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Fielder’s Choice
By Barry Burleson Great trip to Natchez I can’t recall the last time Pam and I were without children for a week. Emma,
as a counselor, and Andy and Erin, as campers, spent the week of June
27 to July 3 at Sardis Lake Christian Camp, located between Oxford and
Batesville. Andy has been a camper there many
years. It was our 8-year-old’s first. Emma signed up as counselor after
her annual trip to Camp Tahkodah in Arkansas did not work out this
summer (but she and Andy did go there for a brief visit on July 4). Pam
and I had discussed for several weeks about taking a brief trip after
getting the newspaper to press for the week. We were undecided about
where to go – possibly Atlanta, Ga., or St. Louis, Mo., maybe Hot
Springs, Ark., or Orange Beach, Ala. Instead we packed our bags for Natchez, one of the Mississippi cities I had never visited. It turned out to be a great decision. Here’s the plug from the Natchez Convention and Visitors Bureau: “Sitting
high on the bluff above the mighty Mississippi River rests Natchez – a
city 300 years in the making. At first glance, Natchez appears to be
frozen in time, with perfectly preserved homes and buildings that
remind us of days gone by. But upon closer inspection, you soon
discover that Natchez, while indeed a reflection of the past, is also
alive in the here and now – filled with arts, music, culture, events,
commerce and natural beauty. “Here, we invite you
to experience – what you love about travel, what you love about
America, and most importantly, what you love about the South. “Natchez
is home to over 1,000 historic structures, residential and commercial,
listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This enchanting
historic city is the anchor of the 444-mile scenic Natchez Trace, which
runs from Nashville, Tenn., to Natchez-Under-the-Hill.” Natchez is great. If you’ve never been, I would recommend it. We
stayed downtown. The part I enjoyed the most was walking to and eating
at restaurants downtown, including once in the rain, and taking a late
night stroll a few blocks to the banks of the grand Mississippi River.
The big bridge connecting to neighboring Louisiana is truly a
breathtaking site at night. Pam and I were joined
on what was largely a dining-out trip by good friends John and J.J.
Carney, who live in Monticello and own and operate the weekly newspaper
based there – the Lawrence County Press. Our
eating stops, in just a couple of days, included Fat Mama’s Tamales,
Breaud’s, the Natchez Coffee Company, the Donut Shop, Mammy’s Cupboard
and Planet Thailand. My favorites were Fat Mama’s
Tamales (a pre-dinner snack) and Mammy’s Cupboard (country cooking at
lunch with banana caramel pie for dessert). But they were all very
good. We were stuffed the entire trip and just kept on eating. We
visited the historic Natchez City Cemetery and the Natchez National
Cemetery and drove by magnificent historic homes. We stopped by the Old
South Winery. Tours were not available at the time, but we enjoyed an
entertaining visit with one of the owners and a bit of sampling. Two days in beautiful Natchez are not enough. We want to go back.
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