Author: Tincan Travels

During the early 1900’s cotton plantations dominated the Delta area. Large cotton gins bought and processed cotton to be shipped north for milling. Sharecroppers worked the land-and the work was hard. The Dockery farm was one of the largest and was home to Charlie Patton, considered to be influential in the early development of the Delta style.

The “Gin”

Charlie Patton wrote the song “Pea Vine Blues” about a train that ran from the Dockery farm through several neighboring towns. Howling’ Wolf, Willie Brown and Tommy Johnson all traveled the Pea Vine with Charlie.Hopson Farm was one of the first farms in the Delta to fully mechanize the planting and harvesting of cotton. Pianist Pine Top Perkins drove tractor at Hopson’s. It’s said that he taught Ike Turner to play while at Hopson. After mechanization many musicians left the Delta and made their way north.

The Sunflower River runs though the county and through downtown Clarksdale – which is having a bit of a renaissance. We spent a few days exploring the town and traveling the backroads. Our base of operations was a Casino parking lot on the Misssissippi River 30 minutes from town. (Full hook-up)Cat Head Records and folk art shop is a hub of activity. The owner Roger Stolle works very hard with the community to promote the blues to visitors and locals alike. They sponsor a juke joint festival the second weekend in April.

Clarksdale boasts having the Delta Blues Museum. This has been an ongoing project that works hard to promote and preserve the collective memory of the blues. Sorry, no photography allowed in the museum. They were pretty adamant about it. They have a great collection of memorabilia which includes Muddy Waters shack from the Stovall Plantation. The shack was where Alan Lomax first recorded Muddy in the early 1940’s.

No trip to Clarksdale is complete with out a trip to a juke joint. We chose Red’s Lounge to listen to Anthony “Big A” Sherrod and Allstars. Red’s can hold maybe fifty people and it was packed the night we where there. The patrons were a mix of locals and out of town folks. The band was excellent.

It was a fun evening.

While the Delta area is still mired in poverty, there are lots of entrepreneurs looking to improve the quality of life. There is an after school arts program and coffee roaster that employs local young people and decorates the town with art. New and old restaurants share the clientele that the Blues Trail promotions have brought.

And of course– just outside of town — the Crossroads

Our first stop in the delta was Leroy Percy State Park. This park has a small lake and acres of woods surrounding the campground. We heard owls every night. This small park put us in position to explore the towns of Greenville, Indianola, Leland, Greenwood and in striking distance of Robert Johnson’s grave.

One day we headed to Greenwood for some lunch at Steven’s BBQ. The brisket was excellent. Our goal was to locate Johnson’s grave in a small cemetery on Money Road. On the way out of town we crossed the Tallahatchie River.And we saw this guy throwing something off the bridge. We found Money Road and Little Zion Church where Robert Johnson’s grave was located. Well, it’s actually one of three graves purported to be his final resting place. The research we did led us to believe that this site was the most likely grave site.

We had never been to the Delta before. This area is the ancient floodplain of the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. It’s mile after mile of vast cultivated fields.

It starts just south of Memphis and ends at Vicksburg, about 200 miles long by 70 miles at it’s widest point. Ninety percent of the area was a virgin swamp forest full of wolves, alligators, bears, panthers, snakes and insects until after the Civil War. The swamp was cleared by previously enslaved people to get at the rich soil. Vast fortunes for a few were made here. It also became home to some of the most influential music this country has ever produced.

Further on down the road we found the remains of Bryant’s Grocery. This is the infamous location where Emmett Till had his fatal encounter. The original doors have been removed and are on display @ the Civil Rights Museum in Jackson.

The Delta is dotted with towns and hamlets where early blues musicians plied their craft. B.B. King got his start in Indianola where you’ll find his museum and grave site.

This is the corner where a 17 year old Riley B. King would play for tips on Saturday nights.

