Camping, Some Ruins, Bonnie & Clyde
Natchez State Park Camping
I started the weekend at Natchez State Park on Friday night. Humid and warm, but not bad once I was under the trees. I backed the Jeep in, unloaded, made the bed in the back, and boiled water for one of those freeze-dried pouches. Five minutes later it was dinner. They were better than they had any right to be.
I built a fire for the look of it, not the heat. String lights on. Pencil and paper out for a little writing. I turned in early. Saturday I had two bookstores to hit.
Rodney, Mississippi
Saturday morning I packed the Jeep and drove into Natchez. First stop was Dixon Books. I’d already talked with the owner; we both figured the Abandoned Mississippi series would sit well there. They were in the middle of a children’s reading event, so I dropped the books and didn’t linger.
I walked over to Natchez Coffee Co. for a cold brew, then pointed the Jeep toward Rodney.
Same road I always take. Same “Road Closed” sign. In my experience it was closed for regular vehicles, not for a Wrangler. It really wasn’t that bad. I just tell it worse when I’m talking to friends.
The Presbyterian church looked almost exactly as it had two years ago. Scaffolding still hid the front. I went in and signed the register like always. A shed snakeskin on a window ledge raised the alert level a notch. Someone had left the plastic off the piano, so I pulled it back down.
The Masonic temple across the way was barely visible under the vines. Looked like one good shove would finish it. The Baptist church was completely camouflaged in growth, with a fresh No Trespassing sign out front.
After a while I headed for Port Gibson.
Port Gibson and a Heavy Heart
Port Gibson has a few buildings I’ve wanted to photograph for years. One of them was Rollins Funeral Home. That window has closed. Through a boarded opening I could see the roof and upper floor had already dropped onto the first. I moved on with a heavy heart.
Next was the Bernheimer House. Built in 1901 by the town’s leading Jewish merchant family, it’s a wooden Arts and Crafts house with stained-glass and shell-mosaic gables, standing on the same ground Grant used as headquarters after the Battle of Port Gibson. It is now permanently closed. I shot the exterior and whatever I could see through the windows.
Across the street sits the old Mississippi National Bank from 1901. Same story. A few frames through the glass, then I pointed the Jeep toward Vicksburg. One more bookstore to go.
Vicksburg and Poverty Point
I drove into Vicksburg for Lorelei Books. She was out of town, but they took the books anyway. Coming through the riverfront downtown I was struck by how beautiful it was. Restaurants and shops lined the streets. The whole area had been revitalized. We have to come back here for a weekend.
I dropped the books, browsed a few minutes, then stepped into the Coca-Cola museum next door. I saved the tour for when we return. It was getting late, so I pointed the Jeep toward Poverty Point, a campground I’ve stayed at several times.
The Bonnie & Clyde Ambush Museum
Sunday I headed somewhere I’d been before. November 2017, last time. The Bonnie & Clyde Ambush Museum in Gibsland, Louisiana.
I made a couple of stops on the way — an old hotel and a drive-in theater — then pulled into Gibsland. The museum was exactly as I remembered. Walls covered in letters, poems, newspaper clippings. Guns. Hideouts mapped out. And a replica car they were ambushed in.
If you’re ever on I-20 through north Louisiana, it’s not far off the interstate.
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