Natchez,MS

[bdtex]

Before I move on,Ima stop right here to say a few things about GGMP.

Grand Gulf is one of the best kept secrets along the Mississippi River !

Yes it is and it is even more remote now than it once was. As explained on one of the displays at the Museum,Grand Gulf was once a thriving town on the banks of the Mississippi River. Then between 1855 and 1860,the river ate away a large section of the business district of Grand Gulf. Then war came and Union gunboats and ironclads destroyed more of the town. To add insult to injury,the Mississippi River changed course in 1876 and abandoned Grand Gulf. I suspect that if it were not for the camping facilities at GGMP and periodic living history/educational/ceremonial events there,it's regular budgeted funds from the state wouldn't keep it afloat. I'm certainly gonna do my best to pump up interest in Grand Gulf Military Park every chance I get. My first,hopefully not last,visit there was fantastic. I remember when I visited Vicksburg/Champion Hill/Raymond for the first time in February last year and made an unscheduled late afternoon run to Port Gibson. I squeezed every bit of daylight I could out of that day. When I headed back to Vicksburg and passed the GGMP sign on Hwy. 61,I felt like I was being teased. Had the itch to go there until I finally did.

 

[bdtex]

Just a little way up Grand Gulf Rd. going back to Port Gibson,you run into this historical marker on the right side of the road. I saw it on the way into Grand Gulf but saved it for later. The first view is a bit confusing because North is at the top of the sign but you are facing south as you're looking at it. "Mound A" is across the road,just beyond the roadbank.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Were Gilbert and Ross in fact wartime casualties, or (as I would think more likely) veterans who happened to be postwar residents of the area? Other than right in long-established communities such as Port Gibson the surrounding countryside appears to be populated by descendants of the former slaves, and of course nearby Alcorn College is/was an all-black institution. If they were wartime fatalities, it must've been relatively late in the war because it was only them that formerly state-designated units were re-designated as numbered USCT regiments.

I'm not sure.

At one time time there was a video of the 2003 reinterment along with the history of Gilbert and Ross. I was actually searching for that link ( to no avail) before I posted the info from the Grand Gulf site.

 

[bdtex]

Before and when I left GGMP,I still wasn't sure where I was going next. It was 1:20pm when I left GGMP and I was shooting to be back in Natchez by 4-4:30pm,which was about a one hour drive. @alan polk and I had exchanged a few texts about some ideas. It was awful tempting to make a fast run to Raymond but there just wasn't time. The time on my pictures directly above and a text to alan from the same spot show that I googled "Grindstone Ford Port Gibson Mississippi" at about the same time and came up with a spot on Google Maps called "Grindstone Ford,NTP milemarker 45.7". I clicked on "Get Directions" and texted alan that I was going for it because that's how I roll on trips like that. It was time for some spontaneity into the unknown. Figured out for myself that "NTP" stood for Natchez Trace Parkway. Google Maps took me back to Port Gibson,then onto Hwy 18 going out of Port Gibson,then onto Romola Rd. and eventually to a "turn left". The left turn was on a creaky wooden bridge over a roadside ditch onto a one lane dirt road with a barbed wire fence on both sides. There weren't any "No Trespassing" or "Do Not Enter" etc. signs there so I went for it but it was an "Oh s**t!" moment anyway. Just like on the Rodney Road in February 2017,I sent alan a "Chest is a thumping again." text. I rolled down the road a bit,hearing the banjos playing, then.....it became decision time. Unlike my excellent adventure on the Rodney Road,I took pics this time. The first pic is what lay ahead,the second one is the road already traveled behind me.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Just a little way up Grand Gulf Rd. going back to Port Gibson,you run into this historical marker on the right side of the road. I saw it on the way into Grand Gulf but saved it for later. The first view is a bit confusing because North is at the top of the sign but you are facing south as you're looking at it. "Mound A" is across the road,just beyond the roadbank.

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That's part of the Mississippi Mound trail.

It's actually a very interesting self guided tour along the River from Memphis to the Louisiana state line.

 

[bdtex]

Yep. That's a bridge with water under it ahead in the first pic. Don't know how deep the water under the bridge was or how solid the ground was. Didn't stick my foot or a stick in it to find out. My truck isn't a 4WD and I did not want to get stuck out in the sticks. There was a good place to turn around just before the bridge to the left. I turned around and retreated to the paved Romola Rd. I was a bit disappointed to say the least.

I googled it again today and came up with this. Looks like a nice place. I'll find another route next time.

http://npplan.com/national-historic...e-parkway-grindstone-ford-loop-trail-mp-45-7/

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

I googled it again today and came up with this. Looks like a nice place. I'll find another route next time.

http://npplan.com/national-historic...e-parkway-grindstone-ford-loop-trail-mp-45-7/

It really is.

There are actually two historic sites at this Natchez Trace Stop. One is Grindstone Ford, and the other a Native American Mound site.

Those ancient tombstones just a few feet from the parking lot, are quite a surprise when one enters the trail.

 

[bdtex]

After my Grindstone Ford misadventure,I decided to go back to Port Gibson to regroup. On the way,I decided to go back to Wintergreen Cemetery to try one more time to find the other Confederate General buried there. I quickly discovered why I couldn't find the gravesite the first time. Turns out that the stated location of the gravesite on FindAGrave is wrong. Also turns out that I had walked right by it several times during my morning visit. The 1st National Flag should've been a clue. Gen. Van Dorn's gravesite is the only other one there with a 1st National Flag. Anyway...Mission Accomplished!

