Eating, drinking, and other amusements
I just got back from the Natchez Food and Wine Festival! Our Mixology class on Saturday at Bowie's Tavern was a real treat. I learned a lot about mixing drinks, and the instructor gave us several recipies to try at home. We sampled about five different cocktails (small samples, mind you!), and I think my favorite was the twist on the mojito that he showed us. He served it with crushed raspberries and blueberries in the bottom, which was utterly refreshing and gave the drink a beautiful "sunrise" appearance in the glass. When I can lay hands on the recipe, I'll post it here.
After the class, we walked around (slightly slowly!) to shop in downtown Natchez. There were lots of precious little shops (some of which were closed - on a Saturday afternoon? I don't get it.), and we bought several unique items. I found a little hand-carved wooden bird that looks perfect perched on a high shelf in my den, as well as a gorgeous square wooden platter for serving cheese. I also found the perfect winter coat - red, wool, with a psychedelic print lining, and cut down to my lower thigh. I feel like Mary Tyler Moore in it, AND it has great lines. Antique shopping in Natchez is a dream come true. There are so many unique pieces available for sale, and so many of them are reasonably priced. I dearly wish I'd made a few trips down when we were furnishing our house and still in the market for things like tables, stuffed chairs, and art pieces.
We ate dinner that night in the Biscuits and Blues Cafe - what a delight! First of all, the biscuits are divine, served with a delicious, sweet, softened butter. Then we enjoyed dinner salads and an appetizer of crawfish beignets draped in a creamy sauce. For my entree, I ordered a chicken pasta - a grilled chicked breast over angel hair with a rich, slightly spicy sauce. YUM. Biscuits and Blues Cafe is one of the only live music establishments I've ever been to that got the volume right. You could definitely hear the music, but you could also hear well enough to converse with your dining companions. It's so rare that I thought it worth mentioning. We loved the vibe of this place.
That night, we bedded down at Linden Bed and Breakfast. It is a lovely home off Melrose Avenue, a mere hop and a skip from downtown Natchez. The bed in our room was an antique canopy marvel with a sunburst fabric pattern. The next morning, we enjoyed a full breakfast in the elegant dining room, which was furnished with a variety of antiques and conversation pieces. We ate, and ate, and ATE. Breakfast casserole, grits, hot coffee, biscuits, juice, fruit, the list goes on. After breakfast, we were given a tour of the house, which has been occupied by the same family for many generations. Our guide, who also owns and operates the bed and breakfast, imparted lots of little tidbits to us, both personal and historical.
After a brief retreat into the room to freshen up, we made our way to Longwood Plantation, one of the largest octagonal homes in the world. (I wish they had an official website, but they don't. Check out the impression Longwood made on another visitor by clicking here.) This is a stunning attraction in Natchez, and I highly recommend that you do not miss it if you are in town. Haller Nutt, an obscenely wealthy plantation owner, began construction of this 6-floor, mammoth octagonal home shortly before the Civil War. In the space of 18 months, a collection of craftsmen and slaves had completed the basic structure/facade of the home. However, when the war broke out, many of the craftsmen, who had traveled to Natchez from Philadelphia, left the job to go serve the North. They left their tools and supplies right where they dropped them. Most of them thought that the war would be a short one, and that they'd return to finish work on the house once the war was over.
However, Nutt lost his entire fortune during the Civil War, and he was left with an unfinished house. Using local labor, he finished the basement of the home, where he and his family lived until their deaths. It stayed in the family until 1970, when it was donated to the Natchez Pilgrimage Garden Club, which now maintains it and offers tours. The tour takes visitors through the basement of the house, which still contains all of the Nutts' original furnishings and art pieces. Then, visitors are allowed into the second floor, which is unfinished and offers a view up into the dramatic Oriental dome that tops the building. It is very stirring to see the abandoned tools and supplies, the old crate that the downstairs piano arrived in, etc.
The tour offers much food for thought as well. Haller Nutt died in his 40's, still a relatively young man. One wonders what his final years must have been like, living in the basement while his failed dream literally hung over his head. Longwood is a stark reminder of how war changes the economy, how it interrupts plans. The house was designed to be a fabulous, excessive show of wealth, and its incompletion seems somehow fitting. As it was being planned, the world that might allow such vanity was being pushed aside. The time would no longer support such extravagance. I've toured several historic homes in Natchez, but I don't think any have given me as much food for thought as Longwood. It is a complex, conflicting look at the antebellum way of life and the Civil War.
