This post is by my blogging friend Marian at Marian’s Hunting Stories. I have to say I’ve never known anyone to know more about their hometown than Marian. If ever I visit Vicksburg, this lady will have to be my tour guide.

Don’t forget about our giveaways going on at A Frugal Housewife, A Blessed Crazy Life, and here at The Hunter’s Wife.

I was honored to be asked by Jody to be a guest on her blog, The Hunter‘s Wife. She told me I could write about anything. What came to mind was to talk about my hometown of Vicksburg where I was born, raised, married, worked, had my children, my children had children, and their children had children.

I was born January 27, 1941, and attended a parochial school, Saint Francis Xavier Academy, and was taught by the Sisters of Mercy for 12 years. In fact, we will be celebrating our 50th Class Reunion in April 2009. (Just so happens, we will be holding our first meeting tonight). I lived in the same house until I turned 21 and left home to marry. I retired from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in September of 1995. I have seen a lot of growth in my hometown, and I am very proud to have lived here all my life.

My hometown is a very historical town, and there is so much to see and do in Vicksburg. For the history buff, there is the 1,800-acre National Military Park, America’s most monumental national park, where the fate of a nation was decided in 1863. Within the park, you’ll also find a Union ironclad gunboat and over 6,300 recovered artifacts, which had been submersed on the bottom of the Yazoo River for 102 years. The largest National Military Cemetery of Union dead in the U.S. is located in the park, and a few miles away, 5,000 Confederates repose in Soldiers Rest in City Cemetery.

For over five decades, Vicksburg was the center for the aristocracy whose wealth was based on cotton and lumber. A glimpse of its former glory is evidenced by the preservation of many historic churches (two containing Tiffany stained glass windows), Government buildings, and homes dated back to the 19th Century. Our most historic building is the Old Court House Museum, a National Landmark, which survived the Civil War with minimal damage. It now houses over 10,000 artifacts from pre-Columbian times to the present day.

Historic downtown Vicksburg offers a variety of restaurants, boutiques, shops, art galleries, and antique stores. You’ll also find The Corner Drug Store with a huge collection of Civil War artifacts; the Coca-Cola Museum, where the first ever Coca-Cola was bottled in 1894; and the Antique Doll and the Toy Museum. On the floodwall, along Levee Street, over 20 murals by artist Robert Dafford depict the history of Vicksburg. Across the street is the whimsical Children’s Art Park at Catfish Row.

If it’s gaming you want, dockside casinos abound offering games, food, and entertainment 24 hours a day year round. If it’s birding, fishing, hunting, golfing or picnicking at the Riverfront Park, it’s here for you. Traditional and special events, such as the Spring and Fall Historic Home Tours, Riverfest, Civil War reenactments, Miss Mississippi Pageant, arts and music programs, farmers market, flea markets, festivals parades, races, and sport tournaments fill our calendar throughout the year. You can hear the calliope playing as the American or the Delta Queen cruise ships dock at our waterfront for tours of our city, which is also known as the “Red Carpet City of The South!”

We have beautiful Bed and Breakfast Inns and most are mansions. One in particular that I like is Cedar Grove Mansion-Inn (1840-1858) that is on 5 acres of land overlooking the Mississippi River. A Union cannonball is still lodged in the parlor wall.

Vicksburg is also one of Mississippi’s 20 Certified Retirement Communities, having received its certification through the State of Mississippi in January 1997. It indicates that Vicksburg possesses all of the amenities that retirees are looking for when making a relocation decision. I hope you have enjoyed my post on my fair city. If you are in the area, let me know you are coming so I can learn you to talk Southern, Y’all!