We spent a very quiet night in the CG.There were only three other campers in the section we are in. It has been very hot and the humidity has been making it very uncomfortable.
The road out of the CG is very interesting. It has several buildings that are falling apart and resembles a ghost town of sorts.
We were unable to get any info regarding the buildings in the area or why they have been abandoned and left to rot but sure looks like a ghost town to us.
We picked up our tickets at the Visitor Center and foolishly decided to walk to the first antebellum home, Rosalie. Although it was only a four block walk it was unbearably hot.
Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures of the inside.
LINK:
The bell that Ron had to ring!! It scared him and the people standing next to him. LOL
The interior of the home was nice but not as spectacular as we had expected. I guess we’ve been spoiled by the Newport Mansions.
We walked back to the car and drove to Stanton Hall.
We noticed that all of the antebellum homes have a similar footprint and look very much alike both outside and inside.Once again interior pictures were prohibited. And the interior looked much like Rosalie.
LINK:
The back of Stanton Hall was just as pretty as the front.
After leaving Stanton Hall we drove around Natchez and were impressed with other homes in the area as well.
Not too shabby either
These are all private residences
The majority of the streets in Natchez are one –way making it very difficult to get around. We wanted to find the memorial museum for the Rhythm Nightclub and had a heck of a time finding it.
LINK:
We drove around and up and down the same one-way streets for 1/2 hour before finally finding it. I mentioned the memorial plaque on the bluff by the gazebo in a previous post and how it piqued our interest so now we were going to get the details of the fire.
We pulled into the parking area and were immediately greeted by the proprietor , Monroe Sago. He made a point to come out to the parking lot and escort us into the museum.
He is very committed to keeping the memory of what happened that night on the same spot the museum is located. He originally bought the property to build a detail shop but when he found out that it was the location of the Rhythm Nightclub fire he decided to turn build a memorial instead.
He had no clue that such a tragic event had occurred on the property and after extensive research is the resident expert on the fire.
Inside was a pictorial history of the incident explaining how such a horrific event could occur. Again it was lack of fire codes, combustible decorations and only one way out. The decorative moss hanging from the ceiling was sprayed with a flammable bug repellent and it is believed that somehow a lit cigarette or match caught the hanging moss on fire. This resulted in tremendous loss of life and there is a belief that many more then 209 people perished that night.
Betty Sago arrived a while later and we watched videos of interviews with three of the survivors from the fire. (The oldest is now 97) It was sad to hear their stories but always brings to mind the importance of fire safety wherever large crowds congregate.
We spent more then two hours with Monroe and Betty and were impressed with their dedication to the project.
A small museum making a big impact in Natchez.
We had put in a good day seeing the sights and since everything closes down by 4:30 pm we headed back to the CG for the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment