Day 201: Chennault Aviation & Military Museum, Monroe, LA
Raining.
We had to make an appointment to view the Frogmore Cotton Plantation and Cotton Gins, since this time of year they are closed much of the time. Tom and I had the tour guide exclusively to ourselves. We spent 2 1/2 hours walking around the plantation and viewing videos regarding the history of the plantation. We learned a whole lot about how cotton is grown and processed. This was a very worthwhile tour for us. I am surprised how labor-intensive the work of growing cotton was before the Gin. We were also shown cabins where slaves, and later sharecroppers, lived, what they ate, and how they worked.
The point was made that slavery still exists in much of the world, and it’s called Human Trafficking now, and the folks who run this historical farm are fighting the fight against Human Trafficking today.
We crossed the Mississippi River into Natchez, Mississippi.
This town has a very interesting history. It grew into a wealthy town because of the cotton trade. Many fine Antebellum (pre-Civil War) mansions still exist, because there were no battles here.
The boll weevil devastated the cotton industry in the early 1900s, so much that the Great Depression wasn’t really noticed. Natchez was no longer a place of wealth. In the 1970s an effort was made to make Natchez a historical destination.
Arvitrekking 
Good information…. yes I’ve know that growing and processing cotton was a lot of work… I myself would not have done well with that chore…I love the rich history lesson, wish I would have paid better attention in school
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Yeah, I don’t think I learned anything new, maybe the specifics of harvesting cotton, but it was quite the experience being there
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