City of the People

 Demopolis

On Wednesday November 2nd we rolled out of our great anchorage at Crooks Bend South and headed 58 miles plus one lock to Kingfisher Marina in Dempolis, MS. On the way we passed the White Cliffs of Epps. Don’t know if they were granite but they were pretty white. Demopolis translates to City of the People and was established in 1817. The city was where many of the wealthy planters, read plantation owners hung out when they were not on the plantation or the growing and harvesting season was over.

So there is a number of stately Antebellum homes right on the river that they used as their “town homes.” We were able to tour two of them. One was actually not very typical of the time in that it was very open and airy with high ceilings and rooms that opened into one another. It was not terribly ornate but very nice in that I could easily see someone today living in it. One thing that stood out was what looked liked quarter sawn trim work.

As many of you know that is my favorite word to work with. Well there was something that bugged me about it and I could not put my finger on it. Then in one section I saw so white under it. Well it turns out it was not real wood but faux finish over plaster. It looked really good and was considered a luxury way of doing trim. We took a spin thru town which was a bit disappointing in that most of the store fronts were shuttered.

It had all the right ingredients for a renaissance but no signs of such. On Thursday 8 loopers jumped in the marina shuttle bus and headed of to the only good restaurant in town called Red Barn. Well barn it was. It was pretty rustic but in a good way. So seeing they had chicken gizzards as an appetizer I decided to take a flyer. Guess what? They were just like usual, chewy and chickeny. Most at the table liked them.

The highlight was our 23 yo waitress Bailey. She was a firecracker. When someone would order a beer or drink she did not approve of she would say, “Gross.” It was quite funny. Anyhow four of us ended up staying to hear a county singer playing at the upstairs bar and Bailey ended up being our Uber driver back to the marina. She had us laughing all the way.

We stayed two nights in Demopolis and left Friday morning for a planned anchorage. This stretch of the river is very remote and had many anchoring opportunities. We ended up in a deep bend directly on the river just above Bashi Creek where a number of other Loopers had pulled into for the night. We rafted up with Tomijean and enjoyed dinner together and a beautiful sunset.

We also experienced a couple of tows moving down river in complete darkness. They use these incredibly bright spotlights to light up the banks as they make their way. It is really neat looking and somewhat creepy. We heard owls hooting in the woods alone with wild boar rutting and foraging for food. It was a very peaceful nights sleep. 

Just another lock

Beautiful interior finishes. 

Example of the Faux graining

Nice open rooms. The docent gave us a special treat, She played the music box they had on display. It is supposedly a very rare example. It is in the pic on the left side. 

How’s this for a kitchen?

White cliffs

Nice river cabin