 

[James N.]

A scene from my 1980 visit to Port Hudson, Grand Gulf, and Vicksburg, marching somewhere along a park road in Grand Gulf:
https://civilwartalk.com/threads/a-...-hudson-grand-gulf-and-vicksburg-1980.134199/

 

[RobertP]

Just a little way up Grand Gulf Rd. going back to Port Gibson,you run into this historical marker on the right side of the road. I saw it on the way into Grand Gulf but saved it for later. The first view is a bit confusing because North is at the top of the sign but you are facing south as you're looking at it. "Mound A" is across the road,just beyond the roadbank.

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One of my gg-grandfathers left western Pennsylvania in the 1830's and floated down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to Grand Gulf. He was a tailor by trade and lived there several years before deciding to move up Bayou Pierre to Gallatin in Copiah County. He sent 4 sons to war, one a great grandfather who would tell my father when a boy how much in love they were with their farm in the beautiful valley of the Bayou Pierre.

 

[bdtex]

A scene from my 1980 visit to Port Hudson, Grand Gulf, and Vicksburg, marching somewhere along a park road in Grand Gulf:
https://civilwartalk.com/threads/a-...-hudson-grand-gulf-and-vicksburg-1980.134199/

Great picture. I am sure that road is paved now. The walking trails aren't that wide.

 

[bdtex]

During my Grindstone Ford misadventure,I twice passed a little shack on Hwy. 18 called "The Seafood Depot" and the intersection of Hwy. 18 and the Natchez Trace Parkway. The second time was probably about 2pm and there were quite a few cars at The Seafood Depot. After leaving Wintergreen Cemetery,I decided to take the Natchez Trace Parkway back from Port Gibson to Natchez even though it added a few minutes to the return trip. In all my trips to Louisiana and Mississippi last year and already this year,I had never been on the Natchez Trace Parkway. On the way to the NTP turnoff,I passed The Seafood Depot again and there were still a lotta cars there. Made a spur-of-the-moment decision to stop there and try it out. Lunch at that point had been a banana and a Clif bar at Grand Gulf MP. At The Seafood Depot, you placed your order then sat in your vehicle and waited for it to be brought out to you. I ordered a Shrimp Po-Boy. As I sat in my truck I could see the NTP turnoff. I took the opportunity to change from my hiking boots to tennis shoes. In hindsight,stopping there was probably not the best decision I made that day. Took a bit longer than I had to get my food and it was good but nothing spectacular. Had a nice conversation with the couple in the truck next to me. Thought I was just ordering a sandwich but it came with a pile of fries too. I ate about half the sandwich,saved the rest for later,saddled up and hit the road.

 

[bdtex]

While I was waiting for my food,I texted @alan polk and told him I was heading back to Natchez via Natchez Trace Parkway. He texted back with a suggestion that I stop at Mount Locust saying "Neat pioneer house with free tour and bathrooms". Even though I have a coupla NPS Natchez Trace brochures at home,I didn't think to take one with me on the trip. Didn't really know what all was on NTP between Port Gibson and Natchez. alan's suggestion was great.

 

[James N.]

While I was waiting for my food,I texted @alan polk and told him I was heading back to Natchez via Natchez Trace Parkway. He texted back with a suggestion that I stop at Mount Locust saying "Neat pioneer house with free tour and bathrooms". Even though I have a coupla NPS Natchez Trace brochure at home,I didn't think to take one with me on the trip. Didn't really know what all was on NTP between Port Gibson and Natchez. alan's suggestion was great.

Mount Locust was a "stand" or tavern along the Natchez Trace; indeed, the bathrooms were welcome!

 

[bdtex]

Mount Locust was a "stand" or tavern along the Natchez Trace; indeed, the bathrooms were welcome!

Looks like it has changed a bit since then.

 

[James N.]

Looks like it has changed a bit since then.

I wish the d*mn NPS would quit "improving" (read: PAVING) things that should be left alone - that's as bad in it's own way as all the asphalt walkways that now cover Little Round Top! Obviously the traders and innkeepers who operated this place over the centuries didn't have access to - much less care about - nice, even BRICK walkways; if they had, they would've built the building out of the bricks, not waste them on the path. Other than THAT it looks about the same as I remember.

 

[bdtex]

I wish the d*mn NPS would quit "improving" (read: PAVING) things that should be left alone - that's as bad in it's own way as all the asphalt walkways that now cover Little Round Top! Obviously the traders and innkeepers who operated this place over the centuries didn't have access to - much less care about - nice, even BRICK walkways; if they had, they would've built the building out of the bricks, not waste them on the path. Other than THAT it looks about the same as I remember.

Yeah. Notice I said "changed". The nice,clean and modern restrooms and the small but nice Welcome Center in front could've been built without substantially changing the grounds of the inn/tavern.

 

[bdtex]

If I hadn't stopped to draw rations in Port Gibson,I mighta had more time to explore the trails at Mount Locust. I was already pressed for time.. I knew I wasn't gonna make it back to Natchez by 4:00pm. I was shooting for 4:30pm now. Did do a little bit of exploring,

 

[bdtex]

There are a coupla old cemeteries at Mount Locust and I couldn't resist poking around in them.

 

[bdtex]

The other cemetery on the Mount Locust grounds is an old family cemetery. The gate was locked which was kinda a bummer. Turns out one of the members of the family that owned Mount Locust was a Confederate veteran. Glad I took alan's suggestion and stopped on the way back to Natchez. I sent him a text as I was leaving and thanked him.