Detour to French camp: take a step back in time at this unsported Natchez Truce settlements.

To motorists traveling the Natchez Trace, French Camp--midway between Jackson and Tupelo--looks like a frontier-era settlement: A weathered dogtrot log cabin stands behind a split rail fence. A white clapboard church crowns a hill. If it's a Saturday in September or October, a mule may be working in an open-air shed. Curious motorists stop, wondering if this is real or a re-creation.

A closer look reveals a number of surprises for today's Trace traveler.

French Camp was settled by French Canadian Louis LeFleur in 1812. He married Rebecca Cravat, the sister of Choctaw Chief Pushmataha. Their son, Greenwood LeFlore, was the last Chief of the Choctaw Nation and was known for his role in administering the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, which ceded Choctaw lands east of the Mississippi River to the United States. LeFlore's black carriage with sterling silver accents and twin lanterns is preserved behind glass in a building here. Twice he traveled to Washington, D.C., in this fragile-looking vehicle to plead the case for his people.

A group of Scottish-Irish Christians first established French Camp Academy on this quiet rural spot in 1885. Today the school sits on 1,200 acres and is interdenominational, with an enrollment of some 75 day students and 180 boarding. Most students come from at-risk situations such as divorce or the death or separation of a parent and need a stable environment. In addition to regular classroom studies for grades 9-12 (students attend a local public school for grades K-8), the students are also involved in a variety of unique campus ministries.

Some students serve at the Council House Restaurant, which is located next to the dogtrot cabin. This small eatery features hearty soups and sandwiches made with French Camp bread. The broccoli salad and Mississippi mud cake are almost as famous as the bread, which is also used to make a delicious bread pudding. In case you're curious, "Big Willy's BLT" is named after Ed Williford, school vice president of development.

The idea of offering a loaf of bread to anyone who donated funds to the school came from Sam Patterson, academy president in 1950. "When I came in 1983, we sent out 1,500 loaves," said Williford. "In 2002, we sent out 19,000." Each loaf is boxed and includes printouts of Bible verses John 6:35, "And Jesus said unto them I am the bread of life; he that cometh unto me shall never hunger," and Philippians 4:19, "My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in Jesus Christ."

On an average day, chief baker Annie Carter begins baking around 8:30 a.m. to make 70 loaves. When batches are doubled, she must begin much earlier. After school, academy students assist her in the bakery, which is located in the same building as the Visitor's Center and academy development offices. Some 7,000 loaves were mailed last Christmas.

French Camp was the first settlement in the area to establish a post office and became a regular stop for post riders who traveled the Trace. Andrew Jackson and his men camped here, possibly on Jackson's return to Nashville as the hero of the Battle of New Orleans. During the two-week encampment, three soldiers died, but the location of their graves has been lost to memory. Jackson's anvil is displayed in French Camp's new museum, the Margaret Adams Kimball Alumni Historical Museum. This circa-1855 log cabin was moved here in 1999.

Items for the museum arrive regularly, including a collection of dresses--wedding, mourning, everyday--from the 1890-1910 era that was left anonymously in a black plastic bag on the doorstep. Another donation, displayed in the nearby 1846 Drane House, is a Sears, Roebuck & Co. Beckwith organ. The 1906 shipping instructions state: "Do not under any circumstances let it drop from the wagon as this will rack the organ."

The Federal-style Drane House itself was a gift to French Camp. The only problem was that it had to be moved from its original site eight miles distant. In order to travel on the highway with its numerous power lines, the power company estimated a "moving fee" far beyond the school's budget. In what academy president Richard Cannon described as an answer to prayer, an enterprising solution was conceived. The roof and upper story were removed, and Cannon's son rode with the house. Each time they approached a power line, his son used a special pole to lift the wires so that the house could limbo underneath. The move cost only $120.

After school, male students head for French Camp's farm buildings to learn blacksmithing with Dale Jones. The girls gather with Irene Taylor in the Drane House for an old-fashioned quilting session or attend embroidery lessons at the 1840 Huffman dogtrot log cabin. The cabin also serves as a gift shop for visitors.

