Mississippi

Leave Knoxville, Tennessee and head southwest 262 miles to Cullman, Alabama (40 minutes north of Birmingham, Alabama).

Cullman is a small town, with little crime and appears to us, quite religious (approx 78% of the people are religious, the Baptist faith being prominent).

Alabama is primarily a 'dry' state (no sales of alcohol), except the cities of Cullman, Good Hope and Hanceville.

Downtown 12:30 pm on Saturday.    Very quiet.   Most businesses were closed at 1:00 except for Newk's Eatery on the main street.

A Saturday wedding takes place in the midsts of renovations.

Hubert Richter Chapel:  A legacy that is never locked!

Not a historic chapel but unique to this small town.  The dollhouse-like adult sized church, was built as a memorial to Private Mike Richter who slipped and fell to his death at the local Larkwood spillway, who was home on leave from the Army.  the churches were always locked.  

Hubert loved Cullman and following a car accident and ultimately his death, family and fellow church attendees want to put up a state of Hubert in his memory.  Mrs. Richter came up with a plan to have this small chapel built instead.

Today, it is forever unlocked and is often booked for wedding occasions.

I was wandering around the RV Park with Tazz and taking photos from a distance of the farm animals.   Wandered up a field along a fence, the fence ended and the way the property appeared to me, there was an open field next to the animals so I wandered in (thinking it was the RV park property).

The woman owner came out and asked if she could help me.   I sheepishly replied, I didn't realize I was on her property.

She was great and told me the white mule looks skinny but it is over 30 years old.   She rescued all of these animals from a person whose property and house burned.  She refers to them as jackasses.

Both terms, donkey and ass are synonymous and refer to the same animal.   A male donkey is referred to as a "jack."   A mule is a cross between a female horse and a male donkey or "jack."  An 'ass' is another word for a donkey.  In the late 170s, the word 'jackass' began to be used to refer to a male donkey.

As you drive at 70 mph and see this, it is very confusing.   But, we find our turn off and head to Leroy Percy State Park, Mississippi.  

Traveling four hours west from Cullman, we stop to take photos of these cotton fields.

As we stop to take photos, the owner drives up.
  
We have a very interesting conversation and he tells us he owns 150,000 acres of cotton.  (Sooooo soft).   

I always used to think cotton was picked and eventually 'softened' through thrashing and somehow through processing.   Not true!  I knew nothing about cotton and the south.

But, as I am thrilled to touch the cotton, I am reminded of the horrendous humanitarian events that occurred in the cotton fields through history.

Imagine how many cotton balls it takes to fill this bale!

CLARKSDALE, MISSISSIPPI

A quiet pit stop in Clarksdale.  If not enough time to go to the Blues Museum, we had to stop and take a photo of "The Crossroads".

The intersection where Highway 61 meets Highway 49, most people just think of it as ordinary as any intersection, but not for those that follow the Blues.

The "Crossroads" is a  a mecca for blues music followers.  This place is where Robert Johnson supposedly sold his should to the Devil.   He was an American blue singer, songwriter and musician (1911-1938).   Little was known about him during his life in the Mississippi Delta and most of his story has been reconstructed after his death.  In 1988 his single "Cross Road Blues" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

LEROY PERCY STATE PARK

 MISSISSIPPI

LEROY PERCY is the oldest of the Mississippi's State Parks.  A small remote campground in the forest of cypress and ancient oak trees with 30 picnic sites, 16 RV site and 8 rental cabins.

Situated on Alligator Lake with nature trails and fishing.   Also a wildlife preserve.  In the summer months people said the mosquitoes are horrendous. 

As we are crossing the bridge to the park entrance, out of the corner of his eye, Marc spots this!   This alligator is approximately 15 feet long.

The lake is fed by bubbling springs and lined with cypress and ancient oak trees covered with spanish moss.


The observation deck is extremely popular as people can fish, observe wildlife, including alligators from a safe vantage point.

Bushy Lake (aka Alligator Lake)

A beautiful, calm, fall day and the heron and egret share the fishing hole.

Bald cypress trees are deciduous conifers that shed their needlelike leaves in the fall.   They get the name "bald" cypress because they drop their leaves so early in the season.  

The feature that bald cypresses are known for, is their "knees."   The term for the 'knee' is pneumatophore, which means "air-bearing."   These pneumatophores grow from horizontal roots just below the surface and protrude upward from the ground or water.  

