To Natchez

We just spent a couple of days in Natchez, Mississippi, a wonderful old city about three hours away on the east side of the Mississippi River.  (Thanks to Thade Rachwal for recommending it.)  We were able to rent a pet-friendly little house just south of town.

On the way we stopped at The Myrtles, a pretty plantation house north of Baton Rouge.

Detail of verandah ironwork at The Myrtles 

A club of Miata lovers was having lunch at the restaurant there.  Our friend Cathy Nasmith would have fit right in.

Natchez, on a high bluff commanding views of the mighty river, was founded by the French in 1716 and was the first capital of Mississippi.  But it really came into its own in the early/mid-nineteenth century as a busy port for the export of cotton.  While there are no plantations close by -- the land is better across the river on the Louisiana side -- many plantation owners (or planters) preferred the higher ground around Natchez as the location for their mansions and estates.  Just before the Civil War, Natchez had the most millionaires per capita of any city in the U.S.

Mississippi River from Natchez, looking north

Mississippi River from Natchez, looking southwest

Fortunately for its architectural heritage Natchez emerged from the war pretty much unscathed.  With the cotton and steamboats long gone, that heritage, and the tourism it draws, underpins the local economy.