned with John.  The earlier graffiti was painted over.  This time there was a ‘war’ going on between two opposing camps in chalk graffiti.  One was more religious while the other was more philosophical.  I’m not sure who they thought they would convert by scrawling graffiti.  Takes all kinds!

 

 

Long boardwalks to take a walk.  The bluffs are tinted red.  The clay in them was used to make bricks.