After a sleepless night at a crappy motel, we headed over to Poverty Point National Monument. It’s technically designated a National Monument and is counted as a unit of the National Park Service (which is why we’re here to mark it off our list), but in reality, it’s just a state historic site. Apparently, the original plan was for the state to transfer ownership and management to the NPS, but then after Congress authorized the unit, Louisiana changed its mind and retained it. We looked for – but didn’t see – a single reference to the National Parks or its National Monument status. That’s surprising, as it would obviously bring more visitors and probably some additional funds.
The visitor center was small but decent, and the park ranger was very helpful. In fact, it was a little creepy how involved she wanted to be in our visitor center experience – she’d routinely leave the front desk to wander over and start talking to us about the site while we were reading one of the displays.
We had two main options for seeing the site: a 2.6 mile walking trail or a 2 mile drive. We decided to start with the drive, then hike a bit from a visitor contact station at the midpoint. In actuality, we spent most of the time driving with frequent stops for pictures.
The site protects several earthworks – most notably six concentric semi-circle ridges (best seen from the air) and a huge bird-shaped mound. It’s one of the oldest and most significant earthworks in the Western hemisphere. Specifically, it demonstrated a major advance in the sophistication of peoples in the “New World.” Unfortunately, the site wasn’t discovered until someone saw it in an aerial photo, after decades and decades of plowing. There was even a state highway built through the site. Argh.
We drove through and took photos, even though it’s incredibly hard to see the ridges in 2009. The main mound is very impressive – I’m not sure the scale is easily understood in pictures. It was estimated to require more than 10 million 12-gallon baskets of dirt to complete. Wow. We parked and walked up one side and back down the other, then ditched our plans to walk the trail through the ridges and to a couple of the smaller mounds. It was very cold and windy, and we had already spent an hour longer there than anticipated. It was a good idea, as the ridges are barely noticeable; some of them are only a foot or two higher by this point.
After leaving Poverty Point we drove the hour or so to Vicksburg National Military Park. Vicksburg was the longest campaign of the Civil War and helped to seal the fate of the South. The Union’s grand plan for victory in the war was to cut off the foreign trade routes South, which meant controlling the coast and Mississippi River. Vicksburg was the last missing piece in that strategy.
The site itself, like the other four major Civil War battlefields, is littered with granite monuments detailing the troops movements during the battle. There were also some very special “state” monuments, including the fabulous Illinois monument which seems like it should be in Washington, DC. The only structure original to the battlefield is the Shirley House, which is currently closed for stabilization. Speaking of being closed (or open, as the case may be), we ran across an odd sign as we entered the visitor center. If you go to Vicksburg, make sure to watch the introductory film at the visitor center; it’s one of the better ones out there.
The highlight of the park, however, has to be the USS Cairo. Located and salvaged more than a hundred years after its sinking near the battlefield, the only remaining Civil War-era armored battleship is really something to see. Seriously.
Unfortunately, by this time we were quickly losing daylight and the park was getting ready to close, so we had to breeze through the last part of the driving tour before heading to Jackson. We gave Priceline a chance at redemption and Shatner came through for us with a nice and quite friendly Courtyard by Marriott for only a few bucks more than the craphole we stayed in last night. Well worth the added cash, no doubt about it.
Tomorrow we drive down the Natchez Trace Parkway to its terminus, then tour the two antebellum homes preserved at Natchez National Historic Park. We’ll stay in Baton Rouge or New Orleans.
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