We Take a Stab at Riding the Natchez Trace

So Capt. Larry was reading James Michener’s book Texas, in which Michener describes how Texas was populated in the 1700-1800’s by so many people from Kentucky and Tennessee.

Longwood

Some came by riverboat to New Orleans, then by ship or over land to Texas, but most came following the Natchez Trace from Nashville, TN, to Natchez. MS. We had ridden a small section of this route with our motorcycle group, and its beauty and Michener’s rich description of the byway convinced us to do its entire length. A leisurely fall ride on our trike would be enjoyable. It’s the time of year when fall colors present in the southern portions of the country, and an extended ride was something we hadn’t done on our motorcycle since our 7-week, 12,400-mile ride to the four corners of the U.S. back in 2008. Plus, the Natchez Trace is a National Parks Service Unit so we can get another stamp!

Longwood Carriage Yard

We picked a date in late September to start our journey. Wanting to spend some time in historic Natchez, which is only a 2.5 hour ride from our Louisiana home, we decided to travel and spend a day sightseeing, stay overnight, then sightsee the next morning before heading on up the Trace. Jane has a penchant for wanting to stay at historic properties, so we made reservations at the Monmouth Historic Inn—a Natchez landmark since 1818. When our start date arrived, we arose to find it raining. No, not just raining, but bucketing down and the forecast didn’t indicate much change all day. It was obvious we wouldn’t be out on our trike today. However, the inn’s cancellation policy gave us a refund only if we cancelled three days prior to our reservation.

Monmouth Historic Inn

With the room being fairly expensive and nothing much we could do with the day, we made a snap decision to drive to Natchez, see what we could see (the hop-on, hop-off bus would be out of the question), spend the night, and return home the next day. And that’s what we did.

Arriving in Natchez in a driving rain, we chose to start our adventure with lunch at a restaurant in the Natchez Under-the-Hill district. Natchez Under-the-Hill is the section of the city at the bottom of the Mississippi River banks and is historically associated with the seedier aspects of wharfs, cargo, and boat hands associated with river boat traffic.

Reading area

Natchez On-Top-of-the-Hill represented the more refined elements of Natchez’s society and was where plantation owners in the area built their homes. After a great lunch at the Magnolia Grill, we swam to the car and drove up the steep banks to Natchez On-Top-of-the-Hill. Jane wanted to tour a plantation home. We chose the unfinished Longwood home, reportedly Natchez’s most popular. This historic octagonal antebellum mansion was the creation of Philadelphia architect Samuel Sloan for plantation owner Dr. Haller Nutt. Started in 1859, work was halted in 1861 at the start of the Civil War. Only 9 basement rooms of the planned 32 total were finished.

Our bed

While the family temporarily moved into the finished rooms, Nutt’s death in 1864 resulted in the remaining rooms never being finished. The home is one of the last examples of southern opulence before the war reversed the cotton grower’s fortunes. It was an interesting tour and the construction techniques were really amazing. With the rain still not abating, we drove around the city to sightsee. We saw the Holy Family Catholic Church which was locked, and St. Mary Basilica which was also locked.

Modern Breakfast Hall

We spotted the Dunleith Inn and stopped at the Melrose plantation home, a National Parks Service Unit. Obtaining a stamp at the visitor’s center, we talked with the ranger in the gift shop. The next guided tour was an hour away, so we decided to drive on to our accommodations at Monmouth Inn and check in. With the rain preventing us from touring the grounds, we relaxed until happy hour, and then had an excellent dinner at the inn’s restaurant.

The grounds

Overnight the rain finally stopped, and after a southern-style breakfast we were able to tour the grounds and get some photos, before heading home via the Mississippi River Road route. It was a fun but challenging excursion.

In the patip