Heart of the Mississippi Delta

My husband and I recently had the pleasure of driving up US Hwy. 61 North, from Vicksburg to Belzoni, Mississippi, which took us straight through the heart of the beautiful Mississippi Delta.  After leaving the hills of Vicksburg, Highway 61 is as about as flat and straight as a road can be, bounded on both sides by hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile Delta farmlands, literally stretching as far as the eye can see.  Hwy. 61 is also known as "the Blues Highway," because legend has it that blues music was born in the cotton fields and "juke joints" of the Mississippi Delta. I love the Delta, because no matter how many times I go, I always find new and interesting things (to me, anyway) to capture with my camera.   Like this single tree standing in the midst of the plowed fields, like an oasis in a desert.  Come August, I can imagine several of the drivers of the big cotton pickers resting in its shade for a quick lunch. The landscape is also dotted with farms, barns, and cabins like the one in the picture below ... silhouetted against the horizon.  Along with the rustic farm cabins, you might also see homes like these ... If I had to choose between the two, I most definitely would choose the second one, which is Mont Helena, a colonial revival style home built atop a ceremonial Indian mound in 1896.  Another familiar and fascinating sight in the Delta, especially this time of year, are the brightly-colored crop duster planes flying low over the newly-plowed fields spraying whatever they spray in preparation for planting (herbicides, insecticides, fertilizer?). I've always admired the daredevil-like skills of the pilots as they swoop down, barely clearing power lines and treetops ...    On the outskirts of Yazoo City, I got a glimpse of a rusty tin roof on an old barn, partially hidden behind the tangled vines of a fence row.  I asked my husband to turn around so I could get a closer look.    I love the contrast between the rusty tin roof and the brilliant blue sky in the background ... And while I'm on the subject of barns ... as we approached the town of Rolling Fork, I was saddened to see the two large silos which are all that remains of one of the Delta's most picturesque and treasured landmarks, affectionately known as the "big red barn at Rolling Fork."   This is the way the barn looked a few years ago ... During the early morning hours of Saturday, April 29, 2011, a strong storm with damaging winds passed through the area, destroying the barn.  Only its twin silos remained standing.  I captured the following pictures the next day ... As we approached Rolling Fork, I told my husband that I needed to get some pictures of the silos so I could complete the final chapter in my collection of pictures of the barn.  That old barn was one of my favorite places to photograph, and it saddened me to see that the silos were the only reminder that it had ever been. As I mentioned at the beginning of this story, we were traveling up Hwy. 61 North from Vicksburg to Belzoni, Mississippi, which is proclaimed "the Catfish Capital of the World."   But that's not why we were visiting the Belzoni area.  We were looking for one of Mississippi's hidden treasures ... a wildlife management area called Sky Lake, which is home to some of the oldest and largest bald cypress trees in the world.    I hope to share my pictures and the story of our tour of Sky Lake soon.

The Story of the Ruins of Windsor ...

[You can click on the pictures to enlarge them]

My husband and I recently visited one of Mississippi's greatest historical icons, "The Windsor Ruins." Before I share my personal visit to the Ruins and my photographs, I'd like to give a brief history of Windsor.

The story of "The Ruins of Windsor" begins with the birth of Smith Coffee Daniell, II, in Mississippi in 1826, the son of an Indian fighter turned farmer and wealthy landowner. Daniell owned 21,000 acres in Mississippi and Louisiana. In 1849, he married his cousin Catherine Freeland (1830-1903), and they had three children.

In 1859, the couple started construction of Windsor, the largest antebellum Greek Revival mansion built in the state of Mississippi. Windsor Plantation, about 12 miles southwest of Port Gibson in Claiborne County, covered over 2,600 acres and overlooked the Mississippi River in the distance.

From the elaborate furnishings, to the wrought iron staircase, the four story home was designed to reflect the height of Southern life at the time. It is said that Mark Twain compared Windsor to a college instead of a residence, due to its size.

It was built for $175,000 (not a small sum at the time), which included the actual construction cost and its furnishings (today's cost would be approximately 3.5 million dollars).

Windsor's basic style was Greek Revival, with added details borrowed from the Italianate and Gothic styles of architecture. It had twenty-three rooms with twenty-three fireplaces, and an above-level basement containing a school room, dairy, and supply rooms. Tanks in the attic supplied water for the interior baths. The ell-shaped extension on the east side, attached to a single row of columns extending from the main square, contained the kitchen, pantry, and dining room.

