Natchez, Miss.

Day 2: The weather is beautiful, warm, a few white puffs of cloud in the sky. We spend the day walking, browsing, learning, dreaming.

Following the advice of one of the cocktail party guests we made our way to the First Presbyterian Church, where in the rear, is an amazing collection of post-Civil War black and white photographs. They depict the social and economic life of Natchez from the 1860's through to the 1920's, giving an insight into a way of life that has for the large part been lost. How the photographic plates were discovered, quite by accident, is a story in itself. The surprises that the images reveal are worth the time taken to look and learn. The integration of the races was well established early in Natchez, wealth was not confined to whites alone, both blacks and whites had thriving societies, slave ownership was not just by white planters and merchants, many blacks owned slaves as well.

A quiet lunch with a cool drink at a local institution, Fat Mama's Tamales. The food was good, the Margarita was, according to Gayle, outstanding, and the beer, well it was a Bud Lite.

Another pleasant walk through the town to the African American Museum, again, a recommendation by the cocktail party guest. Still in it's early stages, the museum was none the less well worth the stop, many excellent exhibits tell of the life, progress and contributions made to the Natchez area by the local black population, from slavery to more modern times.

We ended our day in more formal surroundings at The Castle, a beautiful restaurant inside the old livery on the huge Dunleith estate. Here we celebrated our not so recent wedding. It was great way to bring our visit to this wonderful Mississippi town to a close.

Natchez is a place we will certainly revisit, there are many more historic buildings and places to see, interesting people to meet and food to taste. Natchez needs time, it is an unhurried town, rich in history with a Southern charm that is itself in no rush to change. To take Natchez at anything but a slow and easy pace is to do an injustice to the town and its people, but more especially to yourself. Something that has been lost in so many other places can still be found in Natchez. Like the big river that flows below the bluffs, let us hope it goes on forever.

The final part of our trip was to Alabama, Gayle's home state. Our route was on the Natchez Trace, said to be one of the oldest roads in North America. The Trace winds its way from Nashville, Tennessee, south to Natchez through some beautiful forested country. It also winds its way through some very colorful history, and for me it was a thrill to drive along a section of it north to I20.