We set out on the Natchez Trace Parkway today. We plan to spend four days making our way to Nashville with some side trips included. We went only as far as Jackson today. One of the side trips we took was to Windsor Ruins, the remains of an antebellum mansion that burned in 1890. It was out in the middle of nowhere and all that was left were these giant columns. There are 29 of them. It must have been a hell of a place! We also visited Grand Gulf, the site of a couple small naval bombardments in the spring of 1863 where Grant wanted to cross the Mississippi river. He ended up going a little more south and crossing at Bruinsburg which led to the battle of Port Gibson. Ultimately Grant moved north through Raymond to Jackson. Having comletely encircled the Confederate garrison at Vicksburg, it was only a matter of time before it fell and the Union controlled the Mississippi River. We ended up in Jackson early enough to attend the evening mass at St. Theresa then it was on to the hotel.