MS Day 3- Mounds, Metal Warships, and Melons
Today was a bit of a driving intensive day so it was more quality over quantity in terms of sightseeing.
I fueled up for my initial driving chunk by going to a local chain called Mocha Mugs. They were particularly convenient because they had a drive thru. The service was super friendly, and they reminded me a lot of local legend Dunkin Donuts because you get a lot of coffee for not a lot of money but it's really just pretty good not objectively great coffee (I hope that doesn't count as Boston treason). But it gets the job done and that's all that matters.
My first stop was the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians in Natchez. I'll be honest with a name like that, I was kind of expecting something more like a Natchez equivalent of Colonial Williamsburg, but the actual site is a lot more subdued and more interested in preserving what's currently there than recreating what used to be. I honestly think this worked much better and kept things more genuinely informative as opposed to being too campy and touristy.
I started out in the visitor's center which also served as a museum about Natchez culture. This included exhibits on pottery, basket weaving, hunting, farming, religious rituals, and medicine. My favorite thing was a translation of a French explorer's reaction to trying watermelon for the first time like it was from another world: "It's filled with a light and sparkling substance". It's amazing how much we take for granted that everyone would just have encountered watermelon at some point nowadays (at the very least through media if not in person), but that wasn't always the case. Some poor souls lived in a pre-watermelon world.
I was also impressed by the level of sophistication in basketweaving and medicine. I think sometime different Native American baskets and pottery just get thrown into art museums because they're old, and, while they're certainly impressive pieces of craftsmanship, they weren't always intended as art but just as functional objects. These pieces however highlighted both the craft and the artistic intent with some baskets made in the shapes of different animals such as turkeys and alligators. They were really incredible. As for the medicine, I am always impressed by how much Western culture writes off certain traditional remedies as primitive only to realize later that the chemicals in the herbs and plants actually were really effective. That's not to say that some modern herbal medicines aren't absolute bullshit, but stuff that's actually based on traditions tend to have something going for them because the reason those traditions got passed down in the first place is usually because smart people figured out things that worked.
Probably the thing the Natchez gained the most notoriety for amongst the early European settlers was their ritual human sacrifices. These were only done when the chief, the Great Sun, died because it was considered an honor to follow him into death. Some people were expected to partake in the sacrifice based on social customs, but others could volunteer for the honor leading to one of my favorite sentences I've ever read on an informational plaque: "And any others who wished to do so were strangled." I guess sometimes the strangling mood hits you and sometimes it doesn't.
One of the most poignant things in the museum was this incredible quote by the war chief The Tattooed Serpent. I just took a picture and put it below because it's long but I highly suggest reading it. Essentially he really challenges the notion of his people being primitive and the ideas of Western expansion being inherently linked to progress. I think about this a lot because I believe the problem a lot of people have with Utopian societies (I know Native American societies weren't actually utopias but they got a lot closer than we are now so let's just use it for this point) is that they assume they will become stagnant and not progress. I believe however that it is a myth that conflict is necessary for progress, and that new inventions and social and technological progress will in fact occur naturally as needs arise and need to be met. Conflict speeds up this process, but I do not think it is necessary and furthermore if you are happy, safe, and well fed I don't think you will mind if your technology doesn't upgrade every quarter. For these reasons, i feel it is a very difficult challenge to grapple with westward expansion in this country because it did give white society a ton of progress very quickly that we now currently still benefit from, but it came at some pretty terrible costs. I think those costs could have definitely been avoided or at the very least lessened at the expense of some of that progress coming slightly slower. To me, those delays would have absolutely been worth avoiding all the human suffering inflicted upon Native peoples, but alas History cannot always happen as you would have liked it to. And knowing the truth is important and necessary for knowing what to do and what not to do in the future.
The big draw to the Grand Village of the Natchez was not the museum however but the three Indian mounds outside. One of the mounds used be where the Great Sun lived, one mound had the holy temple on it and also housed the remains of deceased Great Suns, and the third mound has not been excavated so no body is really sure what role it served. The mounds were stunning works of ancient architecture, built in layers with strategic use of different soils to create the most stability. The structures are still stable to this day and you can walk up them for some pretty spectacular views of the surrounding areas.
All that walking up and down hills really tuckered me out, so I went to the Natchez Coffee Company for a coffee refill. I really liked the space and atmosphere, but this was my second decidedly average cup of coffee of the day. Not bad my any means, but noting to write home about (even though I guess I am technically doing that right now)
Re-energized I went to get some lunch at local landmark Mammy's Cupboard. The giant woman shaped restaurant has an interesting story. When it was first built in the 40s, racist Mammy figures were very trendy because of Gone With the Wind. During the 60s however, they decided that such a racist characterization wouldn't be good for business, so they painted the black figure's skin white. Maybe it would've been more of an effective re-branding if they hadn't kept the name Mammy's Cupboard...
