June 2, 2012

#85 Natchez Trace

Natchez Trace

The Natchez Trace is a 444 mile historical path that leads north from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee.  It follows a natural geologic ridge line that made it ideal for wildlife, Native Americans, and eventually European explorers and settlers to use for travel and transport.
101_3866

101_3868

101_3872

101_3874

101_3876

101_3879

This is were our vacation started to metaphorically go south.  I'd had some minor car problems.  One day the floor on the passenger side of the car was soaked, the car had been leaking when we came out of the Opry, and it had rained all day.  (The leak I had checked out in Memphis and it turned out to be condensation from the A/C ... whew!, but still stressful to deal with.)

As we pulled up the the visitors' center in Natchez, Cort exclaimed that we had new wet patches in the interior of the passenger foot well.  When I leaned over to look something was definitely leaking from under the dashboard.  It was about this time that I was officially done with sight seeing and ready to high-tail it to Texas.  I didn't want to disappoint Cort, though, so I tried to stick it out.  We went to the two plantation properties in Natchez that we'd talked about, Stanton Hall and Longwood.

Stanton Hall - 
101_3892
Stanton Hall is a Greek Revival mansion built in 1857 for Frederick Stanton, a cotton magnate.  The house has started to receive occasional original furnishing that members of the family have decided to donate.

101_3886

101_3885

101_3887

Longwood
101_3909
Longwood is the largest octogonal house in America and done in the "Oriental Villa" style.  It was designed and begun in 1860 for wealthy cotton planter Haller Nutt and his wife Julia by Philadelphia architect Samuel Sloan.  When the Civil War began, Sloan's Philly craftsmen fled north, unwilling to be caught in the conflict, so Nutt used local worker's to finish the basement living level.  Nutt died in 1864 - after both the the North and the South burned his fields and warehouses.  His wife, Julia, and their 8 children lived in the basement level until her death in 1897.  Julia, unfortunately, put what little money Haller left in a Confederate bank and lost everything.  She did manage to successfully sue the North for their destruction of Nutt's property and the settlement was able to pay the taxes on the property.

The mansion is maintained in its unfinished state as a reminder of the past glories and tragedies of the South.
101_3893

101_3895

101_3896

101_3897
Looking down into the finished basement.

101_3899
The house was supposed to have something like 20-ish fireplaces, but only 2 chimneys.  They were going to accomplish this by having flues that curved around the exterior walls.

101_3902

101_3906
It a porch swing for babies!

101_3907

101_3911

101_3913

101_3914

June 1, 2012

#84 Memphis Rib Joints

Memphis Rib Joints

We ate really, really well all during this vacation, definitely taking advantage of the delicious cuisine of the South.  Cort commented near the end of our trip that she didn't know how she could go back to eating at restaurants that don't have homemade mac and cheese on their menus, but in Memphis we ate especially well. 

The List mentions 3 BBQ joints and by process of elimination we ended up eating at Interstate BBQ our first night.

101_3845

101_3838

It was super good and a ton of food!  It was also in a neighborhood that I don't know if I'd chance after dark.  :-/
101_3839

101_3840

101_3841

One thing about Memphis - they love their BBQ Spaghetti.  That's right, BBQ Spaghetti.  

101_3844
Our waitress at Interstate was super great, and ended up giving us a small plate of the BBQ Spaghetti to try for free.  Good thing...neither of us ate more than a couple of bites.  It tasted oddly like mole sauce, or enchiladas.  It was just too weird for this gal.  *Also in the too weird for this gal category ... broccoli rabe!  (shout out to my Philly friends!)

After we got back to the hotel (with our commemorative Interstate cups) the front desk person and some random guy (who possibly worked there or was possibly just hanging around I'm not sure) asked about where we'd eaten and if we'd liked it.  Random Guy told us that we should try The BBQ Shop because he loves it and it is the only place he'll eat BBQ in Memphis.  He talked about it so glowingly that we did decide to try it the next day, and OMG!  THANK YOU RANDOM GUY!

I only took one picture because I was waaaaaay too busy eating the deliciousness to be bothered with photos.  
101_3847

Y'all, EAT AT THE BBQ SHOP IN MEMPHIS (it's in mid-town, just before downtown).  For further enjoyment it used to be called Dancing Pigs.
http://www.dancingpigs.com/history.asp