Saturday, October 23, 2004
Warfield Point Park, Greenville, MS - Oct 22-23
This nice county park ($10/night for over 50) is located right along the mighty Mississippi, between the levee and the river, so you don't want to be there during flood season! The warm humidity continued, along with heavy rains, but not enough to cause alarm, just enough to keep us inside most of the time. The views of the river were quite lovely, and it was nice to watch the barges moving slowly along.We visited the River Road Queen Welcome Center, which was built as an exhibit at the 1986 Louisiana World Exposition to look like a 19th-century stern-wheeler.
We also visited the Winterville Mounds, located about 5 miles north of town, the site of a prehistoric ceremonial center built by a Native American civilization that thrived from about 1000 AD to 1450. There were originally at least 23 mounds, but now they are striving to protect 12 of the sites largest mounds. Many mounds were destroyed by "civilization" before their importance was realized. Only the highest-ranking officials lived at the actual mound site; the rest of the people lived in scattered settlement districts throughout the Yazoo-Mississippi River Delta basin. By 1450 AD the site appears to have been completely abandoned.
Greenville has a couple of dinky-looking casinos, located along the river (the legal requirement seems to be that they be on the water). Greenville is noted as the "cradle of the Blues", as many famous musicians rose from this area. Greenville has also produced several Pulitzer-Prize winning authors, including Shelby Foote.# posted by Doug and Willie @ 11:46 PM 
