Natchez National Historic Park is a new NPS park for us but one that was only partially open. This is Melrose and we were able to tour the grounds only. It is a quite an outstanding house. We were able to go through another home, Rosalie, that is private and still open for tours. They only take a few people at a time and everything was quite safely done. We were in Natchez 16 years ago but did not even know about this NPS unit. It was authorized about 30 years ago but I don’t know when it opened. There is a second building, also closed, that was the home of a successful free African American barber who kept a daily diary for many years that gives a lot of insight into the culture. He was quite the entrepreneur.

The inconsistency of the NPS is frustrating. Some VC are open, some closed. Some have access to museum and buildings, others nothing. Even here at Melrose, all the displays are closed, all the outbuildings shuttered and you cannot even enter the VC they have a window with plexiglass and a speaker. At Vicksburg there is an outdoor display of an ironclad under a huge tent sort of building. You could walk up to the one side but the walk around 2/3rds of the ship was closed. When we wee there for about 20 minutes there were two other people on site about 5 minutes. Huge outdoor parking lot and space. It is not just about what can be done safely but also what is easier.

Cadillac Tracks - I don’t understand the issue, if there is no food, no coffee why do you want to go in?