Itinerary

Day 1 of BIKE TOUR Arrive/Warm-up Ride/Welcome Reception and Dinner

Welcome to Mississippi! Make your own arrangements for travel to The Corners, where we stay for two nights and get our first sampling of Southern hospitality. If you're flying in, you might meet VBT's complimentary shuttle upon your arrival at Jackson-Evers International Airport. The shuttle works on a “show and go” basis, and will make its only departure from the airport to the inn at 2 p.m. Shuttle reservations are not required, and not available. Meet the driver and bus in the third lane as you exit the airport in the baggage claim area. The bus will say Cline Tours and will have a VBT Bicycling Vacations sign. If you are scheduled to arrive at the airport after 2 p.m. or if you are delayed, you must take a taxi at your own expense. If you are driving to the tour, we recommend that you park your vehicle at the first inn. You may return to the inn at the end of the tour by way of the VBT van. If you are delayed or your travel plans change, please contact the first inn; they will pass your message to your VBT Trip Leaders.

Upon arrival at The Corners, the staff will treat you to a tour of this graceful, 1873 house. A unique blend of architectural styles, the inn's pierced columns and parterre gardens have earned it an appointment to the National Register of Historic Places. Enjoy the gardens, the porch and verandah, the double parlor and your charming room. The inn rests high on a bluff, and from its 68-foot-long porch, you'll have lovely views of the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers. Hosts Macy and Joe will make you feel right at home.

At 3:30 p.m., meet your VBT Trip Leaders and the rest of the group for a safety and bike-fitting session to be followed by a short warm up ride. At 6:30 p.m., get to know your fellow travelers during a welcome reception and orientation of the upcoming week. Southern hospitality continues with dinner on the glassed-in verandah at our inn.

Day 2 of BIKE TOUR Vicksburg Battlefield Loop

Wake up to a hearty Southern breakfast. You'll want to allow plenty of time to enjoy it! Riding out from the inn, we cycle through Vicksburg and the overlooks of the Mississippi, through Civil War battlefields and into the Vicksburg National Military Park. We'll ride through the park, stopping at the Visitor's Center, where you might choose to watch a short orientation film. A Military Park Guide will join us in the park, and we'll stop at select monuments for discussion.

Today's ride is perhaps the week's most challenging; the park roads stretch over a series of rolling hills set above the Mississippi. Naturally, you'll want to tour “the battlefield loop” at a pace that suits you, stopping at the interpretive markers and monuments along the low-trafficked park roads. Before leaving the park, be sure to visit the USS Cairo Museum and the reassembled ironclad Union gunboat that was sunk by a mine. This is where we enjoy a picnic lunch and learn more about the decisive Siege of Vicksburg.

Cycling back to the inn, stop for a worthwhile visit at the Old Courthouse Museum, housed in one of the city's most impressive antebellum buildings. Its nine rooms are packed with artifacts donated by residents, and each is marked with a story, some of which you'll find quite unusual.

Tonight we will saunter across the street and enjoy dinner at Cedar Grove Mansion. Upon return to the inn, relax with an after dinner drink in the large double parlor with its floor to ceiling windows and baby grand piano.

Day 3 of BIKE TOUR Ride the Natchez Trace/Port Gibson

Leaving our inn and Vicksburg by bicycle, our surroundings become gradually rural until we reach the curious and eerie town of Rocky Springs, where we stop for a picnic lunch.

Rocky Springs was, for many years during the later part of the 18th and most of the 19th century, a thriving community on the Old Natchez Trace. In 1878, the town was struck by yellow fever, and in the early 1900's the boll weevil destroyed most of the cotton crop. Burdensome taxes, the town's inaccessibility and almost 100 years of poor farm management and soil erosion were the final straws that led to the town's demise. One by one, the citizens began to move away. Finally, in the 1930's, the last store closed, and even the natural springs for which the town was named began to dry up. One of its only surviving, intact buildings is the Methodist Church.

