Hi yáll!! It has been a while since I last blogged, so I thought I would give Captain Mark a breather. We arrived in Columbus Marina, Mississippi, after a full day of travelling along the Tenn-Tom Waterway, traversing 4 locks with gratefully, no issues. The scenery was beautiful in displaying its glorious crimson, amber and rusty fall colours against the limestone and orange rock and clay bluffs.
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| Fall Colours along the Tenn-Tom |
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| Loading a Bardge |
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| Cypress trees in the river. |
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| Appears to be fall basket planted in the river. |
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| Slanty Shanty viewing 2nd time. |
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| Slanty Shanty Interior View. |
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| Flora at Columbus Marina |
A great place to fuel up and a few days to rest and see the sights is welcome. It is a popular “looper” stop and we helped celebrate with “Sea Ya”, (whom we met during the day’s travels) in completing their loop. Champagne, cake and “loopers” – what a great combination!
We decided to rent a car from Enterprise. They pick you up, don’t you know! Right Candice ? What a deal – 4 days for $ 43.00 plus gas!
First stop downtown for lunch, but strangely many restaurants not open for Saturday lunch, but we did find Harvey’s (not the fast food place) where Mark bravely tried grits for the first time. “Not bad” was his comment. Next stop the Tennessee Williams House and Visitor’s Center. The childhood home of America’s leading playwright and creator of the Broadway hit “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”.
While in Columbus, Mississippi a tour of one of the historical antebellum mansions was a must for us and the Waverly Mansion (c…1852) turned out to be a great choice. The mansion’s tour guide, Melanie Snow who was the epitome of “Southern hospitality” and who lived at the estate was a marvellous storyteller who brought the grand house to life. The original plantation consisted of 50,000 acres of cotton, supportive buildings and 1000 slaves to operate it. The original family headed by Colonel George Hampton Young and wife had 10 children. The last surviving child, a bachelor son left his estate in 1913 to nieces, nephews and cousins. Apparently they argued for 50 years as to what would become of the mansion and during that time it sat derelict. The Snow family purchased it in the 1962 and has been painstakingly renovating it ever since and filling it with breathtaking antiques. What a wonderful tribute to their vision and hard work. What is truly remarkable is that during those 50 years of neglect, when the Waverly Mansion was constantly visited by curiosity seekers and college partiers, much of the estate, it is speculated, out of respect or protected by the ghost that apparently haunts the house, remained unharmed. Grand gold gilt mirrors still hung over beautiful marble fireplace mantles, windows left unbroken, ornate light fixtures still in place and the balusters in the magnificent 4 story twin stair cases still in tack, all but one. Unfortunately we were not allowed to photograph the interior of the mansion but were welcomed to take pictures of the marvellous gardens including the oldest living Magnolia tree (250-300 yrs.) in Mississippi, planted before the Waverly Mansion was built. Truly, it was an afternoon to remember.
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| Heron Mirror Reflection |
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| Mark at the Entrance of Waverly Mansion. |
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| Waverly Mansion (c...1852) |
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| Perspective on the oldest Magnolia tree in Mississippi |
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| Catholic Church in Columbus, Mississippi. |
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| Tennessee Williams Birthplace. |
We stayed 4 nights at the Columbus Marina and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. More sightseeing, shopping, church and now are ready to resume our travels. The night before leaving, a parade of looper buddies arrived, and of course docktails were quickly arranged. Wonderful to hear all the travel stories and hopefully will meet up with them again shortly.
Until next time
Terri
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