Saturday, August 14 saw me leaving New Orleans, LA to end up in Vancleave, MS and stay with my MeeMaw - my father's mother.
The drives both from Baton Rouge to New Orleans and from New Orleans east pass by some of the best landscapes that the country has to offer. When most people think of swamplands I'm sure that they envision muggy cesspools of mosquitoes and alligators. Well, yes, I guess that is completely true. But if you stay a respectable distance from the ankle-consuming muck, say, 100 feet away on the highway, then it is a breathtaking sight to behold.
It might just be me, but I can think of few trees that are more beautiful than Cypress Trees. Their enormous knotted trunks rise and twist around themselves. The bumpy roots that are lovingly called "knees" emerge from the algae covered water. The Spanish Moss that thrives amongst their branches drapes like a green wedding veil meant to mask the scarred wood beneath. For miles and miles both before and after New Orleans you see nothing but Cypress on either side and all you want to do is go take a nap on that soft-looking moss. Or, at least, that is all I want to do. Just watch out for the chiggers!
The Cypress drive, however, was just a means to my end. And that end was in Vancleave, Mississippi. Vancleave is, and has always been, home to my grandmother, Peggy. I don't know if I've ever called her Peggy, however, for she has always been "MeeMaw" to myself, my brother, and even my mother.
For as long as I can remember I have enjoyed visiting MeeMaw's house, for it is like no other house I have ever been in. More than anything it is a museum, a tribute to times past. Even the bathrooms are decorated with vintage tin signs advertising porcelain toilet bowls. Next to the tub is a stepped box containing at least thirty different bars of vibrantly colorful soap. Her kitchen has dishes and bowls of all shapes and sizes, and even has little appetizer plates from Delta Airlines. She has frames containing sheets of turn-of-the-century dollar bills, and costume jewelry from the days when she was a model. There is never a lack of something to explore when you are in MeeMaw's house.
Of course, all of these trinkets pale in comparison to the main attraction in the Plunk House of Wonders - the old Dees' Post Office. You see, Peggy Plunk was once Peggy Dees. I'm going to have to ask my dad to point out any butchered facts that I give, but let's see if I can get at least some of the history right.
She lived on Old Dees Pl across the street from the Vancleave General Store, which her father owned. The store sold just about anything you needed, and contained the town's post office. The post office was a large hexagonal wooden structure with just about enough room for one person inside. There were numbered slots that acted as P.O. Boxes and a bulletin board wall where wanted posters hung next to lost child and dog flyers.
Unfortunately, sometime before I was born, the general store burned down. Just about everything was lost, and I don't think that they rebuilt it. The only thing remaining to uphold the Dees legacy is that old Post Office. It now resides in my grandmother's living room, just as it was right before the fire. The wanted posters are miraculously still in tact, and some of the P.O. Boxes even have mail in them - although I wonder how many of those letters are from the time, and how many were put there later by my thrifty MeeMaw.
As always, MeeMaw was a gracious host, and I had an excellent time staying with her. We ate marinated crab fingers and crab stew for dinner, drank some of her homemade sweet tea, and we explored her vintage jewelry collection. I came home with a crazy-cool watch made of pennies and a necklace made of animal bone. Win for me, I'd say.
In the morning I gave a big farewell hug to my grandmother (who was toting along a purse my mom once embroidered for her) and set off north to venture into the Mississippi farm lands.
As I write this, you all should know, I am sitting in the Bangor, ME public library. You should all be excited for the post that is coming out of my trip up here. As a teaser... there will be photos!
Until then,
Love, love, super thrifty vintage love,
Amy Plunk!
Progress across this country of ours
B) Cheyenne Wells, CO
C) Lubbock, TX
D) Austin, TX
E) Baton Rouge, LA
F) New Orleans, LA
G) Vancleave, MS
Total mileage so far: 1,608
I'm so glad someone explained that Spanish Moss is absolutely teeming with chiggers (aka "redbugs"). I don't believe you ever got into them but I assure you....you NEVER want to encounter chiggers!
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