Just before we reach Rocky Springs we join the Natchez Trace Parkway for our ride to Port Gibson. The Old Natchez Trace was a 500-mile footpath that ran through the lands of Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes, and it connected Natchez, Mississippi, to Nashville, Tennessee. Today's pastoral parkway loosely follows the route of the old trace. It took 71 years to complete, is managed by the National Park Service, and was designated an All-American Road by the U.S. Department of Transportation. That means no commercial traffic is permitted, and the speed is limited to 50 mph.

Along the way, you'll have several opportunities to pause and take in some of the parkway's vistas and historic sites. Today, you might stop and walk the “sunken trace,” a path that's been so worn by hooves of bison and horses, and by feet of Native Americans and colonialists, that it's now a trench in the earth.

Port Gibson, the town declared “too beautiful to burn” by Ulysses S. Grant, is our home for the next two nights. Our accommodations are in two of the town's finest antebellum mansions – Oak Square and Gibson's Landing – both on historic Church Street. Both mansions are “dressed to impress,” and located in Mississippi's first National Historic District, so you'll savor every moment no matter which you call home. Oak Square is known by some as Port Gibson's largest and most palatial mansion. Built around 1850, it was named for the massive oak trees that cover the grounds, extending almost a full town block. The magnificent and elegant Gibson's Landing was built in 1830. There is a lot to marvel at here, but the three-story spiral staircase in the main hall will especially grab your attention.

This evening, we gather together for a proper southern barbecue at Gibson's Landing.

Day 4 of BIKE TOUR Windsor Ruins

Our ride out from Port Gibson takes us first to Windsor Ruins. This is certainly one of the most dramatic sites we'll see. Windsor was built by Smith Coffee Daniel II just prior to the start of the Civil War. He died tragically at the age of 34, just a few weeks after the mansion was completed.

Set on a plantation that originally covered 2,600 acres, the four-story home had 25 rooms, 25 fireplaces, and a school and dairy both at the basement level. Confederate troops used the roof observatory to watch for Union advances. Windsor survived the war, thanks to its use as a Union hospital. But irony lent a merciless hand in 1890 when this magnificent home was lost to fire due to a careless smoker. Today, all that remains of Windsor are 23 of the original 29 columns, each 45 feet tall, plus a piece of the balustrade that connected them.

From Windsor, we'll continue our ride to a local spot for lunch – the Old Country Store. Originally built as a country store in the 1800's, the locals brought their cotton and other products here to sell. They also came to the store to purchase all of their household staples – from sugar and coffee to work boots and overalls. Today, it's a restaurant that serves a traditional southern buffet that was once visited by Alton Brown of the Food Network, who proclaimed “this is the best fried chicken I've ever had.” Your host, affectionately known as Mr. D, is also your chef.

Back in Port Gibson this evening, we've scheduled dinner at a colorful restaurant in town.

Day 5 of BIKE TOUR Natchez Trace Parkway/Emerald Mound/Natchez

Bid farewell to our hosts in Port Gibson and rejoin the parkway on our ride to Natchez this morning. You might take a break along the way to stroll the hardwood pine forests around Bullen Creek. Enjoy a picnic lunch prepared by your leaders at Coles Creek, and then pause at Mount Locust, Mississippi's first inn that served warm meals and a cozy bed to weary travelers seeking a respite from their journey on the trace.

Pedal to Emerald Mound, built by ancestors of the Natchez Indians. Designated a National Historic Landmark, Emerald Mound is one of the largest mounds in North America, covering eight acres. The mound was built by depositing earth along the sides of a natural hill, thus reshaping it and creating an enormous artificial plateau. Emerald Mound was created and used as a ceremonial center for the local villagers during the Mississippian period between 1250 and 1600. By the late 1600s, the Natchez had abandoned Emerald Mound and established their capital at the Grand Village some 12 miles to the southwest.

Continuing on, perhaps you'll stop to visit the Elizabeth Female Academy, the state's first school for women. Then ride into Natchez and to Monmouth Plantation, a National Historic Landmark that has received highest praise from the likes of Condé Nast Traveler and Gourmet magazines. We'll stay here for the next two nights, indulging in a game of croquet, strolls through its expansive gardens and a memorable five-course candlelight dinner of contemporary Southern cuisine. Upon arrival here, retreat to the study for your favorite drink and a lively start to the evening.

