A Day Trip to Natchez, Mississippi

When you hear the word Natchez, what images come to mind? — Grand antebellum houses? Towering moss-covered oaks? Azalea and magnolia blossoms? Steamboats on the Mighty Mississippi? All of the above?

Well, Natchez is, indeed, all of that — and much more.

Located just an hour south of Vicksburg, Natchez is one of our favorite "getaway" places, and it was such a gorgeous Fall day Friday, my husband and I decided to drive down the Natchez Trace and eat lunch at Fat Mama's — one of our favorite places for hot tamales. The Trace is always beautiful and peaceful, no matter what time of year you travel it, and Friday was no exception.

The trees are just beginning to turn and the sky was a brilliant blue — a perfect day to be out enjoying God's glory.

About halfway to Natchez, we stopped at a creek bed that was almost hidden from the road.

It was dry this time of year, but when we walked down to it, it was like entering a secret hideaway. It was cool and shady, and leaves were drifting down on us from the trees overhead. It was one of those "serendipity" moments, and I'm so glad I captured some of its magic in my pictures.

When we arrived in Natchez, we discovered that our timing wasn't that great — it was the weekend of The Great Mississippi Balloon Race, and there were hundreds of visitors in town.

After lunch at Fat Mama's, I had hoped we could drive through some of the Garden District neighborhoods so I could take pictures of some of the houses there. But, unfortunately, traffic was congested — and to further complicate matters, one of the high schools was having its Homecoming Parade downtown. Not a good day for a leisurely drive and photo shoot.

After fighting the traffic for a while, we finally managed to make our way into a less congested area where I was able to capture a few pictures of some houses that caught my eye.

This house is my favorite ...

It is called "The Keyhole House," and it was built in 1890 ...

Isn't it unusual!

I love the wraparound porch on this pretty house ...

I don't particularly care for the color scheme on this house, but I have to admit that it did catch my eye.

I love this charming little house, with its elegant Corinthian columns gracing the porch, and the "fishscale" trim at the top.

And here's another house with "fishscale" trim. I love those huge dormer windows!

Even though we were in a residential area, the traffic was still pretty steady, and it got to be very frustrating for me (and especially for my husband/chauffeur). I kept saying, "Stop! I need a picture of that!" ... and, of course, he couldn't just stop in the middle of the street with cars backed up while I jumped out to take pictures. So, needless to say, I had to leave LOTS of pictures of some really good stuff there in the Natchez Garden District. I did manage to shoot these two pictures (without getting out) while we were stopped at stop signs ...

Everywhere I looked there were pictures just begging to be taken, so perhaps I can go back to Natchez sometime (maybe on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning) when there won't be much traffic, and I can stop at all the places I didn't get to stop Friday. [Sigh] ... So many pictures, so little time!