Heading towards Vicksburg, we entered the Natchez Trace Parkway and I was captivated. This road stretches from Natchez Mississippi and passes through Clinton, Jackson, and a corner of Alabama before eventually ending in Nashville. I think an RV trip on this road would be pretty special. The old trace was first used by Native Americans and by the early 1800s, it was the main return route for Ohio Valley traders. But eventually steamboats made the trace unnecessary and it was abandoned.
Today, it is a 444 mile National Scenic Byway. No commercial trucks are allowed and it is dotted with historical sites. We stopped at the Clinton Visitor Center which was built to resemble an 1800s style farmhouse.
We were greeted by two very southern sounding ladies, both volunteers, that showed us some route options to finish the short drive to Vicksburg and also pointed out some of the historic buildings we could see in old town Clinton. The town is very well maintained and is the home of Mississippi College.
After we toured the Military Park in Vicksburg, we visited the town which ironically is no longer on the main channel of the Mississippi. The town is located on a high bluff across from Louisiana. The town was built by French colonists in 1719.
Because of Vicksburg's location on the Mississippi River, it was a hub for shipping out cotton coming to it from surrounding counties. After the Civil War, it was already facing challenging times when a 1876 river flood cut off the large meander which changed the course of the river away from the city. Vicksburg only retained access to an oxbow lake formed from the old channel of the river, which effectively isolated the city from accessing the Mississippi riverfront. The city's economy suffered greatly due to the lack of a functional river port; Vicksburg would not be a river town again until the completion of the Yazoo Diversion Canal in 1903 by the US Army Corps of Engineers.
We stopped in at the Corp of Engineers Museum of the Lower Mississippi and I didn’t know this story so when I saw the canal, I thought it was the river and was astounded that the river was that low. The guide at the museum shared the story about the 1876 flood and I was relieved to know the Mississippi is not that low. Whew!!!!
The museum was great and included a chance to tour a former active Mississippi riverboat.
We got a good view of the real river from one of the several riverfront casinos up the road from downtown Vicksburg. The river there is what I would have expected.
This is a mural on the flood wall in Vicksburg that is nice depiction of old time Vicksburg.