Days 6 and 7
The second storm of this trip hit furiously on the long drive out to Natchez, requiring us to pull over and wait it out for nearly an hour. We found out there had been a tornado that we just missed near Jackson while we driving from Hattiesburg to Gulfport the other day.
I had to wonder why no one was on the road, and then the awful thought occurred, “Tornado! Of course!” Everyone else has the good sense to get off the road. The emergency alert station was of little help calling out a stream of unfamiliar county names that where under flood and tornado watches. Suffice it to say it took many hours to get there but it was well worth it. Natchez was once the home of the largest number of millionaires in the whole United States. The town is chock full of as many architectural styles as there are homes, from resplendent ante bellum plantations to artfully renovated cottages….or not. A bike tour would be the best way to see it, I think.
The town was ready for the spring pilgrimage, a month long house tour of ante bellum homes, timed perfectly with azaleas, camellias and wisteria in full bloom. www.natchezpilgrimage.com It also takes place in the fall. We viewed Rosalie, an antebellum mansion situated on the bluff above the Mississippi River looking towards Louisiana on the other side of the river. Adjacent to it was Fort Rosalie which made Natchez the oldest continuous settlement on the Mississippi, even older than New Orleans. It was purchased and restored in 1938 by the Mississippi Daughters of the American Revolution. We met an 11-year-old tour guide by the name of Korey, who really knew her history. Since she did such a great job on her report about Rosalie at school, she was asked to be a guide for a day during Pilgrimage.
The downtown is delightful and H. Hal Garner is a distinguished antique store with a bridal registry department and pretty patio garden. It was my first visit and I am glad that I made time to stick around and enjoy it. I received such a warm welcome; I hope to come back again soon.
I was greeted by manager Nida Lewis and her enthusiastic staff led by Beverly Jenkins, an Annieglass collector. She says she knows there will be Annieglass in heaven. She has 20 gold rimmed chargers and wishes she could get married again so she could get some more. Beverly also told me she has introduced my things “in vitro” to her unborn granddaughter with a baby bear bowl, plate and heart. Is it any wonder this store sells so much? They even asked me to move there, twice.
Stella Sharp, a fine china expert and collector, came to meet me and very graciously says that Annieglass blends classic beauty with modern technology, making it accessible for current lifestyles. She feels that it is the first time it has happened. It is universal. When she showed me a photo of her handsome grandson Scott Hanson, framed next to his choice of crystal, china and Annieglass, I was confused because under his picture it read “King Scott Hanson”. I asked her, “Is his first name King?” she laughed and explained to my uninitiated ears that he was King of the Pilgrimage Pageant for the first two weeks of the event. Next to his picture was the queen and next to that were the current king and queen. Gotta love those queens, they both picked out Annieglass Ruffle gold for their choices. See the pics.
The pageant is evening entertainment about the history of the area highlighted by the crowning of the King and Queen. Quite an eyeful! We were invited to sit in the box of the president of the garden club, Mrs. Luther Stowers, a former pageant queen as well. Her home was open for Pilgrimage and we were intrigued by it, called the Banker’s House, built in 1838, it once had a secret connecting passage to the vault of the bank next door. Bankers were required to live on premises then. It later became a boarding house and Jesse James was a guest. I suppose he was looking for the secret passage.
Mattie Jo Ratcliffe greeted me warmly with great stories. She believes that art is defined by the emotional response it creates in the viewer, if it creates pleasure or joy then it has succeeded. She feels that Annieglass accomplishes that.
She told me that she bought her son’s 25th wedding anniversary gift one year in advance, that was the limited edition solid gold heart made to celebrate the 25th year in business for Annieglass. She said that when her granddaughter, Julia announced her engagement Mattie Jo offered her a gift of wedding silver but she refused, telling her she wanted Annieglass instead. Julia was married at Stanton Hall, one of the most magnificent houses of antebellum America. We were able to peek at it but made our way onto several homes.
All the guides wore hoop skirt costumes during Pilgrimage. Linden, whose lively owner acted as a guide, had beautiful grounds, as did Magnolia, restored and maintained by the National Park Service, surrounded by acres of woodland. Longwood, an octagonal home, with only the first floor finished before the Civil War also called The War of Northern Aggression broke out and the workers scattered back to Philadelphia leaving their tools where they were working. Five stories with 32 rooms crowned by a domed observatory were never finished, just the exterior stands today. It is a marvel of engineering and a pleasure to go inside and see the difference from the finished basement level to the soaring interior, all five stories viewable from the central rotunda.
Next stop New Orleans for some much needed rest and relaxation.
Shopping