Since bald cypresses often grow in swampy conditions, it is thought that the 'knees' function is to transport air to the drowned roots underground.   They also may help to anchor the tree which grows up to 120 feet with a trunk three to six feet in diameter.  

Pileated woodpeckers make their appearance while I watch for alligators.












We only spent two nights here and it was beautiful and peaceful.   Never saw anymore alligators, other than the 15 foot one.   Apparently people have witnessed many alligators migrating from Alligator Lake across the RV and campsite to head over to the bayou (where we saw the big one).

Our final evening brings us a beautiful sunset on the lake.

VICKSBURG, MISSISSIPPI

The Old Mississippi River Bridge (aka Highway 80 bridge) closed in 1998.  The Friends of the Old Mississippi River Bridge worked hard towards having the bridge reopen year round for cyclists and pedestrians.    The bridge is 1.6 miles long and stretches from Vicksburg to Delta, Louisiana.

There is one rail-line connected to the bridge and the railroad has a lease on the bridge.  It is taking a long time to make progress between the Bridge Commission and the Railroad.


The bridge is open during the year but not yet year-round.   

Eleven years ago, Riverwalk Casino set out to help bring awareness to breast cancer by collecting bras that were strung across the Old Mississippi River Bridge.

October 2018 just under 10,000 bras were hung from the Bridge.  For every bra donated the Riverwalk Casino donated $1 to the American Cancer Society.

Following the fundraiser, the bras are not wasted.  Those in good condition, or new, are donated to women's shelters and others are given to the Salvation Army to recycle, they recycle textiles.



BATTLE FOR VICKSBURG

In the spring of 1862 during the initial Union attempt to take Vicksburg, women in Vicksburg got their first taste of war and often found themselves in harm's way.   They were left to stay or flee to the hills beyond the range of Union guns.   They attempted to leave, but with Confederate troops retreating into Vicksburg, and most of the roads out of town leading to the Union's Army, and river travel not an option, they were trapped.

People fled to the hillsides and with citizens and their slaves laboring with shovels, they dug caves.    Women, as did the Confederate soldiers in the trenches, lost weight, became dehydrated, and suffered from severe malnutrition.

The 47 day siege ended July 4, 1863.  The South, in general, did not forgive easily.  They worked to make sure that succeeding generations of southerners did not forget what they had suffered.  Though both armies brought war and deprivation to their worlds, these women blamed the North for the war and continued to honor Confederate soldiers.  

Walking along historic downtown Vicksburg we come across a clothing store that made us stop with our jaws wide.   It had Klu Klux Klan robes in the front window.

Raw feelings still exist in the south today.   In 2017, in Jackson Mississippi (45 minutes east of Vicksburg), in a predominantly black community, a white Mississippi man burned a cross in order to harass and intimidate his neighbours.  




Coca Cola Museum

1890 this structure was home to the family owned candy company and shoe store (owner; Joseph Biedenharn and his father, Herman).

The founder of the Coca-Cola Company approached Biedenharn and recommended that they supply the area with Coca-Cola syrup.   

In 1939, the bottled drink was made accessible and demand grew quickly.

The building changed hands in 1979, was restored and donated to the Vicksburg Foundation for Historic Preservation.   It is now an historical exhibit with details of the bottling process and other Coca-Cola facts.  

















In 1791 the first patent for a steamboat was granted.  In the early 1800s, steamboats replaced the flat boats to transport goods.

A sternwheeler in 1900 on the river at Vicksburg, Mississippi

Today, paddle wheelers are back on the Mississippi River, offering tours and docking in Vicksburg.    American Cruise Lines and the Queen of the Mississippi.   Cruises are from eight to twenty two days.  

The Mississippi runs approximately 2,320 miles and at its widest point, the rivers stretches out over 7 miles.

This is a scene of the Old Depot Museum with the levee and docking area along the Mississippi River.  

Flooding in the Mississippi Delta is nothing new.   In 1927 the most destructive river flood occurred that covered 27,000 square miles and up to a depth of 30 feet.  The government then built the world's longest system of levees and floodways.


The Vicksburg levee show flood levels with dates.

Photo Courtesy of avax.news

A 2011 scene of the Old Depot Museum (compared to the photo above during our visit).

Photo courtesy of wbur.org

The late winter and early spring of 2011 were filled with snowmelt and heavy rains.  As a result, the River swelled to levels not seen since 1927.

57.1 feet was the reported river level in Vicksburg overnight May 18-19, 2011.

We leave Vicksburg (Oct 24).   Next stop will be Natchez, Mississippi.