Memorial Day

We like to do something historic as a family to make Memorial Day special in honor of those who gave their lives for our freedoms.

So today we packed our Star Spangled Banner tablecloth and a lunch and headed down the Natchez Trace toward the town of Port Gibson. On the way we read the book From Sea to Shining Sea, which chronicles stories from the history of America. We imagined being pioneers headng westward toward the Great Missisippi River in our covered wagon like thousands of others which had gone before us by way of The Trace.

At one point we stopped at a creek where children from the nearby abandoned town of Rocky Ridge used to play. As we got out of the car we heard the steady beating of a small waterfall which we heard dropping below us. We all climbed down to it, and the boys had great fun exploring inside a caved grotto behind the falls.

When we reached Port Gibson we were welcomed by a sign stating that Ulysses S. Grant had declared this town "too pretty to burn," when his Federal troops landed there in 1862. So unlike so much of the South, it was spared.

The main street with its antebellum Bed and Breakfasts and aged churches is a treat, but the rest is somewhat shabby. That's ok. We really just wanted to see the Mississippi River, which ought to have been next to the port city.

It turns out the river used to be closer, but now it is several miles away, having changed its course considerably since Civil War days. So we drove to the state park next to the river, toured the historic buildings there and ate lunch all alone at a picnic table set in a wide open place circled by woods and overlooking the mighty Mississippi at a place, which would have been deep under water when Mr Grant visited.

Way across the rushing waters with its currents and surprising whitecaps, the trees on the opposite shore rose uninterrupted anywhere by signs of human life. A white speck on the far shore turned out to be a heron which Rob zeroed in on using the camera close up lens.

The amazing wide and gray river was alive and changing even as we sat watching it. A very memorable Memorial Day lunch for sure.