Aqua Harbor & Shiloh Military Park

Sunday, October 5

We had a peaceful night at anchor and awoke to a beautiful morning. This picture was taken as the sun rose while we were still at anchor. I mentioned the minnows in the last post, this morning there were two fishermen in a john boat with a hand net catching them. They had a large plastic bucket in the bow into which they dumped them. Despite the abundance of minnows a good throw of the net appeared to bring up only a dozen or two and many throws came up empty.

After a leisurely breakfast we got both anchors up without a problem and headed back out onto Lake Wilson, it was another beautiful day.

We started about an hour from the Wilson Lock, when we were twenty five minutes out, we called on the radio. The lockmaster replied the lock was up and let him know when we were close and he would open the gates. If you read our upriver blog you remember that Wilson Lock has a drop of ninety three feet, the highest in the eastern US. It also has an upper gate that rises straight up and down rather than swinging sideways. The pictures show; looking forward at the lower gate, the upper gate rising out of the water, the upper gate all the way up, the upper gate after we were at the bottom and the lower gate opening. My calculations show that 45 million gallons of water were emptied out of the chamber to lower us the ninety three feet, all in less than fifteen minutes.

We continued down Pickwick Lake (the upper stretch is more river than lake) with little traffic other than a lot of fisherman. From something heard on the radio I believe there was a bass fishing tournament that day. The wind was light, when it was directly behind us it actually felt a little warm, when the wind was from the side or on the bow it was delightful sitting on the bridge enjoying the scenery. For the first time we are starting to see some fall color. On the lower part of the lake it is wider and in the afternoon there were many pleasure boats out.

By 4:00 we were pulling out of the Tennessee into Yellow Creek (the start of the Tenn-Tom waterway), past Grand Harbor Marina and into Aqua Yacht Harbor where we had reservations for two nights.

We got tied up and had a relaxing evening with dinner aboard and conversation with other boaters.

Monday, October 6

We borrowed the marina courtesy van and drove to Corinth, MS where we had a car reserved. We returned the van to the marina and had a quick lunch.

Then we headed out to Shiloh National Military Park. This is a 4000 plus acre park that documents the two day battle between the confederate forces who surprised the union forces who thought the confederates were twenty miles away. The confederates had the better of the first day but the union forces were able to get reinforcements across the river that night and ultimately won the battle on the second day. The casualties were in the thousands on both sides.

The battle draws its name from a small church that was in the middle of the battle field, the original was destroyed during the battle, and this one was build shortly after the war. There is still a congregation that meets in a newer (1950s) building at the site.

The park is filled with both monuments and with markers that detail where different units were and who they were engaging on an hour by hour basis throughout the battle. It has a way of making the civil war seem very real and personnel. I would strongly recommend it to anyone that is anywhere near the area.

This is an example of a monument to a fallen high ranking officer.

The union dead are buried in a National Cemetery on the grounds; the confederate dead are in several marked mass graves.

On the way back to the boat we drove through the Pickwick Landing State Park. We had planned to stay at their marina on the trip up river but could not get in. They are rebuilding some of their slips for permanent boats and the displaced boats are using what would normally be transient dock, so no transient dockage this year.

We had another peaceful night on the boat but the weather forecast says that may change. Aqua is a great marina, with excellent facilities, but they lack a decent internet system. The wi-fi system is fine but it attaches to the internet by satellite, every time the gust of wind comes by the connection is lost. I am getting behind on the post again.

Tuesday, October 7


I had a part I needed. The service department was able to order it Monday for deliver today.

We borrowed the courtesy van again and returned the rental car. Since the part would not be in until early afternoon and the weather forecast was for rain, thunder showers and windy we decided to stay put for another night.