Natchez has made a name for itself in the tourism industry by peddling history, and it is the past that is much with the Natchez visitor. What came before is everywhere in this tiny town, almost tangible. While great food and surprisingly good shopping are certainly part of the Natchez experience, it is the story of time here that is most notable, running through Natchez as relentlessly as the river.
After the class, we walked around (slightly slowly!) to shop in downtown Natchez. There were lots of precious little shops (some of which were closed - on a Saturday afternoon? I don't get it.), and we bought several unique items. I found a little hand-carved wooden bird that looks perfect perched on a high shelf in my den, as well as a gorgeous square wooden platter for serving cheese. I also found the perfect winter coat - red, wool, with a psychedelic print lining, and cut down to my lower thigh. I feel like Mary Tyler Moore in it, AND it has great lines. Antique shopping in Natchez is a dream come true. There are so many unique pieces available for sale, and so many of them are reasonably priced. I dearly wish I'd made a few trips down when we were furnishing our house and still in the market for things like tables, stuffed chairs, and art pieces.
We ate dinner that night in the Biscuits and Blues Cafe - what a delight! First of all, the biscuits are divine, served with a delicious, sweet, softened butter. Then we enjoyed dinner salads and an appetizer of crawfish beignets draped in a creamy sauce. For my entree, I ordered a chicken pasta - a grilled chicked breast over angel hair with a rich, slightly spicy sauce. YUM. Biscuits and Blues Cafe is one of the only live music establishments I've ever been to that got the volume right. You could definitely hear the music, but you could also hear well enough to converse with your dining companions. It's so rare that I thought it worth mentioning. We loved the vibe of this place.
That night, we bedded down at Linden Bed and Breakfast. It is a lovely home off Melrose Avenue, a mere hop and a skip from downtown Natchez. The bed in our room was an antique canopy marvel with a sunburst fabric pattern. The next morning, we enjoyed a full breakfast in the elegant dining room, which was furnished with a variety of antiques and conversation pieces. We ate, and ate, and ATE. Breakfast casserole, grits, hot coffee, biscuits, juice, fruit, the list goes on. After breakfast, we were given a tour of the house, which has been occupied by the same family for many generations. Our guide, who also owns and operates the bed and breakfast, imparted lots of little tidbits to us, both personal and historical.
After a brief retreat into the room to freshen up, we made our way to Longwood Plantation, one of the largest octagonal homes in the world. (I wish they had an official website, but they don't. Check out the impression Longwood made on another visitor by clicking here.) This is a stunning attraction in Natchez, and I highly recommend that you do not miss it if you are in town. Haller Nutt, an obscenely wealthy plantation owner, began construction of this 6-floor, mammoth octagonal home shortly before the Civil War. In the space of 18 months, a collection of craftsmen and slaves had completed the basic structure/facade of the home. However, when the war broke out, many of the craftsmen, who had traveled to Natchez from Philadelphia, left the job to go serve the North. They left their tools and supplies right where they dropped them. Most of them thought that the war would be a short one, and that they'd return to finish work on the house once the war was over.
However, Nutt lost his entire fortune during the Civil War, and he was left with an unfinished house. Using local labor, he finished the basement of the home, where he and his family lived until their deaths. It stayed in the family until 1970, when it was donated to the Natchez Pilgrimage Garden Club, which now maintains it and offers tours. The tour takes visitors through the basement of the house, which still contains all of the Nutts' original furnishings and art pieces. Then, visitors are allowed into the second floor, which is unfinished and offers a view up into the dramatic Oriental dome that tops the building. It is very stirring to see the abandoned tools and supplies, the old crate that the downstairs piano arrived in, etc.
The tour offers much food for thought as well. Haller Nutt died in his 40's, still a relatively young man. One wonders what his final years must have been like, living in the basement while his failed dream literally hung over his head. Longwood is a stark reminder of how war changes the economy, how it interrupts plans. The house was designed to be a fabulous, excessive show of wealth, and its incompletion seems somehow fitting. As it was being planned, the world that might allow such vanity was being pushed aside. The time would no longer support such extravagance. I've toured several historic homes in Natchez, but I don't think any have given me as much food for thought as Longwood. It is a complex, conflicting look at the antebellum way of life and the Civil War.
Natchez has made a name for itself in the tourism industry by peddling history, and it is the past that is much with the Natchez visitor. What came before is everywhere in this tiny town, almost tangible. While great food and surprisingly good shopping are certainly part of the Natchez experience, it is the story of time here that is most notable, running through Natchez as relentlessly as the river.
Comments