Near Greenville you’ll find the hamlet of Leland. Johnny and Edgar Winter hail from Leland and although they lived in Texas – they spent summers visiting their grand parents in Leland. You will also find the Highway 61 Blues Museum. The museum is a mix of photographs, stage outfits, autographed instruments and folk art. The surprise attraction was Pat “Cat Head” Thomas, blues performer and artist. We spent an enjoyable hour listening to him play and tell stories.We left Leland and went in search of one of the more well known Juke Joints in the area, Poor Monkey Lounge. The proprietor passed away three years ago but was legendary for making sure the good times rolled.

After a few days we moved up the Delta in search of the Crossroads. Perhaps a deal can be made.

When we planned this trip last year we knew we were traveling along the Mississippi River from NOLA to Chicago. So when the new Civil Rights Museum opened in Jackson, we included it on our itinerary.The museum is a comprehensive look at race relations in Mississippi with a focus on the 20th century. We were impressed with the honest telling of this history, no whitewash here. The museum is set up with a central hub with exhibit halls radiating from it.

It felt like the museum was making an attempt to validate the experiences of Black Mississippians while starting a healing process in Mississippi. Certainly Mississippi as well as the rest of the country have a long way to go but this museum is a positive step. We had the opportunity to meet and speak with a Jackson native who was arrested when the Freedom Riders rolled into Jackson. He was thirteen and was held on death row at Parchment Farm. No bitterness or hate, he was just grateful to be alive and still able struggle against racism.

The Civil Rights Museum is right next to the Mississippi State History Museum. It takes a few hours to get through the Civil Rights Museum. We took a break from that and went into a display of quilts made in Mississippi. The exhibit was called “Stories Unfolded”. Those stories went from the early 1800’s to the present.Most of the quilts were hand quilted. Amazing detail work.

We set up camp at Lefleurs Bluff State Park. The park is a large green space surrounded by suburban sprawl.

Our backyard

The park put us in position to investigate some Jackson neighborhoods. We had lunch and explored the Fondren neighborhood. This is an up and coming neighborhood with a food coop, restaurants and art galleries.

“Bubba”(really), who we met at the art gallery, recommended that we explore the Belhaven neighborhood. What lovely homes!! Eudora Welty’s house and gardens were in the neighborhood. They were closed for the day but we did have a look around.

We’ve been enjoying our stay in Mississippi. We’ve met so many friendly and helpful folks. The Mississippi we’ve encountered does not comport with it’s northern stereotype.

We left Jackson by way of 49W on our way to the Crossroads of the Delta.This petrified wood is in a small park in Flora-just north of Jackson. The driftwood logs were buried in mud about 36 million years ago and have eroded from the banks of the ravine.

Next stop:The Blues Highway.

We left New Orleans anxious to explore a part of the country we had not visited, the Mississippi River Delta. Our explorations started in Natchez MS.We set up camp about 20 minutes outside of town at Natchez State Park.

The location put us close to the Natchez Trace, Mississippian Mounds and Vicksburg.

The Natchez Trace is 450 mile plus trail system that connects the bluffs of the Mississippi River to the hills of Tennessee. These trails have been in use for thousands of years, first by Native Americans and later by European settlers. You can still walk on parts of the original Trace and add your footprints to thousands that previously walked the paths.In 1938 a parkway was constructed to commemorate the the original Trace. Now instead of walking you can drive the 444 miles from Southwest Mississippi to Tennessee. The Parkway allows for easy access to a number of ancient mound sites. These mounds where constructed as sacred places by the ancestors of the modern day Natchez, Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians. We visited the Emerald Mound (the second largest of the Mississippian mounds north of Mexico).It’s an impressive structure constructed by hand starting in AD 1350. The view from the top where the tribe’s leader would have built his house.

We traveled the Trace up toward Vicksburg and visited a number of historic sites along the way.

