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| Beginning the Natchez Trace Parkway |
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| Parkway Bridge - in Natchez, MS |
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| Information Sign about the Natchez Trace |
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| Natchez, MS Street |
After lunch I went ahead to find a place to stay in Port
Gibson, MS. Two years ago we stayed at
the Oak Square Plantation house, a B&B.
At that point a daughter was trying to keep things going as Mama was not
able to do so (Alzheimer’s was underway).
It was a beautiful place, and the furnishings were lovely antiques. Well as I drove into town, I wondered how
things were going for them in the past two year. I got my answer when I saw the property was “For
Sale”, and there was no life at the place.
Later I was told they had an estate sale this past weekend. Oh My! That would have been “something”, with
all the lovely furnishings in the house.
I continued down the street and found the lovely Isabella B
&B. No one was home so I called the
phone number listed. The owner was in
Jackson for the day and would not return until 5:00 pm at the earliest. I asked her about other lodging possibilities
in the area and she said, just a motel on the edge of town. Well I would have not given $25 for that
place! I called other plantations in the
area listed as B & B, but none of the phone numbers worked, so I took this
as a message they were no longer in business.
I finally called the gal back to ask if she cared if we just “chilled”
on her back porch, until she returned, as it would have been for us an hour drive
into Jackson and then back in the morning.
She said that that would be absolutely ok, but that she was going to
call her friend who has a key to the house to see whether she was back in
town. Within minutes I received a call
that her friend Brenda had just returned to town and was stopping over at the
house with a key. She would put the key
in a hidden location for me. I told her
I was within minutes of the house and would return to meet her friend. We were so thankful that we could get into
the house as soon as Cal arrived in Port Gibson. It was 6:00 before they return home. By then we had eaten a great dinner of ribs
from Billy Bob’s BBQ. He wanted each of
us to try a sample of his ribs before we bought. What a salesman!
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| Isabella Bed and Breakfast |
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| Entrance Hall |
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| Add caption |
In talking with the owner of Isabella’s we were told the rest
of the story about Oak Square B &B. Within a month after we had stayed with them
in March 2011, it was discovered the daughter had cancer, and she died within 6
weeks. Oh My! Mama’s Alzheimer’s has of course continued to
the point she does not know anyone. AND
the rest of the family wanted their share of the money out of the
property. So tag sales and about 6 days
of auctions have pursued, the last one being last weekend! Such a sad story for a beautiful home that was
built in about 1912 to look like a “Big House” on an old Plantation!
Cal rode 53 miles today and finished at about 2:00. He was tired and hot! Tomorrow night we hope to be in Jackson, MS.
Port Gibson is very fortunate in that it was not burned during the Civil War. General Grant declared that it was “too beautiful to burn”.
As you drive through Port Gibson, on the right side of the
street is the Presbyterian Church. It is
very unique in that at the top of the church steep there is a gold hand with
the pointer finger pointed upward to heaven.
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| First Presbyterian Church with the Hand Pointing to Heaven |
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| Close-up of the Gold Clad Hand |
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