Last morning in our little AirBnB in Gulfport. It was a great little house with 2 front doors? There were so many of these 2-front door houses, that we had to find out why. A little research later, and we learned that 2 door house was a sign of prosperity – you had enough rooms that guests would enter into a formal parlor and residents into the “front room.”

Our plan today was to travel back roads to Natchez and end the day in Vicksburg. So, to break up the drive, we started checking out our locations on the RoadsideAmerica app. One site caught our eye in Hattiesburg, Mississippi… the world’s tiniest museum known as The Hattisburg Pocket Museum. The story goes that the Pocket Museum started during Covid Lockdowns. The nearby Saenger Theater was closed due to Covid and the local convention commission was looking for a way to help people escape from the isolation of the lockdowns.

The group selected the nearby alley and created a few “miniature scenes” and the museum grew from there. Since its creation, the Pocket Museum has had over 300,000 visitors many of whom stick around to explore other parts of Hattiesburg. The tiny scenes are everywhere so you have really look to see them all.

Prepare for picture overload because this place was just AWESOME!

Absolutely worth the stop! Back on the road, Michael and I switched seats, and Mom’s Cafe was once again a mobile eatery.

RoadsideAmerica.com also suggested we check out The Malt Shop in Natchez, Mississippi. The Malt Shop has been in business for 70 years and the milkshakes were amazing!

I have been reading a book called “The Deepest South of All” about the town of Natchez, Mississippi. Natchez is home to the most antebellum mansions in all the United States. Natchez did all it could to remain neutral throughout the Civil War, and allowed Union troops to occupy homes without a fight. In return, the Union troops did not burn Natchez as they had other cities. The town is beautiful with at least 50% of the buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Every Spring the “Spring Pilgrimage” takes place where members of the Natchez Garden Club and the Pilgrimage Garden Club open up their old homes to visitors… in other words, its a glorified parade of home. Apparently in this little bit of the world, it is very important to be in the right garden club. Friendships and families have stopped speaking due to this. Clearly these women don’t have enough to do! 🤣 I couldn’t resist snapping a couple of photos of these ladies in their hats walking the Spring Pilgrimage. But in their defense, the houses were gorgeous.

Our next stop in Natchez was St. Mary’s Basilica and the surrounding garden. The cornerstone of the Basilica was laid on February 24, of 1842, and the first mass was held on December 25, 1843. I don’t know if the pictures can truly convey how gorgeous this place was. It was like stepping back in time. I cannot imagine going to check here every week.

And look, a plague!

Priest’s Prayer Garden:

Right outside the city limits of Natchez, we stopped for a small memorial called the Forks of the Road. Due to cholera outbreak prior to the Civil War, slave traders were forced out of the city limits. These traders then leased this plot of land to continue their brutal commerce. This small area became the second largest slave market in the deep South. One gentleman in Natchez was dedicated to preserving this site, and worked tirelessly to do so until, finally in 2018 this property was dedicated as the Natchez Historical Park. More buildings are planned, but for now this simple marker conveys the horror of this time.

As we drove on toward Vicksburg, Mike asked if we had time for another stop… yep, so off we went to a side adventure to find the Windsor Ruins. This is the site of the Windsor Plantation. The story goes that a successful cotton planter named Smith Coffee Daniell, II constructed this massive 23 room mansion in early 1861, and died a few weeks after construction was finished. An accident fire detroyed the house in 1890 leaving only these mammoth columns. A sketch of the house by a union solider was discovered by historians in 1991 and is thought to be the only drawing of the original house.

On the one lane road to and from Windsor Ruins, we passed this perfect little Presbyterian Church built in 1824. We wanted to make sure we got a picture as they celebrated their 200th birthday!

To round out our travel to Vicksburg, we drove for a while on the Natchez Trace… think of it like a Mississippi version of the Blue Ridge Parkway (without the mountains). It was beautiful.

Sidenote: We decided not to ship our fish home and instead, try to keep it frozen and ship it home with us… so we froze about 20 water bottles and froze the fish solid. Our last 2 hotels have full-size refrigerators in the rooms, so we can keep them frozen. But Mike and boys did a great job with the insulated packing…

Fish unpacked and back in the freezer, we had a little pool time to work off some energy.

Then it was off to Palmer’s for dinner… not sure what we will do next week without fresh seafood. Food was great, and you could keep you plastic cup with Palmers Seafood on one side and Palmers Maintenance on the other. We wanted t-shirts but they were sold out

Tomorrow is our last full day of Spring Break, so we’re checking out some history…both real and pop. Let’s see where the adventures lead…