Lunching Ladies And Abandoned Churches In Natchez, Mississippi

Gazebo in Natchez overlooking the Mississippi River

I have to admit that Mississippi, like Iowa and Nebraska, was one of those states that I never expected to ever visit. However, I found myself in the Natchez area a few weeks ago for my friend Ann and her husband’s wedding vow renewal ceremony. While in town, Ann and her mother gave me a whirlwind half-day tour of Natchez, which started with a stop at a historic plantation house where we visited with Ann’s aunt. Ann, in her syrupy Southern drawl, asked her aunt,”Where do the ladies lunch these days? Where do the snobs eat?”

That’s how we ended up at Cotton Alley Cafe. This charming cafe played jazz music and had all sorts of art over all of the walls, which made it seem rather hip amidst the surrounding antebellum architecture of downtown Natchez. Since Ann and her mother were from the area, of course they knew some of the lunching ladies at the restaurant. Formal greetings and cordial introductions were exchanged, you know, as Southern ladies do. I, on the other hand, had never felt more like a fast-talking Yankee in my life, and I’m originally from West Virginia.

Anyway, the food was pretty good, as the lunching ladies wouldn’t expect any less. The menu included local specialties like etouffee and gumbo, as well as a selection of sandwiches and salads. We went with sandwiches and gumbo, all washed down with sweet tea, naturally. To round out this southern meal, we ended with the bread pudding, which arrived topped with plenty of tasty bourbon sauce.

Cotton Alley Cafe soup, sandwich, sweet potato fries, sweet tea

Since Ann knows I have a fascination with old, preferably abandoned places with interesting architecture, she drove out of downtown Natchez and into the woods. After passing a bit of swamp and a bunch of beehives, we came up upon a stunning 1830s church, completely surrounded by Spanish moss-draped forest and completely lacking a parking lot.

Old church in the Natchez woods

It was gorgeous. Peaceful. Wonderful. Inside, we found magnificent light fixtures and statues. One sculpture definitely dated back to the days when the Catholics still studied astrology (I want to say that ended around 1870), as it depicted Jesus holding a globe of sorts that featured the twelve astrological signs. It was definitely one of the coolest old churches I’ve seen in the United States.

A sculpture and an ornate divider in an old Natchez church

Of course, I couldn’t tell you how to get there and would never be able to retrace my steps. Just drive through some forests and swamps outside of Natchez. Speaking of swamps, since I had never seen one, Ann drove me around a beautiful, massive swamp on her family’s property. Unfortunately, the alligators were all hibernating.

A Mississippi swamp

Tags: abandoned places, blogging101, cotton alley cafe, mississippi, natchez, photo101, travel