Construction was completed in 1861, and sadly, Smith Daniell only lived in the mansion for a few weeks before he died at the age of 34. His wife and children continued to live at Windsor, but were left to suffer the loss of much of the family's holdings.

During the Civil War, Windsor was used by by both Union and Confederate troops. From the roof observatory, signal equipment was used to signal Confederate troops of Yankee advances, and a Yankee soldier was shot in the front doorway of the home.

Windsor was also used as a Union hospital and observation post, which is most likely the reason it was spared from being burned by the Union troops.

In 1991, historians discovered this drawing by Henry Otis Dwight, an officer in the 20th Ohio Infantry, which he made while his unit was encamped on the grounds of the home ...

This drawing is the only known depiction of what Windsor actually looked like after it was completed.

After the war, Windsor continued to be used for social gatherings in the area. Mark Twain stayed at the home and is said to have used the roof observatory to observe the Mississippi River. He wrote of its elegance in Life on the Mississippi.

On February 17, 1890, a guest accidentally dropped a cigarette in debris left by carpenters making repairs to the third floor, and Windsor was consumed by fire. The only remnants were 23 of the 29 columns, a few pieces of china, and a set of wrought iron stairs and portions of the balustrade. The stairs and balustrade are now used at Alcorn State University's chapel which is nearby.

Added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 23, 1971, the Ruins are maintained by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Descendants of the Daniell family donated Windsor Ruins to the State of Mississippi in 1974.

On July 13, 2008, a hot Sunday afternoon, my husband and I traveled to Windsor, which is located about 11 miles southwest of Port Gibson, Mississippi.

At the end of a rural gravel lane off Mississippi Hwy. 552, the 23 elegant 45-foot tall Corinthian columns stand proudly and defiantly, as if they rose from the ashes as a reminder of Windsor's glorious existence.

The only word that sufficiently describes the Ruins is magnificent. As defined in Webster's, magnificent means "marked by stately grandeur and lavishness; sumptuous in structure and adornment; impressive to the mind or spirit" ... and The Windsor Ruins are, indeed, all of that and more.

It is mind-boggling to me to try to imagine building a house like Windsor almost 150 years ago. Basic construction of the house was done by slave labor. The bricks for use in the 45-foot columns were made in a kiln across the road from the house.

The columns were then covered with mortar and plaster. The columns supported the projecting roof line with its plain, broad frieze and molded cornice. This provided protection for the galleries that encompassed the house at the second and third levels. The fluted columns had ornate iron Corinthian capitals and were joined at the galleries by a beautiful ornamental iron balustrade, remnants of which you can see in the pictures.

Skilled carpenters were brought in from New England for the finished woodwork. The iron stairs, column capitals, and balustrades were manufactured in St. Louis and shipped down the Mississippi River to the Port of Bruinsburg several miles west of Windsor.

All of that sounds pretty straight-forward and simple, doesn't it? But if you look at my pictures you will realize there was nothing "simple" about the construction of Windsor.

Just the brickwork alone involved in constructing one of the columns would have been a daunting task.

Then, plaster and mortar were applied over the bricks, and the fluting effect was done.

If you think about it, each column was a work of art created by master craftsmen ... and they built 29 of them!

And speaking of works of art ... just look at the elaborate detailing of the iron Corinthian capitals atop each column, and the iron balustrades which connected the columns.

It was an eerie and almost reverent experience to walk the grounds surrounding Windsor, and to see the huge old walnut trees that were there over 100 years ago. Perhaps Henry Otis Dwight leaned up against this one as he made his sketch of Windsor, unaware of the significant role it would play in the history of Windsor ...

This walnut tree is at the back corner near the crumbling brick fireplace ...

This old oak stands like a sentry across the road from the lane leading to the Ruins. If only trees could talk ...

After withstanding almost 150 years of winds and rains, and hot, humid Mississippi summers, the beautiful vine-covered Ruins of Windsor still stand proud, seemingly determined to endure as a memorial to Smith Coffee Daniell, II, and his Windsor ... the glorious house which once stood in their shadows.

I wonder how many of the mansions of today will still be standing 150 years from now.

I hope you enjoyed my story about the Windsor Ruins." My next post will include photographs I took of a few stops we made after our visit to Windsor. I hope you will join me for that tour.

Sincerely,