G’day USA - Noah’s American Adventure Pt 4

Chapter 5. Road Trip Continues Natchez, MISSISSIPPI

We left Mobile after breakfast in no rush to get going as we knew that Dr Carey would be at school all day (Delicia was Robert’s mom while he was in high school in Natchez). We managed to turn the 4 hour drive from Mobile to Natchez into an all day drive, we’re not entirely sure how but we did. Arriving fairly late in the afternoon at Delicia & Dr Tom’s beautiful old house, we went for a little walk around the streets looking at some of the other old homes and buildings. We enjoyed a lovely home cooked meal with Delicia and two of her children Margret and Matthew (Dr. Tom and their eldest son Thomas were away in Utah). Noah and I settled into our own room upstairs that was set up with a beautiful crib for Noah! While mum slept in Robert’s old room down stairs.

In the morning after the whirlwind of Dr Cary, Margret and Matthew getting ready for school (how I’d forgotten what that was like!!!) we headed out for the day catching up with Beth Brown (another of Robert’s American Mom’s), and did a quick tour of Robert’s High School Trinity. For lunch mum was very excited to take me to Mammy’s Cupboard, built in 1940. The cute building is open daily for lunch and cooks special home cooked food and VERY YUMMY homemade desserts. Noah enjoyed making a mess of another American spatiality Peanut butter and jelly!!!

Next we went to have a look around one of the old Antebellum homes. Visitors come by their thousands each year lured by the city‘s reputation for a unique collection of houses representing a architecture of the long-ago south. They come to see how the cotton planters lived in the days when cotton was king and money flowed freely. They are not disappointed. Natchez is a picturesque city set on the Mississippi River, visitors to the city follow in the footsteps of many generations of travelers to the historic city. Attractions were different when the first Europeans traveled down the River and past the high spot on the bluffs of the Mississippi where Natchez now stands. French occupied the area first, then the English, followed by the Spanish who relinquished the Natchez area to the United states in 1798. The territorial days saw the beginning of steam travel on the Mississippi River; as the first steam-boat traveled down form Cincinnati in 1811, pulled into the Natchez lading in early 1812 and left with the first bale of cotton ever to be shipped by steamboat. Natchez truly is an amazing little place so many wonderful old homes and buildings to explore.

The house we went to is called The Melrose. Visiting the old home was like stepping back in time, you can just imagine the ladies of the house in the beautiful dresses sipping tea on the porch. Most of the homes are open year round, during the fall and spring some of the houses that are actually lived in are also opened to the public. Many of the homes are filled with volunteers who dress in period dress giving visitors a taste of how life really was in the 1800’s. The Melrose was built by a combination of free and slave labour and took over 8 years to build. The McMurrans’ and their two children moved in to the house in 1849, the house was considered by many to be the finest home in all of the Natchez region. Unfortunately we weren’t able to go inside the house as you could only go in on guided tours, which of course started at 2pm and lasted 45 minutes when we had to be back at Delicia’s at 3pm to go and watch some more basketball. So we gave the tour a miss and hoped to get back to see it in a few days.

We got home just before 3 and got organized for the drive to Copiah High School to watch Robert’s old high school team play. It was a lot of fun made even better by the fact that both the girls and boys team’s won their games. Once again Noah had all the girls wrapped around his little finger and was very well behaved having to sit and watch two games. Needless to say he slept very well that night.

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