A vacation is like love – anticipated with pleasure, experienced with discomfort, and remembered with nostalgia.
Author Unknown
Kathy and I are on our way for a 12 day road trip through the southern part of the United States. History is everywhere and we both really enjoy getting off the beaten path, taking a somewhat non-traditional vacation and just exploring and discovering. Here is our tentative (always subject to change if something more interesting or meaningful pops up) itinerary for the trip.
Departing from Minneapolis Minnesota.
We will spend the first night in the Mormon city of Nauvoo Illinois. In late 1839 arriving Mormons bought the small town of Commerce and in April 1840 it was renamed Nauvoo by Joseph Smith founder of the Latter Day Saint movement (Mormon religion). 1844 marked a turning point for the Mormons, Smith was attacked and killed by a mob. At the time Smith was the mayor of Nauvoo and also running for the President of the United States. He was killed while jailed in nearby Carthage Illinois. Neither Kathy nor I are Mormons (Kathy is Catholic and dutifully suffers levels of guilt that only other Catholics can understand. I’m somewhat agnostic but the Buddhist philosophy makes a lot of sense to me). We both find the history of the Mormon church and Joseph Smith fascinating beyond belief.
Our next major destination will be Vicksburg Mississippi – lots of civil war history there. Kathy had two great great grandfathers in the Union forces at Vicksburg (shame they were on the wrong side; I grew up in Virginia and South Carolina). On the way to Vicksburg we will make a detour through Money Mississippi (population 155). Emmet Till (young black teenager from Chicago) was murdered in this small town. This was one of the defining moments in the civil rights movement in the South. The store in which Emmet was accused of acting inappropriately towards a white woman is still standing. Emmet Till was beaten beyond recognition but his mother insisted on having an open casket public funeral.
After visiting Vicksburg we are heading over to Natchez Mississippi. Natchez is one my favorite undiscovered towns in the South. Natchez had more antebellum millionaires who made their fortune from cotton than any other city in the South. Consequently the town has many beautiful antebellum southern mansions.
We then are heading up the Natchez Trace. The Natchez Trace (450 miles in length) starts in Nashville Tennessee and ends in Natchez Mississippi. It was originally a buffalo trail and is laden with history (prehistoric, Indian and early American including the civil war). Many interesting side trips are available along the way. Two civil war battlefields will be visited: Shiloh and Brice’s Crossing. Kathy loves to tramp around these historical sites. For me, civil war battlefields are somewhat part of a collective experience. If you’ve seen one you have seen them all. I will probably take an abbreviated tour of each then head back to the tourist center find a comfortable chair to do some relaxing and reading.
Another side trip will be to Tuscumbia Alabama, the hometown of Helen Keller. A truly inspirational figure. If someone who started out life deaf, dumb and blind can be happy and productive. Our puny little excuses for not living life fully pale in comparison.
Our last stop on the Natchez Trace will be Nashville. We will have dinner with some of Kathy’s online friends (genealogical research buddies).
In our living room at home, we have an oil painting of my great grandfather (Dabney Carr Harrison) who was killed in the civil war at Fort Donelson. We also have his diary that he carried onto the battlefield and records his last words before he died. We plan to visit Fort Donelson Tennessee, find his gravesite and pay our respects.
Two years ago we visited Normandy Beach in France where the allied invasion took place in World War Two. Obviously fascinating and profoundly moving. The most intense and emotional moment for me was visiting a small chapel that tended the wounded (Germans and Americans) while the battle was being fought and the violence raged. Sitting on the bloodstained pews that were used for the wounded soldiers is unforgettable. I’m not sure the horrors of war should ever be forgotten and thus explains our final visit .
Our last stop before we head home will be the Carnton Plantation (Franklin Kentucky) in which one of the beautiful old antebellum houses was converted into a civil war field hospital. The floors are still stained with blood from the wounded confederate soldiers. A wounded young soldier raised on the plantation requested to be brought home and died in the room where he was born. It’s way too easy to romanticize the civil war, forgetting the many who suffered and died.
I’m not sure you can categorize this as a “fun” vacation but it will certainly be a memorable one.
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
This sounds like a fascinating conversation Riley! Will you be posting photos of all these interesting stops you’ll be making! It must have taken some planning to put this together. I’d love to hear more!
Lori
Lori Gosselin recently posted..What’s Your Favourite Food Memory?
Hi Lori,
I wish I could take credit for the planning, but I can only take credit for marrying the right woman.
I’m always reluctant to post pictures because I’m not sure that what I find interesting and compelling will be of much interest to others but I will keep you posted if I find any places that sell really good Port. Hope all is going well for you.
Riley
riley harrison recently posted..TRAVEL – DISCOVERING YOU ARE NOT THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE
Hi Riley,
I think a nice light read for your trip (or someday) would be Harry Turtledove’s novel for teens, The Disunited States of America. I’m still at page 70. It takes place in the south, in “Virginia.” There is no West Virginia. It’s an alternate world, a hundred years in the future, where the US constitution was never ratified. They have computers, but are only about at the year 2000, or less, economically. The girl, who rolls her R’s a bit, is from California which has a modest space program and no racism. She is visiting with her granny. The boy is secretly from a timeline like ours, so he has to pretend to be racist in order to fit in. He notices things like no dutch elm or chestnut blight, and of course no Military and Interstate Highway System. (In our own timeline, the “Military and” part was to get around the US constitution forbidding such autobahns.)
They get stuck when a “war” is declared because of conflicting interests in the trade for coal… Man, so much war comes down to economics, eh?
As for war, I concur with your sentiments. My favourite modern poet, Alden Knowlen, once wrote a poem where he felt upset when he was showing an 1812 soldiers’ grave and the tourists were smiling.
And if I feel any jealousy at your trip, well, I’ll just have to plan a teensy trip of my own. Thank you for all the details. Have fun!
sean crawford recently posted..Sex and Surprise
Sean,
It sounds like an interesting book, I will have to check it out. Amazon’s Kindle is a godsend when traveling; you never have to worry about running out of reading material. Books are just a click away.
Riley
riley harrison recently posted..TRAVEL – DISCOVERING YOU ARE NOT THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE
And the south shall rise again suh…….:).
There is certainly nothing ‘civil’ about war, but the Civil War fascinated me as well. I had some relatives of some renown who fought for the south. When you and I were born, it had been less than 100 years that we fought each other. That seems crazy to believe we as a nation would do that, but it was true. And some of the battles were just brutal in the carnage.
Have fun, I’m sure you will have a memorable time.
Bill Dorman recently posted..Excuse me, I’m talking here…part Deux…
Hey Bill,
Plan on having a really good time. Being from the South I always say that the North might have won the war, but the southern generals were a hell of lot more fun to read about.
Riley
riley harrison recently posted..TRAVEL – DISCOVERING YOU ARE NOT THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE
I am also looking forward for the pictures you will be taking. Share us some please?
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Great read, and sounds like an enlightening trip. It’s funny because I too grew up mostly in Virginia, and also find Mormon history just fascinating. I haven’t taken a trip around all the sites in the south, but have found my way around plenty of Civil War battlegrounds in Virginia. I would also like to make the trip to Normandy one day as well as that’s something that cannot be matched anywhere else in the world. Thanks for sharing!