Southern Culture
The best stories are told by locals who have lived in a small town their entire lives, and who know the history through and through. A couple of us got the 50 cent tour yesterday from a guy who works for the newspaper. The cemetery was fascinating. We got the story of "Louise the Unfortunate," who came to town to meet her fiancee... who never showed up. She turned to prostitution when her money ran out, and when she died (apparently not long afterwards) no one knew her last name. So they buried her as best they could.
Another grave we saw was the Misstress of Goat Castle; an old home which was so grand and yet so run down that the goats wandered in and out of it. There woman who lived there was having an affair with her cousin. He woudl ride through the woods that connected their two planations and meet her in secret. One day they found her dead; they never figured out who killed her, although there's a rumor of a deathbed confession to one of the local physicians. If the theories are true, and the woman whose grave I have a photo of is the one who killed her, the physician took her secret to his grave. He's buried just twenty feet from the woman's grave.
We drove out of town on the Natchez Trace, following it to the Emerald Mound, the second largest Indian Mound in the US. It is very.. mound like. It wasn't a burial mound; it was used as a platform for cerimonies, dances, and games, as well as the residences of important priests and chiefs of the Natchez tribe.
I got very turned around on our trip, as we went in and out of town, and all around, without any real pattern that I could see. We walked through the ruins of the Gwin house, which belonged to the family of my guide. It burned just two years ago, and I got some great photographs from the inside. He gave me a scrap of lace from the curtains to keep. I'll see if I can do something with it that would let it withstand traveling. Some how 160 year old lace that's been through a fire isn't that sturdy.
The last stop we made yesterday was to Winchester, a house which burned around the turn of the last century. The locals always find it hillarious when tour guides tell tourists that it was burned by the Union troops during the Civil War. The only house that was destroyed in Natchez during the war was in town, and supposedly that was because someone didn't invite the Ordinance Officer to a party. I think the real reason had to do with the future location of a barracks, but the party faux pas makes for a better story.
The Winchester ruins stand as a monument to the evils of Tobacco. Supposedly during a really fantastic party thrown there, someone felt the need to nip out to the porch for a cigarette. The house burned, and now all that are left are the remains of huge pillars that used to support the double-decker porch, and a tiny bit of the railing for the second floor.
Pictures of all of this will be forthcoming, as soon as I can make either face book or Flickr upload them. I'm having a bit of difficulty with both at the moment, and it might be the connection here at the Foundation. Can't really expect a non-profit to have rip-roaring internet connections I suppose.
Also, before I forget it, I'm going to record a recipe I made up the other day here. Who knows, maybe one of you would be interested in
Brewery Style Clams. These are inspired by a dish I had at the Lancaster Brewing Company, and the fact that I couldn't get decent wine to do it with so I subsituted beer. It was a good substitution.
2 strips bacon
1/4-1/2 onion
4 cloves garlic
1 can baby clams
1 bottle white wheat beer (I used Blue Moon Honeymoon Summer Ale)
2 dried serrano peppers, chopped (crushed red pepper is the same thing, but less fresh)
Dried Thyme
Dried Basil
fresh ground black pepper
(I used a good bit of the spices, in equal amounts, but I have no idea how much)
dash milk
~1 tbs. butter and flour for Roux (may need more to get right thickness)
Fettucini or other long posta.
Fry bacon in large skillet, big enoguh to hold everything. Remove when crispy, crumble and set aside. Drain the grease until there's just a tiny bit left, and use it to fry finley chopped onion and garlic. Add can of clams with juice. Boil off some of the liquid, but not all of it. Add bottle of beer. Add spices and milk. Simmer while you cook pasta. When the pasta is almost done, bring sauce to a boil. Mash butter and flour together to make a roux, then whisk that into the sauce. This will thicken the sauce, making it about the consistancy of thick soup. Taste, and add salt if needed. Canned clams can be salty, so taste first! Put cooked pasta into a bowl, ladle clam sauce over it, crumble bacon on top. Serve with fork and spoon.
