Natchez and Nearby Outdoor Attractions

Submitted to the Piney Woods Journal in 2019

Most of us can hardly afford to travel to fish for lake trout in northern Canada or jet to ecotourism destinations in Southeast Asia. Our more realistic ambitions are likely to be weekend adventures much closer to home.  I've described in a few past journal issues how cities such as Lake Charles, Natchitoches, and Alexandria offer weekend destinations and bases for many nearby outdoor and recreational attractions. Natchez also seems an ideal place for weekends and short vacations, and I recently was able to discover and rediscover some of the many outdoor treasures of this Miss-Lou area.

For those relatively unaware with Natchez-area destinations, the Natchez Visitor Reception Center just off Highway 84 upon crossing the big bridge provides a whole lot of useful information. The center has impressive visual displays and a helpful staff who can answer questions and direct visitors to their specific interests, whether these include blues music venues, historic plantation homes, or nearby Civil War battle sites. My great-grandfather spent parts of 1864 and 1865 as a doctor treating wounded soldiers at the Union encampment north of the city, and I was curious about where that particular location was. A staff member explained that the Union forces were at Fort McPherson and nearby was the Marine Hospital. Both are long gone now, but I was able to visit this site on the bluff of the river at the Natchez City Cemetery.

The Mississippi River Bridge from Vidalia Landing with the Bluffs of Natchez beyond the bridge

The Natchez National Historic Park is just north of the visitor reception center and includes Fort Rosalie, several historic homes, and various short trails. Fort Rosalie was the state's first European settlement established in 1716. I hiked the nature trail in the historic area from its tall bluff all of the way down to Natchez Under-the-Hill, the shops along Silver Street, and the Magnolia Bluffs Casino at river level. The short, paved trail back up Rob Hill from the casino would be a challenge for some to walk though due to its slope.

Although one could spend many days and not begin to visit the majority of tourist attractions in the historic and downtown parts of Natchez, I quickly focused on the many outdoor and recreational opportunities in the area.  I was already familiar with several of the oxbow lakes, such as Bruin and St. John.  A college friend and I spent many weekends at his parent's camp on Lake Bruin. I had also fished Lake Larto, southwest of Natchez and south of Jonesville as a child with my father and brother.  My plans were to explore a few other recommended sites in that area.

One obvious stop for me was Natchez State Park, about 15 miles north of the city.  The park claims the state record for large-mouth bass.  There are plenty of sites for RV camping as well as some primitive camping spots there.  It’s a beautiful park where I would have spent much more time, but the high flood waters this spring prevented my trying some of the biking and hiking trails.  The same problem was one that I encountered in visiting two area refuges on the Louisiana side of the river.  It was a first time for me at Bayou Cocodrie National Wildlife Refuge, west of Ferriday, and at Catahoula National Wildlife Refuge, east of Jena, but high water conditions there limited the time that I could actually explore trails and parts of these refuges. 

Perhaps I should have instead tried to visit a couple of acclaimed sites in Mississippi such as Homochitto National Forest to the east of Natchez for its challenging bike trails, or even St. Catherine Creek National Wildlife Refuge, only 10-15 miles south of the city.  I imagine that the scenery there would have been as green and lush as the sites that I did visit, particularly with the many magnolias in full bloom in mid-May.  Springtime in river country also means mosquitoes though, and I’ve seldom, if ever, encountered more need for mosquito repellent than at the two wildlife refuges.

Other appealing outdoor sites in the area that I couldn’t fit into my schedule this time were the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians and the Emerald Mound, home for the earlier Plaquemine culture and the second-largest Pre-Columbian earthwork site in this country.  For those who might like to book fishing and hunting excursions or biking and kayaking/canoeing tours around Natchez, several rental and touring companies in Natchez can be contacted. A tour can also be scheduled of Frogmore Cotton Plantation and Gins, located just west of Ferriday.  The story is told there of planters and their slaves in Miss-Lou from early settlers, to thriving cotton plantations before the Civil War, and to the struggle afterward for new ways of life for these planters and slaves.

There are other destination cities in Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas that I want to visit again and try to describe their many outdoor and recreational opportunities for future PWJ issues.  Right now, my plans have Hot Springs at the top of my list, but I’m certainly willing to entertain other possibilities.  You can contact me at steve-payne1@live.com for comments about my previous articles or suggestions for future ones.