Tonight, horse-drawn carriages carry us through town, where there are a number of excellent options for dinner on your own.

Day 6 of BIKE TOUR Antebellum Pilgrimage/Natchez

Natchez is known around the world for its Spring Pilgrimage, held every year between the first week of March and the first week in April. “Pilgrimage,” as it is now called, was started in the first half of the 20th century by Katherine Grafton Miller. Known as “Play Mama” to her friends, Miller convinced her fellow Garden Club members to open their homes to visitors for several days so all could see “where the Old South still lives and where shadowed highways and antebellum homes greet old and new friends.” These “pilgrims,” many from the north, were personally driven from home to home and regaled with tales told by ladies wearing hoop skirts and holding parasols. The money brought in by these efforts allowed the homes to escape disrepair or worse, particularly during the days of the Great Depression. A well-publicized visit by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt put the tradition on the map, and it continues today.

Pilgrimage grew into a multi-week event in the spring, and even dates in the fall were added. But in reality, many of these homes offer guided visits year round. It's become Natchez' number one draw, an ongoing and vital venture that keeps the city thriving.

Today we reenact the pilgrimage – VBT style! – cycling a scenic route through Natchez, past magnolia and dogwood trees and taking in the best the town has to offer. We've included admission for you to tour at a number of the finest homes, riding and visiting at your own pace. Choose from guided visits of the ornate, octagonal (yet unfinished) Longwood; Rosalie, known for its rosewood furniture; Stanton Hall, owned by the Pilgrimage Garden Club; and others. Should you feel parched, you may wish to stop and enjoy a mint julep over lunch at the Carriage House Restaurant on Stanton Hall's grounds. The Carriage House is the local's choice for fried chicken, buttered biscuits, and pecan pie.

For those seeking more mileage, head back out to the Natchez Trace Parkway and cycle as far as you would like before retracing your way back to Monmouth Plantation.

Tonight, enjoy a memorable five-course dinner in our inn's acclaimed dinning room.

Day 7 of BIKE TOUR Depart for home

The tour concludes after breakfast. Join our complimentary shuttle to Jackson-Evers International Airport and to our first inn in Vicksburg. Both depart around 9 a.m., arrive in Vicksburg around 10:30 a.m., and arrive at the airport around 11 a.m. We suggest you schedule your flight home no earlier than 1 p.m.

Mississippi: The Natchez Trace 2010

Pre and Post Trip Extensions

There are no extensions available for this tour.

Accommodations

The Corners

Originally presented as a wedding gift, the house was built in 1873. The Corners sits atop a bluff overlooking the Mississippi Valley and River. Relax and enjoy the views from rockers on the front Gallery. The large double parlor with its floor to ceiling windows and baby grand piano is an ideal place to enjoy an after dinner drink with friends. Fifteen rooms offer a choice of southern elegance, Victorian charm or country simplicity. All rooms have private bath, color television and air conditioning.

Oak Square & Gibson's Landing

Oak Square, Port Gibson’s largest and most palatial mansion, is located in Mississippi’s first National Historic District. The home was built circa 1850. The name comes from the massive Oak trees that cover the grounds, covering almost a full town block.

Gibson's Landing is a magnificent home built in 1830. There is a three-story spiral staircase in the main hall. The inn’s guest rooms are located on the second and third floors. All have private bath and air-conditioning.

Monmouth Plantation

Quitman’s dream for Monmouth has been fully realized through the loving and careful restoration of the mansion and the addition of seven other buildings on this historic property. Built in 1818, Monmouth has 29 beautifully appointed rooms and suites. Monmouth has received numerous recognitions for its fine accommodation and dining.

Rating Level

Easy/Moderate

This tour offers a combination of primarily easy terrain mixed with some rolling hills (day two inside Vicksburg National Military Park being the most notable). Our VBT van support shuttle is always available for those who need assistance. This trip is ideal for both, the beginning and experienced cyclists.