Tamales & Natchez Mississippi

Date Visited: 4/3/2019

First let me start by saying that we were in no way compensated for the information we are about to share. The views and opinions are expressly our own!

Last week I mentioned that we were headed to the southern terminus of the Natchez Trace Parkway. Fittingly enough, the 444 mile scenic drive starts (or ends depending on which direction you are headed) in a wonderful little town called Natchez in the state of Mississippi. After a night of fresh air we had a huge hole in our tummies. So our first stop was a quest for food at Fat Mama’s Tamales!

During the process of planning our trip we purchased the Moon Nashville to New Orleans Road Trip guide by Margaret Littman. The guide was instrumental in helping us to select our stops and find places to eat and camp along the historic trace. Among the many wonderful sounding restaurants listed in the city of Natchez was a place called Fat Mama’s Tamales. I looked it up online and their website boasted of award-winning tamales and Knock-You-Naked margaritas! Now how can a taco loving, margarita drinking couple pass by a place like this. So tamales it was!

Boy are we glad we stopped here for lunch! They sell tamales by the 1/2 and dozen. We purchased a dozen (Mr. McGee has a big appetite!) and skipped the margaritas since we would be driving. We chose to sit outside under the vine covered pagoda and settled in for what turned out to be an outstanding lunch.

When I say that a dozen tamales was not enough I am not kidding. They were filling alright, but they were so good we could have continued to eat them until we both burst. The cornmeal dough was exactly the right thickness, the filling superb, and the combination of sauce and spices made these the best tamales we have ever purchased. Fortunately we were able to practice restraint and stopped before overindulging too much! On our next trip to Natchez we plan to try those Knock-You-Naked margaritas as they seem to be a favorite with the locals.

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The city of Natchez is a sweet little town with beautiful brick sidewalks, horse drawn carriages and laid back southern charm. It was founded along the Mississippi river in 1716 by French settlers, but is known to have been inhabited as far back as the 8th century. There are over 5.5 miles of walkways and streets filled with interesting places to shop, historical sites, Antebellum homes, and unique places to eat.

With so much to see we suggest stopping at the Natchez visitor center before planning your day. There you can view a 20 minute video about the city and get your National Parks passport stamp (along with maps and information for the Natchez Trace Parkway) at the National Parks office located inside the premises. You can also view museum exhibits or schedule a tour of the various Antebellum homes.

We drove around taking in the many sights and decided that we would definitely return some day on a destination vacation. As for this trip we had other plans to take a historic journey down the Natchez Trace Parkway.

And so we proceed to Mile Post 0 (the Southern Terminus) to start our multi-day, three state journey. We hope you join us next week as we begin this fascinating road trip and start a series of smaller posts that will highlight some of the significant points of interest that can be found along the way.

Until then….

Natchez Visitor Center 
640 S. Canal St.
Natchez, MS 39120
800-647-6724
Website

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