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Vicksburg VictoriousHistory and hospitality reign in MississippiBy Angela Fox
Today, you can relive the Civil War throughout the city. Begin your journey back in time at the Vicksburg National Military Park. The park features historic monuments, reconstructed trenches and earthworks, a 16-mile tour road, an antebellum home, a restored Union gunboat and the Vicksburg National Cemetery. Civil War buffs will also want to visit other Vicksburg attractions like the Gray and Blue Naval Museum, with the world's largest collection of Civil War gunboat models, and The Vanishing Glory, a 30-minute film on the Siege of Vicksburg based on the diaries and letters of the citizens and soldiers who were there.
Historic sites, the quaint shops of downtown and the city’s riverfront casinos are just minutes away from the mansion or Anchuca guests can just relax in the New Orleans style courtyard with its fountain and gardens or take a dip in the inn’s secluded swimming pool.
After exploring the antebellum homes of Vicksburg, search out treasures of your own at the antique shops downtown. The area also boasts coffee houses, restaurants and specialty shops, plus some delightful small museums. Nostalgia fans will love the Biedenharn Museum of Coca-Cola Memorabilia, where you can enjoy a real fountain coke or an ice cream float, browse through displays and select a souvenir from the gift shop. For a museum that brings out the kid in everyone, stop in Yesterday's Children Antique Doll and Toy Museum, with more than 1,000 dolls and toys dating from the 1880s to the present. After a day of historic homes and hallowed battlefields, you’ll be ready for some modern nightlife at the city’s casino resorts. At Ameristar Casino, Vicksburg's largest, you’ll find 1400 slot machines and 50 table games as well as the new Bottleneck’s Blues Bar where Delta blues music can be heard nightly. Or you might find that pot of gold at the blackjack, craps or roulette tables at the Rainbow Casino. You can enjoy hearty Southern cooking served at the Rainbow Buffet and stay at the adjoining luxury hotel or play and stay at the Isle of Capri Casino and Hotel and feast on peel-and-eat shrimp, crab legs, hand-carved roast beef and sumptuous desserts at Calypso's Buffet. Photographs by Virgil Fox For More Information: Anchuca Mansion |
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Vicksburg earned
its place in American history during the Civil War when a desperate struggle to
control the city took place. The pivotal battle lasted 47 days, with the Union
forces bombarding Vicksburg non-stop while Confederate troops fought back from
caves dug into the hillsides of the town. Starved and exhausted, Confederate
forces surrendered at last and on the morning of July 4, Ulysses S. Grant and
his Union forces marched into Vicksburg, giving the North control of the
Mississippi River. 
History in Vicksburg isn’t
confined to museums and military parks, though. The past lives on in the city’s
antebellum mansions, many of which are open for tours or offer accommodations
and fine dining. My husband and I recently stayed at Anchuca, the first historic
home in the city to become a bed and breakfast inn. The gracious Greek Revival
mansion with its impressive columned porch was built in 1830, served as a
hospital during the Siege of Vicksburg and was the site of one of Jefferson
Davis' last public addresses following the war. 
Anchuca is a Choctaw Indian
word meaning "happy home" and owner Tom Pharr and his partner and Anchuca chef
Chris Brinkley make sure the inn lives up to its name. Furnished with fine
antiques and art representing, the ambiance is elegant but never stuffy.
Accommodations range from a vast master suite and other bedrooms in the Main
House to four cozy bedrooms (all with private bath) in the detached Carriage
House. Included in your stay here are complimentary beverages upon arrival and a
full Southern-style plantation breakfast followed by a tour of the home. Chef
Brinkley’s breakfast creations are luscious, ranging from rich cheese grits and
gourmet scrambled eggs to ham and sweet onion tart and poppy seed cake with
orange glaze. Brinkley also prepares special occasion meals like the annual
Valentine’s Day 4-course dinner that includes seafood gumbo, salad, a choice of
steak or red snapper and desserts like chocolate sour cream pound cake and
plantation cream cake. You can recreate some of these culinary delights at home
by purchasing the Taste of Anchuca cookbook. 
Another must-do in Vicksburg
is the Cedar Grove Mansion and Inn, an 1840 Greek Revival masterpiece
overlooking the Mississippi River on four acres. You can take a tour, dine at
the elegant Andre's and even stay overnight in the same room where Grant once
slept. Our dinner at Andre’s one night included marvelous crab cakes, seafood
pasta and perfectly prepared fresh tuna. Other antebellum homes open for tours
include McRaven, the Martha Vick House and Duff Green Mansion. The city opens
the doors to its historic homes even wider during the annual spring and fall
pilgrimages and the Christmas season when dozens of special events are offered.
This year’s spring pilgrimage dates are March 12-April 2. The city’s annual
Chamber Music Festival also happens in April and features classical and
contemporary chamber music performances all over town.