Taking A Sunday Drive #20

Mississippi, The Magnolia State, 20th to enter the Union. We first touched on the NE corner of Mississippi on our 'big trip East' in 2008. And once again on our way to see Christine and Dale in 2014 - again just the NE corner on the way through.

It was on the way back from Florida and South Carolina that we spent a little more time in Mississippi.
This Welcome Center in Greenville is a replica of the Victorian Era steamboats that once plied the Great Mississippi River.

Thousands and thousands of acres of that fertile Mississippi bottom land.

Bud read about another Mississippian Culture mound site and that is where we were headed.
Winterville Mounds National Historic Landmark is a short distance north of Greenville.

The largest of more than twenty original mounds is Temple Mound in the background.

Yep. I made it all the way to the top of this one, too. Last June, the state allocated $300,000 to restore the mounds and add walking trails. I'm sure that included replacing these dilapidated, sawed off railroad ties they were using for steps to the top of the mound!

Inside the Winterville Museum were several displays of pottery pieces found at the site.
I am certain I will never tire of viewing artifacts like these. For some reason they have always interested me. This may be where my love of pottery comes from.

Polished disc shaped stones believed to have been used in trade, for games and as rolled targets in spear-throwing practice.
I would trade for some of these!

As interesting as the artifacts was this photo showing Temple Mound surrounded by water during the Great Mississippi Floods of 1927. It shows cattle atop the mounds - their only chance of surviving the flooding.

I'm including Louisiana, The Pelican State, in this Sunday Drive, because, even though I had been to New Orleans for Mardi Gras back in the mid 70's, Bud had never been to this state. nor had we crossed it off our lower 48 list together.

So here is our Louisiana picture. We drove just far enough into the state for me to take this photo of Bud with a welcome sign. He is pointing north, indicating that we are headed home after a great twelve day trip to our country's Southeast states.