Alas I had arrived too late for lunch and the giant woman's legs were closed for the day. I ended up going to a restaurant called Roux 61, which specialized in cajun food. I hadn't realized how close I was to the Louisiana border, so I suspect it was pretty authentic. I got an appetizer of crawfish étouffée, because I've never had it before and it's a great thing to say with cajun drawl. For my main course, I got a shrimp and alligator cheesecake. The menu said they were the only place around serving it, if you can believe that. The soup was like a really good spicier tomato soup with nice big chunks of crawfish, some cheese drizzled on top, and some really excellent garlic bread for dipping. The cheesecake was really something else. It was a savory cheesecake, more like a quiche than a dessert. The alligator sausage was really good, but if I didn't know it was alligator it really would have tasted like any other sausage. The whole thing was drizzled in cream sauce and came with some more of that good garlic bread. It was a culinary adventure for me, but I was very glad I took it.
After lunch, I decided to get my first real good look at the Mississippi River. Technically I did drive by it in Memphis but I was too busy running around sight-seeing to really appreciate it. It is big to say the least. For scale, that tiny thing in the middle is a cargo ship. It was definitely an awe-inspiring piece of nature.
Before making the long drive back north towards Jackson, I got one last cup of coffee for the road. I went to Steampunk Coffee, which contrary the name was not in some sleek industrial building but a cute little cottage. Third time was the charm for coffee, and their's was really great. Just what I needed for the long drive.
My first stop after leaving Natchez was to Emerald Mound , the largest ceremonial Natchez mound and second largest Indian mound in the country. The mound covers eight acres, measuring 770 feet by 435 feet at the base and is 35 feet in height. Archaeologists believe it was the center of the Natchez religious ceremonies before they made contact with the French and relocated to stay safe.
I then decided to head for Vicksburg, because they actually had a museum that would still be open by the time I would get there. Along the way, I passed by Port Gibson which had possibly the best town slogan I've ever seen given to them by Ulysses S. Grant. "Too beautiful to burn."
When I did make it to Vicksburg, I went to see the recovered USS Cairo, an ironclad warship from the Civil War. As the USS implies, it was a Union ship and holds the distinction of being the first ship to ever be sunk by an electrically detonated torpedo. It sank slowly enough that no lives were lost but the ship itself was abandoned to the elements. For over 100 years, it's exact location went unknown until a group of historians figured out roughly where it was and were able to salvage it. Because it got totally encased in mud after it sank, the ship and everything on it was preserved in near perfect condition giving the historians who found it unparalleled insight into what life on an ironclad was actually like. For me it was just cool to see such a massive vessel just in the middle of a national park.
Even cooler, you could actually walk on board and explore the ship up close. You could even go below deck and look at the cannons.
The visitor's center included a small museum that gave a brief history of the ship itself as well as collecting a large number of the recovered items from the ship and grouping them together. There were kitchen and daily living items, there were weapons, there were tools, and there was even an adorable little cannon.
The Cairo also happened to be located right next to Vicksburg National Cemetery, final resting place of over 17,000 Union soldiers, the highest number of anywhere in the US. The cemetery was closed to visitors by the time I got there but there was a pretty great view nonetheless.
Up next, I saw the ruins of Margaret's Grocery and Market, a former candy colored grocery store that also served as a sort of folk art ministry to the wildly eccentric Reverent H.D. Dennis. Unfortunately since the Reverend's death in 2012 the place has fallen into total disrepair. I wish I could have seen it in its hey-day.
My last stop of the day was somewhere called the Tomato Place. It was part grocery store, part farmer's market, part cafe, and part art gallery. It was totally unique.
It was also home to maybe the single nicest cashier I've encountered in the country so far. She knew all of her other customers super well, and made a real effort to get to know me and listen to my story. I had a tough time deciding what to get there, because it all looked fresh and amazing. I off-handedly said the fresh pecans looked good, and she said she'd sold the last bag but then said that if I didn't mind waiting she'd get on shelling enough to fill a new container then and there. I didn't want to impose, but she insisted. It was really sweet, and the pecans were damn good. I also had the best smoothie, I've ever had which kind of brought the day full circle in a weird way. The smoothie was called a black diamond, and it was all watermelon and cherry. It definitely made me appreciate how blown away the French explorers were the first time they tried watermelon. Not too shabby a way to end the day.
Favorite Random Sightings: Walter Ann's Eat Shack; Mr. Whiskers; Li'l Dago's (Italian slur #1); The Guido Company (Italian Slur #2); Smoot's Blues Lounge
Regional Observation: I've never seen so many boot shops in my life.
Albums Listened To: Operation Doomsday by MF Doom (one of my all time favorites. The album that introduced Doom to the world, literally recorded in a basement it sounds at once crazy dated and still far ahead of its time); Oreskaband by Oreskaband (just Yeah! Ska Dance); Original Cast Recording by the cast of Spamalot (the musical could have just been cheesy fan service, but Eric Idle and company really knocked it out of the park); Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards by Tom Waits (Discs 1 and 2, the Brawlers and Bawlers. This three disc set serves as an impressive showcase of all the different sides of Waits.)
People's Favorite Jokes:
Did you hear about the man who invented knock knock jokes? He won the No Bell Prize
Songs of the Day:
Cool video, and yeah he's rapping over some sweet Steely Dan
"There is a small percentile/ who enjoys a dancing gentile" is an incredible rhyme
About as tender as that voice can get