Port Gibson, MS

An exit on U.S. 61 near mile 37 from the Natchez Trace is Port Gibson.  General Grant reportedly said this town was "too pretty to burn" and so Port Gibson survived the Civil War intact and was the first town in Mississippi to be designated a National Historic District.

The First Presbyterian Church of Port Gibson, Mississippi, (built 1859), is one of the most recognizable and historic churches in Mississippi. Known for its unique steeple, adorned not with a cross but with a golden hand pointing toward heaven ....

Town Square

Southwest of town are the haunting ruins of Windsor, the largest antebellum house ever built in Mississippi, used in a memorable scene with Alex Baldwin in Ghosts of Mississippi.   The 23 Corinthian columns are all that's left of the formerly grand Greek Revival mansion. It survived the Civil War but succumbed to a fire in 1890 due to a cigarette, a newly fashionable way to use tobacco at that time.

Grand Gulf Military Park - The resorted buildings here are reminders that this was once a thriving river port nurtured by the cotton boom and so prosperous that it was a candidate to become the state capital.  But after a series of unfortunate events, including yellow fever, a major tornado, and shifting riverbeds, the prosperity of the city took a turn.  Then in April 1863 Union naval forces attacked Grand Gulf, eventually forcing the Confederate troops established there to flee.

Today the park commemorates both the battle and Grand Gulf's heyday.  The museum here has a detailed map of that battle and photos of the Union ironclads that were involved, along with swords, rifles, muskets, cannonballs, flags, and war-related documents.

On the handsome park grounds are a few hand-hewn log houses, a lovely Carpenter Gothic chapel, and an atmospheric graveyard overhung with Spanish moss.  A paved road leads to the edge of the river, and a hilltop observation tower provides an  view of this instrument of Grand Gulf's rise and fall.



 








































Grand Gulf Military Park has a homemade submarine on display that was powered by a Model T Ford engine ad was used to run whiskey during Prohibition.

They have a nice campground here.