FP Update 2/17 - Emerald Mound/Loess Blu

FP Update 2/17 - Emerald Mound/Loess Bluff/Windsor Ruins

We traveled a little North of Natchez to see what is called the ceremonial mounds. Over 800 years ago the native people in this region began to transform a natural hill into what is called Emerald Mound. The mounds in general were built to support temples and ceremonial structures. For perspective the largest one measures190 feet by 160 feet by 30 feet high. We had to keep the height in width in mind when we read how they were built…by hand and baskets.

Imagine groups of people walking with empty baskets, looking for the perfect location to collect soil for building the mounds. Once found, they may have used digging sticks or their own two hands to collect soil, load up their baskets, and walk back to their village. Baskets would have been emptied, soil stomped down, and the process repeated to create a mound. So, this didn’t happen overnight.

Loess Bluff - Natchez Trace Pkwy - Mother Nature created this one. This bluff shows a deep deposit of windblown topsoil known as loess. It was formed during the Ice Age when glaciers covered the northern half of the United States. At this time nearly continuous dust storms swept in from the western plains and covered this area with windblown dust to a depth of thirty to ninety feet. Here it rests on the sand and clay of an ancient sea.

Windsor Ruins, Port Gibson, MS - We journeyed to the site where 27 huge pillars stand surrounded by nothing else but Trees. They are all that remain from a 23-room mansion that was built in 1861. The owner died 2 weeks after it was finished and during the Civil War, it was used as a Union hospital and observation post, thus sparing it from being burned by Union troops. However, after the Civil War, during a house party on February 17, 1890, a guest left a lighted cigar on the upper balcony and Windsor burned to the ground. Everything was destroyed except the columns, balustrades, and iron stairs. It is quite a sight that these large pillars stand prominently in this forested area.Baca lagi