Mount Locust Inn and Plantation is one of the oldest structures in the area. It was built in 1780. As traffic on the Trace increased with the influx of settlers, the owners started to feed and house travelers creating one of the few inns on the Trace. The slave cemetery was a stark reminder of how this country was built.

The Mississippi River was of vital importance to both the North and the South. The Union needed to control the river to allow troops and supplies to pass into the South. The Confederates also needed the river for supplies and recruits. By late summer of 1862 only Vicksburg and Port Hudson LA blocked Union control of the Mississippi. After fierce fighting and a siege of 46 days the Union prevailed. Close to 20,000 died during the battle and siege. Touring the the park will take between three and five hours. We arrived late in the day and really just got a quick overview. Battery De GolyerThe Park has over 1,000 monuments commemorating state battalions and officers who participated in the battle. This is the Illinois memorial.

Also on display was the resurrected remains of the Union ironclad gunboat Cairo. The boat was sunk in 1862 with an electrically detonated torpedo. We toured a Confederate ironclad in Kinston NC which made for an interesting comparison.

On the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River sits the town of Natchez. Before the Civil War the area was home to more millionaires then any other place in the US. That wealth was generated by the thriving cotton plantations. Many of these planters were investors from the North who came to Natchez to make their fortunes. Instead of living on the plantations they used slave labor to build homes near the river.

We enjoyed walking the grounds of these antebellum homes and admiring the gardens.

This home was built on the bluff after the Civil War and was one of our favorites.

We enjoyed wandering and reading the many historical markers explaining the towns long history.

As always we like to checkout the local flavor of wherever we find ourselves. Steampunk Coffee served up excellent coffee and conversation. Highly recommend. Sorry no photos. It was across the street from the local brewery where our conversations continued. Highway 61 continues up the backbone of Mississippi and we’re on it.

We left Florida’s Panhandle and headed straight to New Orleans and the French Quarter Festival. We like to park the Tin Can on the west bank of the Mississippi River at Bayou Segnette State Park.

Our front yard

This park allows us easy access to the Algiers Point ferry that takes you across the Mississippi and deposits you in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

Louis Armstrong greets you as you enter the ferry terminal.

We love exploring NOLA by bicycle and checking out new neighborhoods. This trip we discovered the Lafitte Greenway. This bike path allowed access to City Park, the New Orleans Museum of Art and a chance to check out the Bayou St. John neighborhood.

Some of Carlos Rolon’s work as seen at NOMA.

During our last visit we heard about the French Quarter Festival- four days of free music on 12 stages. The focus is on New Orleans musicians. It sounded like our kind of festival.

Three of the larger stages are set up along the river. During the first day of the festival we started smelling diesel fuel but couldn’t identify the source. Turns out a ship docked to hard and punctured its fuel tank. We found this out when the ferry was canceled. The clean up

The music is nonstop from 11am to 9pm. That’s a long line to sit in one place. There is so much going on in the streets that needed to be checked out.Magic on the streetWait in line for fresh beignets

Lots of excellent street musicans

And then there was this guyYes, he did land it.

New Orleans has a jazz museum housed in an old Federal Mint near the French Market. There was an exhibit of iconic jazz images by Herman Leonard. A terrific exhibit. The museum also had some interesting artifacts on display. Fats Domino’s piano

Louis Armstrong’s first coronet

There was also a fabulous display of Mardi Gras Indian costumes. The costume takes a year to construct and is used for only one Mardi Gras season. But our New Orleans visit was more than just music and history. There are lots of neighborhoods to explore and this time we chose to revisit some old favorites and check out some new ones. The Garden district has some beautiful homes and as we missed out on a tour of the Lafayette Cemetery last visit, we made a point to tour it this time.

Since we were nearby, we wandered over to the Irish Channel neighborhood for lunch. Bon Appetite’s choice for restaurant of the year is located on Jackson Ave.

