Five Reasons to Love Mississippi AND Cover Reveal!

by Pam Hillman

Having been born and raised in Mississippi, I’d like to share FIVE reasons that make Mississippi an amazing place to set an entire series in my home state.

1) Mississippi River - The Mississippi River runs North/South all the way from Minnesota along the western border of Mississippi to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Native Americans, mostly hunter-gatherers and Mound Builders formed agricultural societies up and down its banks.

The river was (and still is) a major transportation hub as well as a barrier and boundary for those without the means to cross. Farms, plantations, cities, shipping, barges, flatboats, riverboats all vied for a place on or near the Mississippi River.

2) Natchez Trace - The Natchez Trace, also known as the "Old Natchez Trace" and “The Devil’s Backbone”, runs roughly 440 miles from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee.

The Old Sunken Trace and Cole's Creek

The trail follows a ridge line, and animals naturally followed the pathway to distant grazing lands, the salt licks in Tennessee, and to the Mississippi River. Native Americans, then European and American explorers, traders, and settlers followed in their paths, improving and widening the road with each passing year.

3) Natchez, MS - Natchez, at one time the capital of the Mississippi Territory, is one of the oldest and most important European settlements in the lower Mississippi River Valley. Changing hands from France, Spain, Great Britian and eventually becoming part of the United States of America, the city is a smorgasbord of nationalities, cultures, and architecture.

The strategic location on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River and at the Southern end of the Natchez Trace ensured its place as a center of trade and commerce for well over two centuries from its founding.

4) Plantations - Plantations are self-sustaining and self-contained settlements. The proximity of the Mississippi River and the Natchez Trace, and later, the invention of the steamboats plying the river in conjunction with the vast tracks of fertile land in the surrounding lowlands enticed wealthy Southern planters to take up residence, growing cotton and sugarcane and to lesser degrees, indigo and tobacco. Natchez became the principal port from which these crops were exported, both upriver and downriver to New Orleans and to Europe.

5) Highwaymen - Highwaymen weren’t confined to the English countryside. Because of the high rate of traffic on the Natchez Trace before the steamboat was launched on the Mississippi River in 1811, thieves and robbers plied the trace, stealing and killing unsuspecting travelers.

With all these fascinating people, places, events within a few hours of me, how could I not write about them? So I did.

The Promise of Breeze Hill - Available for preorder from your favorite Retailer

The Promise of Breeze Hill, A Natchez Trace Novel

Natchez, MS; 1791

Anxious for his brothers to join him on the rugged frontier along the Mississippi River, Connor O’Shea has no choice but to indenture himself as a carpenter in exchange for their passage from Ireland. But when he’s sold to Isabella Bartholomew of Breeze Hill Plantation, Connor fears he’ll repeat past mistakes and vows not to be tempted by the lovely lady.

The responsibilities of running Breeze Hill have fallen on Isabella’s shoulders after her brother was found dead in the swamps along the Natchez Trace and a suspicious fire devastated their crops, almost destroyed their home, and left her father seriously injured. Even with Connor’s help, Isabella fears she’ll lose her family’s plantation. Despite her growing feelings for the handsome Irish carpenter, she seriously considers accepting her wealthy and influential neighbor’s proposal of marriage.

Soon, though, Connor realizes someone is out to eliminate the Bartholomew family. Can he set aside his own feelings to keep Isabella safe?

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Visit Pam at www.pamhillman.com

Old Route 66

Almost Gone But Not Forgotten

by Martha Rogers

I am currently researching and writing a novella set in Texas on the old Route 66. I have found the history of the highway fascinating and when I realized 2016 is the 90^th anniversary of the highway, I decided to share some of what I have learned. Proclaimed the "Mother Road" after  Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath called it such, Route 66 is the source of legends, romance, and nostalgia.

Two men, Cyrus Avery of Tulsa, Oklahoma and John Woodruff of Springfield, Missouri deserve most of the credit for the highway link between Chicago and Los Angeles, it wasn’t until their dreams merged with a national program of highway development that their efforts came to fruition.

In 1916, the first legislation for public roads first appeared, but even after revisions in 1921, it wasn’t until 1925 that plans were actually executed. In 1926, Route 66 was officially named as the Chicago to Los Angeles route. From the beginning, planners intended to connect the main streets of rural and urban communities along the way for practical reasons and give them access to a major national thoroughfare.

Santa Monica: Beginning of the Road

The course of Route 66 was anything but straight. Its diagonal course rambled through predominantly rural communities across flat prairie lands. After leaving 

California, it ran across Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico before cross the plains of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois. This enabled farmers to transport grain and produce by way of trucking which had come to rival the railroad by 1930.

From 1933 to 1938, the highway commission employed thousands of male youths from virtually every state to pave the final stretches of the road. Because of this monumental effort, the Chicago-to-Los Angeles highway was designated as “continually paved” in 1938. 

The highway played an important role during WW II as the route facilitated the relocation of troops across the Midwest. During that time, Bobby Troup, a former pianist with Tommy Dorsey, wrote a lyrical road map that gave us the familiar phrase, “get your kicks on Route 66.” Nat King Cole released his recording of the song in 1946.

Businesses along the route prospered as travelers had need of lodging, food, 

and even car repair. The tourism generated by a Post-War travel society, ensured success for the tourist courts, diners, and garages springing up across the land.

As the travelers shunned hotels in larger towns, the motor courts or motels began to thrive. They offered amenities such as adjoining restaurants, souvenir shops and swimming pools. 

Ironically, the same need for mobility and improved highways that gave Route 66 its popularity also signaled its demise and by 1970, nearly all segments of the highway were by by-passed by a four-lane interstate highway. Because of lack of interest and poor maintenance, the final section of the original road was by-passed by Interstate 40 at Williams, Arizona in 1984.

The old Route 66 was decommissioned on June 27, 1985. Signs were removed and the road was almost lost. Even today you will have difficulty finding it on current maps. Many states have Historic Route 66 signs along the way, but rarely do they give instructions for exits or directions to the old road where it veers off from the interstate. However, a number of states such as Oklahoma have established Route 66 Museums where travelers can stop and gather information about the "Mother Road." This one is in Clinton, Oklahoma

                            

Many of us are familiar with the old TV show starring Martin Milner and George Maharias. That show brought Americans back to the route looking for new adventures. Segments of the highway can still be found along the route and that’s what I went looking for and found the route through the Panhandle of Texas that will give my heroine a great new adventure in her life.

More information can be found on the web-site: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/66-info.html

Martha Rogers is a free-lance writer and writes a weekly devotional for ACFW. Martha and her husband Rex live in Houston where they enjoy spending time with their grandchildren.  A former English and Home Economics teacher, Martha loves to cook and experimenting with recipes and loves scrapbooking when she has time. She has written three series, Winds Across the Prairie and Seasons of the Heart and The Homeward Journey. Her new contemporary series, Love in the Bayou City of Houston and novella, Christmas Blessing are now available on Amazon.  

Find Martha at:  www.marthawrogers.com