Stamping Galore!!
This was a day of multiple stamping opportunities…aka stamportunities and a surprise stamping late in the day. Glenda was beside herself!!
First up the William Johnson house in Natchez. Johnson, a free black man, became a successful businessman in town and kept extensive diaries about life in Natchez. The museum gave us a glimpse into life leading up to the Civil War. We also learned about a Rosa Parks-like woman in NYC, Elizabeth Jennings, who successfully sued a NYC railroad for not allowing her on the streetcar. This happened 100 years before Rosa Parks. Her lawyer, Chester A. Arthur, eventually became U.S. president.
A quick stop at the Melrose plantation for a tour of the grounds and cabins and then we hit the road en route to Clarksdale.
On The Road
We sped, sort of, (behind a tractor for 30 or 40 miles) along route 61-N to make it to the Delta Blues Museum before it closed. Passing through tiny towns and mostly cotton fields and farms, we come to the big (ish) town of Clarksdale.
We are having a bit of trouble describing our entry into Clarksdale…it looked like a movie set for a deserted town. Stores seemed to be be shuttered and run down. The streets were wide and welcoming on the one hand but had definitely seen better days. In other words….where ARE we??? And whose idea was this??
Delta Blues
After driving around the block 3 times trying to find the museum entrance and parking lot, we left the car across the street in what in our land would be a no parking, highly priced ticket zone, but here was a ok. We had an hour to tour the small museum and made the most of it. The museum is all about the blues, with stories, quotes, outfits , guitars and videos about the great Mississippi Delta musicians. Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Sam Cooke, John Lee Hooker were featured. The museum, for some reason, had a National Park Service stamp!!! Glenda ran back to the car to retrieve the sheets and get another stamp. Yay!!! http://www.deltabluesmuseum.org/
The Deep Blues festival is on this weekend here in Clarksdale and that seems to mean that blues people are playing in all kinds of venues around. We can hear music coming from random storefronts and we pop in to check it out.
We finally end up in Morgan Freeman’s Ground Zero Blues Club. It ain’t much to look at from the outside (like all the places here) but inside is festive and funky and fun! We decide to come back here for dinner and more music. http://www.groundzerobluesclub.com/
We come back for dinner. We just sat down at the bar, the music just started when a gentleman came up to us, introduced himself and gave us his card. He is the co-owner of the club with Morgan Freeman. A fellow Wahoo like Glenda, go UVA!!, he chatted and thanked us for being there.
Later conversations made us think that he is looking for investors and was hosting some candidates right there. It seems we made a good impression for the prospective investors…see??? New Yorkers come here all the time!!! He thanked us again after we had spoken for a bit to the possible investors.
Here are some clips of music from the day:
We didn’t get in to our first hotel of choice Shack up Inn where the rooms are converted sharecropper houses on an old plantation…sold out maybe because of the festival…but we are in the Bohemian Guest House behind an old B& B. A nice 2 bedroom house. Good night!!! https://www.deltabohemianguesthouse.com/