The jasmine was in bloom and scented the air everywhere. After an afternoon of wandering, we bellied up to two for one cocktails and conversation with the locals @ Barrel Proof Whiskey Bar. (We had too much fun to document that though.)There’s always something to celebrate in NOLA.

And no trip to NOLA is complete without a Levy on the Levee.

We thought we were done with Florida but things happen. The last two times we headed West from Florida we tried unsuccessfully to procure a camp spot on the National Seashore. This year’s plan was to head to Alabama and camp on the Gulf. Out of curiosity, we checked the Natioal Seashore website and found there was one spot available on the days needed. We grabbed it. We spent two nights here and realized that we’ll need to head back at some point to explore the area more completely. What we did find during our stay was miles of white sand beaches and crystal clear turquoise water and an abundance of wildlife.

The beach was a five minute walk from camp, across the dunes on a boardwalk.

This guy made sure we stayed on the boardwalk when we crossed the dunes.Both evenings we walked the beach we watched schools of Rays riding the waves into shore eating as they went. Quite a show.The beaches are as deserted as they look. One evening we had to share the beach with this guy.

This Park is across the bay from Pensacola and has a long military history. Fort Pickens is located a couple of miles from the campground along the Florida Scenic Trail.

We saw lots of birds along the trail. Particularly impressive were the numerous Osprey.

But it’s also fun to see the familiar as well. Fort Pickens is a brick and mortar structure competed in 1834(construction was done primarily by slaves) and remained in use until 1947. From 1886 to 1887 Geronimo was held prisoner here. The Fort was active in Mexican- American War, Civil War, Spanish American War and the two World Wars.

The Blue Angels are based across the bay from the Fort and practice every Tuesday. We weren’t there for practice but did see them fly over the campground in formation. For us the attraction of this area is the the beach and wildlife.

While we didn’t see many people there was evidence that we weren’t alone.

Hopefully, we have the opportunity to come back for a longer stay.

This is one of our favorite cities on the east coast and being able to camp 25 minutes from town makes it irresistible.We stay in Skidaway Island State Park. The campground is tucked into a beautiful Live Oak hammock near hiking/biking trails.

We have visited Savannah numerous times but this visit was special. Pat’s sister Doty and her partner Carroll meet up with us during their first trip in their new camper. We had a blast exploring the area.

On Tybee Island

Hiking Skidaway Island

Forsyth Park

The Savannah Music Festival was happening during our stay so we spent a few days wandering downtown and attending a few performances. The festival is international in scope including a wide range of genres. We listened to African music, Jazz, Fado and attended a shadow puppet performance.Derek Gripper of South Africa

Jenny Scheinman’s Mischief & Mayhem (Todd Sickafoose, Niles Cline and Jim Black)Etienne Charles performing his Gullah Roots suite.

Manual Theater

Savannah is both beautiful and historical. The city is laid out as a grid with public squares interspersed. The squares began their lives as areas for grazing livestock. Today they feature gardens and monuments.

This is an old city which oozes history.

From this balcony General Lafayette addressed the citizens of Savannah in 1825. This cemetery contains the remains of a signer of our Declaration of Independence and numerous veterans of the Revolutionary War.

The Owens-Thomas House

Savannah is also a great restaurant town. One of our favorites is The Grey, housed in a former Greyhound Bus Station. We had the oyster stew and the “Blue Plate Special”.

Photos courtesy of Carroll

We just liked the sign.The former A.S. Varn & Son Oyster and Crab Factory

A couple of miles from the campground you will find the Pinpoint Heritage Museum. The museum is located on the site of a former oyster and crab factory, the main employer in the Pinpoint community for 60 years. The community is made up of Gullah/Grechee people, the direct descendants of slaves brought here from Central and West Africa. After emancipation these former slaves were able to purchase the land on Pinpoint and approximately 90% of the land is still owned by their descendants. It’s a fascinating history and well worth a visit if you’re in the area.

