On our hop on hop off tour we hit mostly boutiques, antique stores and historic sites. Some of the highlights of the tour were the Anchuca Mansion, Old Courthouse Museum and The Lower Mississippi River Museum. All of the stops were pretty close together so we mostly walked between stops.
Vicksburg originally belonged to the Natchez Indians until the French colonized the area and built Fort Saint Pierre in 1719. The Natchez Took their land back during the Natchez War destroying the fort and homes of the settlers. The French colonist teamed up with the Choctaw tribe, who were enemies of the Natchez, and ultimately defeated the Natchez. In 1790 the Spanish built a military outpost where Fort Saint Pierre was, Fort Nogales, but lost it to the Americans in 1798 and it became Walnut Hills. Vicksburg was incorporated in 1825 named after Newitt Vick. Vicksburg was lost to the Union during the Siege of Vicksburg. This was a major turning point in the war giving the Union complete control of the Mississippi River. Its high location made it impossible to attack.
The Anchuca Mansion is a 2-story Mansion built in 1830 as a Federal style mansion by a local politician, J.W. Mauldin. It was sold to a merchant 10 years later and remodeled to its current Greek Revival style. The house was converted to a hospital after the Siege of Vicksburg. Jefferson Davis’s brother, Joseph Emory Davis had owned the mansion for a short time and in 1869 Jefferson Davis gave his one of his last public addresses to Vicksburg on the balcony of this mansion. Currently the Anchuca Mansion is a Bed and Breakfast and gives daily tours. The Balcony is one of the main attractions of the tour.
The Old Courthouse Museum is a very interesting landmark and one that I would consider a must see. Many famous trials were conducted here and it houses artifacts from Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Theodore Roosevelt. They have a crazy amount of art, flags, clothing, toys and furniture on display. This Courthouse was built by the Weldon brothers in 1858 and the property was donated to Vicksburg by Newitt Vick-- It took 2 years to complete.
The Lower Mississippi River Museum is the only museum site to house a fully restored dry docked riverboat, The M/V Mississippi IV. Before the river boat was decommissioned it was a towboat that delivered supplies and equipment to project sites along the Mississippi River. Museum guests have access to all 4 levels of the ship, the main deckhouse, second deckhouse, Texas deckhouse and the pilot house. It took us forever to explore the vessel, longer than the actual museum.
We visited the Coca-Cola museum then headed back to the boat for lunch and back out again on our own to visit an antique store and a few other boutiques at our own. This was the site of the first Coca-Cola bottling center. My sister and I headed back before the rest of our group and lounged around before dinner.
Tonight’s show was a solo show by one of the resident musicians of the ship. He told us a few stories and performed songs that he was exposed to growing up and were meaningful to him. His set list consisted of Yesterday, a harmonica instrumental of Shenandoah, Blowin’ In The Wind, A Boy Named Sue, an original song by his band Astoria Boulevard, Leaving On A Jet Plane, Puff The Magic Dragon, Ponch and Lefty, Take It Easy, You Never Even Called Me By My Name, American Girl, Born to Run and ended with This Land Is Your Land.
After the show we went straight to our rooms for bed.
Today has been a very long day. Good thing we don’t have anything planed for tomorrow. I get to sleep in!
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