MAVERICK AND THE FINGER

Riverboat ring your bell,

Faretheewell Annabelle,

Luck is the lady that he loves the best.

Natchez to New Orleans,

Living on Jacks and Queens

Maverick is a legend of the West.

And that’s from memory, not the internet!  The adolescents of the ‘50’s will need no interpretation.  For you others, that’s part of the theme song of James Garner’s first starring role on TV as the riverboat gambler, Bret Maverick.  I think it’s still his iconic image, more so than the Rockford Files.  Ok, dating myself.

Yesterday we scooted across the Big Muddy from our (excellent) camp on the Louisiana side

(the view from behind our site)

to the city of Natchez, which boasts a host of preserved/restored antebellum mansions.  These are the core of the city’s tourist appeal, as there’s nothing much else there.  The local industries have been dying off, the town population is shrinking, but the mansions soldier on.  We opted for the low-cost tour which consisted of riding the scoot up and down the streets to see the mansions from the outside ($10 a head to take an inside tour)

and then to visit the National Historical Park.  That’s made up of two sites:  The William Johnson House, and the “Cotton Kingdom Estate,” Melrose.  Freebies, both.

Johnson was born a slave in 1809, freed at age eleven, and became a successful businessman, slaveholder (!), and diarist during the heyday of the cotton kingdom.  Although “free,” he nonetheless trod carefully, walking a fine and dangerous line between the full rights of a white citizen and the bondage of slavery.  Freed men could be returned to slavery at almost any time.  By the 1840’s, he had acquired substantial land holdings and established himself as a farmer as well as an urban businessman.  He owned five barber shops as well as other enterprises.  He wrote extensive diaries of daily events beginning in 1835 and ending with his murder (over a boundary dispute) in 1851.  His home in Natchez remained in his family until bought by the government for the Historical Park.

For a black man in that time period, he was living large.  The house retains a lot of the original furniture that he and his family used 160 years ago.  This is the parlor (behind glass partition, hence the reflections):

His diaries are fascinating accounts of everyday life.  It would appear there was a lot of casual violence going on, as he describes fights, stabbings, shootings, etc.  He often illustrated his entries with drawings of the participants.  This was well worth the stop.

The other half of the National Park is about a mile away, on the edge of town, the mansion and grounds called “Melrose.”  There’s Spanish Moss hanging from

 

these trees, although it’s hard to see in the pic.  The long drive winds through the foregrounds to the mansion.  No pics of the exterior as it was undergoing extensive renovation and there was scaffolding and junk all over it.  They found that the coffered rain gutters were leaking into the interior and found widespread wood damage.  Whole beams and other wood have to be replaced.  The interior, however, is incredibly preserved.  The house was built by John McMurren between 1841 and 1849.  He moved to Natchez from Pennsylvania in the mid 1820’s, established a law practice, married the daughter of a Mississippi Supreme Court judge (attaboy!), and prospered.  There’s a portrait of Mary Louisa (Mrs. McMurren) at age 15, three years before their marriage, hanging in the parlor:

How cool is that?  Like she’s keeping watch over her house, or still welcoming guests through the ages.  They set out to, and succeeded in, furnishing the home with “all that fine taste and a full purse” could provide.  Here’s their parlor, which sports gold leaf everywhere, even the wallpaper.

The blinds are reproductions of the 1840’s originals. They were unique at the time, and the governor had them copied for the Statehouse Mansion. The house was sold after the Civil War to the Davis family, and it remained in their hands until 1976 (!), retaining virtually all of the original McMurran furnishings.  The whole house is filled with the furniture, paintings, knickknacks, and china.  There is a Spode china set that has over 1,000 pieces, part of which is set on the dining room table:

That big wood thing hanging over the table is a fan, servant-operated by the pull rope you see trailing to the left behind it.  The master bedroom was huge:

 

The day bed at the foot of the main bed was for lounging during the day and for giving birth.  The first Davis owner kept samples of the carpets, wallpaper, and drapes rolled up in the basement.  Everything of those that you see in the house are reproductions of the originals, so everything really is as it looked a century and a half ago.  Very cool.

But, wait, you say?  What about the finger?  Ah, yes, the finger.  This is the Bible Belt, brother, and it’s one magnificent old edifice after another.  They truly are beautiful.  It’s hard for one to really stand out in your mind, except for . . .