I had my first day ever of metal detecting. Mike Mangrum, myself and son, Daniel, went to Sango, TN where Steve Belsheim owns about 19 acres of land that supposedly Union soldiers camped on for several months. It’s called Campground Bottom and we went the full length of the area twice but found no evidence of the soldiers. We did find very old nails, barbed wire, a large chain, an ax head, some sort of plowing piece, and even a bullet (it appeared to be modern). We even got to see the bridge named after Steve Belsheim!

To see the photos, go here.

What a full day. It’s 10:30pm and I’m tired. We completed the Trace today. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Several memorable stops. We started out the day with a Crafts shop the ladies really wanted to see. We got there about 30 minutes early. So someone had the brilliant idea we would walk the trail. It felt too much like exercise. We then exited the Trace and using I-20, we went to Vicksburg National Military Park. I took a lot of pictures. The link for pictures is below. One memorable stop was Windsor Ruins, about 10 miles southwest of Port Gibson near Alcorn State University. It was surreal. Go to the link and read more about it. We finished the night with a very nice dinner at a Mexican restaurant walking distance from the hotel. There, we were serenaded with the theme from Pretty Woman, Sante Fe, and some song that you periodically yelled “Tequila.”

Natchez Trace Parkway – Day Three photos

One really neat thing about having a wife who’s parents live in Topsham, Maine, is that we are only a mile from where Joshua Chamberlain’s house is located in Brunswick, Maine, just across the Brunswick-Topsham Bridge. The church, First Parish Church, where his father preached and Joshua attended is located there as well. His house is also located just across the street from Bowdoin College where he was a professor. His house is now a museum. Further down from the college is Pine Grove Cemetary where Joshua Chamberlain and some of his family are buried. To see pictures of the home, church, college, and gravesite, please visit my flickr website to see the images.