We spent our last evening @ camp visiting with a couple whose blog we follow. Laurel and Eric were visiting the area and we made plans to meet for dinner. It was great to finally meet someone whose blog has helped plan many of our trips. We had a fun time but forgot to take a photo. Here is a link to their blog.

http://ravenandchickadee.com/

The last time we were in Florida we camped on St. George Island just across from the town of Apalachicola. We liked the area and people kept telling us that the beaches of Cape San Blas just a bit further west on the gulf were even nicer. So this time we reserved a spot at J.H Stone State Park on St. Joe’s Peninsula.Here it’s all about the sand. The campground is tucked into the sand dunes and is about a three minute walk to the Gulf beach.

A nature trail wanders from the campground through a pine forest in the dunes to the bay side of the peninsula. There are lots of birds- we saw an eagle hunting by the bay and jays and cardinals made a daily visit to our site.

Gallberry blooms

For us the most fun was on the gulf beach. We never made it to the tip of the peninsula because beachcombing for shells and the soft sugar sand kept us slowly following the 7 mile beach.

Watching the shore life is really fun…but sometimes it’s fun to get your feet wet and enjoy the view.

You wouldn’t expect to find a beautifully sculpted cave in Florida. Most of it’s caves are far below the surface and filled with water, but in northwest Florida there is a wonderful small cavern in a state park.

We stopped at Florida Caverns State Park to checkout a part of Florida that was unknown to us. It felt good to be camped in the forest and it’s Spring!!The cavern is located in a floodplain of the Chipola River system. Instead of palm trees there is a mix of pine, tupelo cypress, southern magnolia, sweet gum mixed in with palmetto and an abundance of wildflowers.

The Park offers a number of multi use trails that allowed us to explore the surrounding woods. We saw a variety of flowers blooming. Atamasco Lily

Wild Phlox

???Columbine

And some fauna as well.

While touring the cave a fellow spelunker told us about the highest waterfall in Florida. A waterfalls in Florida? We needed to check this out for ourselves. Here it is in all its glory(76 feet tall). This is where a stream drops into a sinkhole and disappears into a cave. Speaking of high points, we also visited Britton Hill- the highest natural point of Florida. At 345 feet it’s actually the lowest state highpoint in the US. You may not know that there is an organization of high point enthusiasts. These folks visit all 50 state high points. Not many people can claim all 50 but we actually have a handful under our hiking shoes.

It was so easy to get to this highpoint that we decided to hike the park trails.

After a few days in the woods we are heading back to the Gulf coast for more beach time.

After a week in the Keys we moved up the Atlantic Coast of Florida and settled in at Jonathan Dickinson State Park just north of Jupiter.Site 114 in the River Campground

Camping is hard work.

The Park features a nine mile network of mountain bike trails. Great fun.The Park also offers lots of wild life viewing opportunities. We spent every morning checking on the Bald Eagle nest along the paved bike path. A fifteen week old eaglet and its mom made for some must see birding(sorry, no photos). But there were other wildlife sightings as well.

The Park is home to Hobe Hill- the highest point(86 ft) in Florida south of Lake Okeechobee.Part of our motivation for making a stop in Jupiter was to connect with Pat’s High School buddy Lynne. We spent an afternoon on Jupiter Island walking the beach and collecting shells.

From Jupiter, we traveled inland to central Florida to visit with Pat’s brother Mike and his wife Donna. We had purchased tickets for Ben Wendel’s Seasons Band jazz show in Winter Park at the Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts. Wow, what a great band and performance, (Gilad Hekdelman, Matt Brewer, Aaron Parks and Kendrick Scott).

We continued our tour of central Florida with a visit with Pat’s sister Carolyn and her husband Ed. They have recently relocated to Florida from Virginia.Their new home is near Mt. Dora, which is a picturesque town on a lake.

The 1/4 mile boardwalk gives you the opportunity to check out the local fauna.

Baby AlligatorBrown Water SnakeNight HeronA fun time was had by all. And down the road we go.