Natchez National Historic Park

September 25, 2023

This park is spread throughout the city of Natchez, MS. There is a driving tour that takes you to all the locations plus numerous old mansions and a few cemeteries, some of which are for sale (the mansions not the cemeteries). The main park is Melrose estate which is an old mansion and various out buildings with a walking tour of the grounds surrounding it. The other larger park is down by the waterfront on the Mississippi river where docks used to be when steamboats were the main way of shipping cargo. There are informational signs along this area as the original docks and buildings were destroyed by a tornado. The last area that I stopped at was the smallest but probably most important historically which was the Forks of the Road. This was the location of the second largest slave market in the southern US. Informational signs are at the park including manifests from ships headed to Natchez intending to sell entire families. This park is really a contrast in beautiful buildings and an ugly past.