Natchez Mississippi
Natchez Mississippi |
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
I adore camellias. In St. Louis I have to make a special trip to the Missouri Botanical Gardens in order to see camellias. I always feel so happy and privileged after such a visit. To have just a little time exposed to such exquisite beauty intoxicates me. The next week back at work I manage to find any excuse to tell my colleagues the camellias are in bloom at the Gardens and they must go see them. All together we have maybe a dozen and a half camellias at the Gardens in St. Louis. In Natchez in the early Spring camellia blossoms are everywhere you look. I've walked through the streets of Natchez giddy with delight -- Natchez is a garden and the Princess of the Mississippi. Just the FactsNOTE: The data that follows is from the U.S. Census Bureau. Comparative data for the U.S. at large and for the St. Louis metro area are presented to establish perspective. St. Louis was chosen because it is the largest city on the river as well as smack dab in the middle.
Natchez's location is strategic. Because of its protected access to the river Natchez quickly became an important shipping site for the cotton and other agriculture products that the surrounding plantations produced. When Mississippi became a state, Natchez was the logical choice for the state capitol. In the 100 years before the Civil War Natchez grew into an economic power center of the South. Ostentatious wealth was its hallmark. Today it remains the best place to view that segment of the Old South's history preserved and maintained as a classic American tourist trap. In the city alone there are over a dozen restored antebellum plantation houses -- most of which can be toured during the city's annual Spring and Fall Pilgrimages -- tourist events extraordinaire that last for a month and include "the works" right up to a Confederate Ball staged four times a week.
The river at Natchez is broad and strong. Brownish-blue under a sunny sky or slate gray under clouds, the Mississippi is now the Old Man of ledgend. The view looking up river from the Natchez bluffs is a real kick in the pants -- America's mighty river -- the Old Man is majestic. A 50 thousand ton tow appears to be little more than a bathtub toy as it rounds the bend. I could stand there for hours just watching the river. I feel secure in its constancy, protected by its strength, humbled by its majesty and proud by my association with the Old Man. |
The official Natchez city website describes Natchez with this opening sentence: "Natchez, Mississippi, perched 200 feet above the Mississippi River on the highest promontory north of the Gulf of Mexico, is the oldest civilized settlement on the river - older by two years than New Orleans." Well, given the adjective "civilized" in that sentence and, given Natchez's preoccupation with the culture of the antebellum South, I can understand how the town's folk may be inclined to offer argument to support such nonsense, but the fact is, that, although located north of the Mason Dixon line, there were certainly settlements along the Mississippi that are older than Natchez. I can drive ten minutes from my home here in St. Louis to Chokia Illinios where Holy Family church still stands on the site of the original church built in 1699. (I think building a town church, even a mission as this was, is sufficient evidence of the kind of civilization the people of Natchez have in mind). Natchez claims 1716 for a founding date. Apart from accuracy, Natchez has a special relationship with its history, and I have a problem with Natchez and its history, which I'd like to address on a 
Natchez owes its importance to geography. As the Mississippi River leaves Memphis and flows out into the Delta it leaves behind any protected high ground. In the days before effective levees were built, living in the Delta meant living with periodic floods and occasional catastrophic floods. At Vicksburg the bluffs return to the east bank of the river in a very important 160 mile stretch that extends from Vicksburg to Baton Rouge. Natchez is right in the middle of this section of bluffs along the river. During high water in the Mississippi the people of Natchez can look down at the roiling river from atop their bluff with dry feet and a self-congratulatory smile. Their problem is to stop the Mississippi from eroding away the base of their hill. In fact, as I write this, the Army Corps of Engineers are hard at work on a construction project to shore up the bluffs at Natchez and stop the Mississippi from claiming any more of the city park that edges the bluffs.
I despise tourist traps, but I can't despise Natchez. In fact I have a number of reasons for wanting to dislike Natchez, and when I haven't visited for a number of months I can sometimes start to convince myself that I dislike the place. However, that lasts about sixty seconds once I drive back into town. Natchez is irresistibly beautiful. It typically makes it to the top of those various lists of "best place to live in America" and "most attractive U.S. city," etc., and although I'm not likely to agree with the people who make those lists, in this case I raise no contest. Even the gambling casino at Natchez is attractive (river boat photo above). Were I given the chance to live anywhere along the river I wanted, I would think real hard about Red Wing Minnesota, Navoo Illinois, Memphis Tennessee and St. Francisville Louisiana. Then I'd move to Natchez. It's not just the flowers, although I promise you Spring in Natchez has no rival. It's the climate, it's the people, it's the view, it's the culture, it's the food, it's the history, it's the character of the city. The city architecture is splendid. Natchez's position high on a bluff overlooking the river is downright dramatic. The view of the river stirs your imagination. Being a solidly southern city, the people of Natchez know how to cook -- the food is great -- I can have grits with my breakfast and a bottle of Tabasco for my eggs -- the way it's susposed to be. Natchez is superficially perfect.
As I was saying Natchez has a special relationship with its history. Natchez is its history. The people of Natchez have committed the city to preserving the culture of the antebellum South -- albeit sanitized. They have also done a fair job preserving the history of the Native Americans who occupied the river bluffs before European settlement. Natchez in this regard is most important. The last remnants of the Mississippians (see Cahokia Illinois) whose empire had stretched across the central and south central U.S. were living in Natchez when the French arrived. The Mississippians did not have a written language and so this one encounter with French explorers is very important to our understanding of their culture. We have the written accounts those settlers made of their observations about the Natchez. Unfortunately the French military commander of Fort Rosalie (M. de Chopart), attempted to seize land the Natchez considered sacred. In the Fall of 1729 the Natchez massacred the French settlers and military personnel. The French retaliated with force in kind and so extermiated the last of the Mississippian civilization. (One of the more classic cases of clueless, "civilized" pigs running rough-shod over another culture's beliefs and practices with incalculable damage as the result).