Oxford, Mississippi

Ole Miss - The Razorbacks consider Ole Miss football rivals since we joined the SEC in 1992. But I doubt Ole Miss considers us much of a challenge in recent years. Let’s hope that changes soon! But we are rocking baseball!  #1 in the US. An absolutely gorgeous campus filled with tons of green space and towering magnolia trees. I wish my blog could have a scratch and sniff feature. Because springtime smells wonderful in the little college town. 

I appreciate that the college does not try to hide its civil war and slavery history. Many of the old buildings were built by slaves before the civil war and they have not taken down civil war statutes. This slave built building is now the school of southern customs and food. I would love to attend some of those classes! 

 We had lunch in the beautiful grove. 

Rowan Oak - Faulkner’s Home was covid closed but you can roam around the grounds. Built in the 1840’s and purchased by the nobel  prize writer in 1930 is now maintained by the University of Mississippi. 

Oxford downtown- The Lafayette County courthouse was burned down by Union soldiers and replaced with the current building in 1872. We roamed the bookstore and window shopped before sitting down for a beer at Proud Larry’s. Cute downtown with a working pay phone!  We had to stop and check!  

We ended our day with a walking tour of antebellum homes. Antebellum homes were built anytime from 30 years prior up to the civil war. Amazing and so beautiful. I love when people name their homes. The first one is Ammadelle and was built in 1859. That just amazes me!  

Petit Jean - A French name in Arkansas

A 1700’s European explorer by the name of Chavet was given funds and permission to explore the “new world” which included the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers. He was engaged to a girl from Paris by the name Adrienne Dumont. When told of his plans, she asked that they be married right away so she could accompany him. Thinking of the hardship and danger on the journey, Chavet refused her request, telling her they would marry when he returned. 

Adrienne refused to accept his answer and changed her appearance to apply for a position as a cabin boy, calling herself Jean. She got the job and no one recognized her. The sailors called her Petit Jean, which is French for Little John because she was so small. 

The sailors spent the spring and summer in the Arkansas mountains. In the fall, the ship was readied for departure. That night, Petit Jean became ill with a sickness that was strange to Chavet and his sailors. It was marked with fever, convulsions, delirium, and finally coma. During the illness, Petit Jean's identity was, of course, discovered. She requested that if she died, to be carried back to the mountaintop that she had spent her last days on, and be buried at a spot overlooking the river below.

Petit Jean is a beautiful super clean state park with waterfalls, a lake and river to explore. 

We hiked to rock house cave. There are some very faded and sporadic remnants of Indian petroglyphs. What is sad is that people can’t seem to resist the urge to carve their initials in the walls. So sad. 

Nicknamed turtle rocks, these are formed by water running over the sandstone rocks but not impacting the iron and other minerals in the formation. 

All of the buildings, bridges and pavilions are made from huge blocks of rock from the area.  

So many dogwoods! 

We must be here at the peak of spring pollen. We left the windows open and the inside it the camper was covered along with every other surface outside. 

Cluckingham Palace

We are on a short trip to Galveston for beach, sun and grandkids and I didn’t plan to blog until I saw an unexpected sight! Leaving Paris, Texas on our way to Longview our GPS took us down a road we had never traveled. We drove through tiny towns and past farmland and then... a mega mansion in the middle of no where - Pittsburg Texas population 4,000. We had just visited the Biltmore and it was like a slightly smaller version!

If you know me at all, you know that I just can’t go “well that was cool” and move on... research Vicki kicked in. 

Nicknamed Cluckingham - the house that chickens built is 18,327-square-foot mansion on 45 acres was custom-built in 1992 for the late “Bo” Pilgrim, the founder of Pilgrim’s Pride poultry products. Unable to sell the mansion in the middle of nowhere, son, Ken Pilgrim, brought home to auction without reserve in late 2019. Valued at 8.75 million the house sold for a little over 3 million! I had a little fantasy moment about what you could do with this for three million - high end spa, hotel, event center, then a screeching halt when Mark reminded me that this mansion is 130 miles from Dallas and 100 miles from Shreveport. Who would want Pittsburg, Texas as a destination ...anything?  But check out this place!

The foyer is decorated with gilded details that also run throughout the living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms and indoor pool area. Beside the indoor pool is a bar, a seating area and a hot tub. The house also features a spa, a wet and dry sauna, a fitness center, a home theater, and a glass elevator that overlooks the grounds. 

Pretty spectacular and someone bought is for 3 million! Wow. 

Then we started to see hundreds of abandoned oil wells near Kilgore, Tx. You know home of the Kilgore Rangerettes. Ok another thing that drew me in. After living in Texas for over 30 years, how did I not know that east Texas had the second largest oil field outside of Alaska? Discovered in 1930 over 5 and a half billion barrels have been produced. A few still are producing but most just are rust buckets left to decay and litter the landscape. 

Nashville- Dukes of Hazzard, Belle Meade Plantation & American Pickers

The General Lee and the Dukes of Hazzard museum was a mile from our campground! How could we not drop in? The most popular TV show in the early 1980’s dropping to #2 and losing top billing to “Dallas”. 

When was the last time you found mood rings? 

Continuing on the TV theme, we moved on to check out the area of Nashville revitalized by Mike Wolfe - American Pickers and his restored warehouse district containing many stores including Antique Archeology. Cool area. Not tempted to buy anything but did move on to sample some Tennessee moonshine. I know y’all are shocked by that! 

We needed to let Kate get some exercise. So we stopped at a near by park which had the super cool sea serpent that is a tile mosaic   

Met our favorite niece, Megan,  after she got off work and we checked out Belle Meade Plantation and winery. 

Belle Meade Plantation began in 1807 with a log cabin and 250 acres.  Over time, and with the dedication of the Harding and Jackson families and the slave workers who lived here before and after Emancipation, this site became one of the largest thoroughbred horse farms in the South.

We toured the house and then stopped for a tasting at the winery and enjoyed a bottle in their patio. 

Mansion

Slave house 

Carriage house and barn

Winery