Touring Mississippi - Day 2, Part 1

Mississippi River

 The second day was filled with some fun stops.  We briefly visited the Mississippi River, so we had to get a few pics of that. Layne and Katie pictured below:

I had to get at least one picture of Seth and Kelly doing this:

Man, it was fun watching them when it came to using their phones.  They used them for everthing, from getting driving directions, and most importantly, to find the best places to eat.  Oh, and ya can't forget to check out the restaurant reviews too - gotta know if the food is good or not.  :)  I've never met a couple who were so enthusiastic about enjoying great food as much as these two, and because of it, we ate really well throughout the trip, oh, and never got lost once.  (I think I gained quite a bit from us stuffing ourselves from all of that Southern cookin'...mmmm.)  Love you guys!  But I've learned that experiencing the local food plays it's own part in truly experiencing the lifestyle of any area you visit.   

One of my most anticipated stops of our trip was seeing the Windsor Ruins:

 The Windsor Ruins are located a half hour south of Vicksburg in the small town of Port Gibson.  The Windsor Ruins was a mansion built in 1859 that was taken over as a hospital and observatory by the Union Army during the Civil War.  The 34-year-old owner, Smith Daniell, who owned the mansion and plantation died just a few weeks after his home was completed.  His plantation once covered over 2,600 acres.

It was four stories tall with 25 rooms and 25 fireplaces.  The basement contained a school room, dairy, a doctor's office, and supply rooms.

This was a drawing done by a Union soldier, the only reference to what the mansion actually looked like:

You can see some of the balcony railings still attached between the 30 foot pillars:

Before the Union Army took over the home, the Confederate troops used the roof top for signal equipment to communicate Yankee advances.  A Yankee soldier was shot in the front doorway of the home.

Here is the front staircase to the mansion, which was later removed and taken to a nearby university museum:

 The staircase was in an old movie, Raintree County, which starred Elizabeth Taylor, above pic.

An old picture of the ruins:

The mansion later burned to the ground in 1890 when a guest left a lit cigar on a balcony, destroying the entirety of the home and all its contents.

We all took some time and explored the grounds.  Can you imagine having this as your backyard:

Me & Kelly:

You could tell where the roads throughout the plantation used to be, even with it all grown over with grass.

The guys found a ravine a way off:

Vines and overgrowth covered the forest trees.

We discovered a small house too, I wish we knew more about it. 

Look honey, my dream home!!

Jed now mimicking me:

Land surrounding the ruins:

Found another beautiful ravine:

I was thinking this would make a great club house for the kids or a place to go sit underneath the tree and read:

Bright, purple berries:

Jed picked some acorns for me because I thought they were so little and cute:

I like this photo cuz, if you look carefully, it looks like one of the trees is a big monster ready to snatch up Seth:

Finally convinced Jed to pose in front of the ruins:

Loved being able to see this piece of history, if you ever get a chance to visit Mississippi, don't miss this one!

Lot's more pictures coming up within the next few days....keep checking back!