It's somewhere between a soup and pasta with sauce. It's NOT good for your arteries, but it is damn tasty. If you don't like seafood, this is not for you.
Another grave we saw was the Misstress of Goat Castle; an old home which was so grand and yet so run down that the goats wandered in and out of it. There woman who lived there was having an affair with her cousin. He woudl ride through the woods that connected their two planations and meet her in secret. One day they found her dead; they never figured out who killed her, although there's a rumor of a deathbed confession to one of the local physicians. If the theories are true, and the woman whose grave I have a photo of is the one who killed her, the physician took her secret to his grave. He's buried just twenty feet from the woman's grave.
We drove out of town on the Natchez Trace, following it to the Emerald Mound, the second largest Indian Mound in the US. It is very.. mound like. It wasn't a burial mound; it was used as a platform for cerimonies, dances, and games, as well as the residences of important priests and chiefs of the Natchez tribe.
I got very turned around on our trip, as we went in and out of town, and all around, without any real pattern that I could see. We walked through the ruins of the Gwin house, which belonged to the family of my guide. It burned just two years ago, and I got some great photographs from the inside. He gave me a scrap of lace from the curtains to keep. I'll see if I can do something with it that would let it withstand traveling. Some how 160 year old lace that's been through a fire isn't that sturdy.
The last stop we made yesterday was to Winchester, a house which burned around the turn of the last century. The locals always find it hillarious when tour guides tell tourists that it was burned by the Union troops during the Civil War. The only house that was destroyed in Natchez during the war was in town, and supposedly that was because someone didn't invite the Ordinance Officer to a party. I think the real reason had to do with the future location of a barracks, but the party faux pas makes for a better story.
The Winchester ruins stand as a monument to the evils of Tobacco. Supposedly during a really fantastic party thrown there, someone felt the need to nip out to the porch for a cigarette. The house burned, and now all that are left are the remains of huge pillars that used to support the double-decker porch, and a tiny bit of the railing for the second floor.
Pictures of all of this will be forthcoming, as soon as I can make either face book or Flickr upload them. I'm having a bit of difficulty with both at the moment, and it might be the connection here at the Foundation. Can't really expect a non-profit to have rip-roaring internet connections I suppose.
Also, before I forget it, I'm going to record a recipe I made up the other day here. Who knows, maybe one of you would be interested in
Brewery Style Clams. These are inspired by a dish I had at the Lancaster Brewing Company, and the fact that I couldn't get decent wine to do it with so I subsituted beer. It was a good substitution.
2 strips bacon
1/4-1/2 onion
4 cloves garlic
1 can baby clams
1 bottle white wheat beer (I used Blue Moon Honeymoon Summer Ale)
2 dried serrano peppers, chopped (crushed red pepper is the same thing, but less fresh)
Dried Thyme
Dried Basil
fresh ground black pepper
(I used a good bit of the spices, in equal amounts, but I have no idea how much)
dash milk
~1 tbs. butter and flour for Roux (may need more to get right thickness)
Fettucini or other long posta.
Fry bacon in large skillet, big enoguh to hold everything. Remove when crispy, crumble and set aside. Drain the grease until there's just a tiny bit left, and use it to fry finley chopped onion and garlic. Add can of clams with juice. Boil off some of the liquid, but not all of it. Add bottle of beer. Add spices and milk. Simmer while you cook pasta. When the pasta is almost done, bring sauce to a boil. Mash butter and flour together to make a roux, then whisk that into the sauce. This will thicken the sauce, making it about the consistancy of thick soup. Taste, and add salt if needed. Canned clams can be salty, so taste first! Put cooked pasta into a bowl, ladle clam sauce over it, crumble bacon on top. Serve with fork and spoon.
It's somewhere between a soup and pasta with sauce. It's NOT good for your arteries, but it is damn tasty. If you don't like seafood, this is not for you.