The field in front of the dogtrot cabin is the scene of sorghum molasses-making during the Harvest Festival, which takes place each year on the second Saturday in October. Students harvest and strip the cane, which is crushed in a mill powered by a mule. "The mule can't walk fast enough to make all the sorghum molasses people want to buy," said Williford. In years when the cane is abundant, molasses is made most October weekends using an antique "Popping Johnny" tractor. Another main feature of the Harvest Festival is a quilt auction, where winning bids range from $300 to $3,000.

The popularity of the fall Harvest Festival has inspired a new spring event, Pioneer Day, scheduled for May 10, 2003. Live demonstrations will include spinning, weaving, leatherwork, broom-making, chair-caning, and early American toy-making. Music and storytelling will round out the activities.

Another after-school campus ministry is the operation of radio station WFCA. This commercial, nonprofit Southern gospel music station first went on-air in 1984 and has since given hundreds of students hands-on training in the field of broadcasting. The 100,000-watt station can be heard at 107.9 FM by listeners within about a 100-mile range.

Unlike many schools, the onset of summer doesn't mean children are no longer present on the French Camp campus. One of the year's most anticipated events is the start of summer sessions at the Camp of the Rising Son, put on as a ministry of the school. The camp facilities are separate from the school and allow campers to participate in activities including canoeing, fishing, horseback riding, swimming, archery, crafts, and more. For more on the Camp of the Rising Son, see "Cabin Fever" on pg. 44.

Perhaps the most surprising feature of French Camp is the Rainwater Observatory off Highway 413, marked by a sign that reads, "The heavens declare the glory of God. Psalm 19:1."

"Far and above, more people come to the French Camp campus to visit the observatory," said Williford. "It's out in the middle of a cow pasture, very homespun." Fortunately, the observatory has been fenced, so visitors no longer have to watch their step or worry about cows wandering among the 17 telescopes and optical instruments at the site.

Named after the family who previously owned the property; the Rainwater Observatory and Planetarium is the largest facility of its kind in Mississippi. Although director Jim Hill complains about the light pollution every time there's an evening football game nearby, the atmospheric conditions here are some of the most favorable in the state.

"Eighty percent of Mississippians can't see the Milky Way," said Hill, "but when it gets dark at French Camp, it's dark."

Public events are scheduled throughout the year on Saturdays closest to the full moon as well as for spectacular viewing of comets, meteor showers, and other astronomical phenomena. Day visitors also find much to explore, particularly when Hill is available to share his enthusiasm and knowledge of astronomy.

Mimicking the wisdom of the ancients, Hill has re-created Stonehenge here to show solstice and equinox sunrise and sunset points. He calls French Camp's monument "Posthenge." "I couldn't afford big rocks." Elsewhere, Hill has made an analemma clock/calendar out of concrete .stones painted with elongated 8s. Positioned next to a sun-capturing ornament, the clock/calendar demonstrates the eccentricity of Earth's orbit. "The sun travels in a figure eight in the sky," he said in early November. "This time of year, the clock is 16 minutes ahead."

Shadows from push pins on a shed wall serve as another calendar clock. A larger structure of hoops resembling a jungle gym to the uninitiated is actually a celestial hemisphere for showing Earth's motion and axial tilt. The shortest arc marks the sun's path in winter--9 1/2 daylight hours. During the equinox, the sun's path is due east/west. The longest arc represents the suns position during the long summer days--14 1/2 hours.

Five telescopes with various solar filters can be used for daytime viewing. Among these, a 32-inch light-collecting telescope is the largest in the state and the centerpiece of the observatory. By contrast, Hill has also assembled a low-tech model of the solar system using various odd-sized balls on posts positioned to represent their respective distances from the sun in our solar system. Pluto is located near the parking area. "But it's not really a planet," Hill said. "It's been demoted." Astronomers now believe it's a chunk of icy debris left over from the creation of the solar system, he said.

Back in town, the carillon from the French Camp Baptist Church plays. It is one of the few things in French Camp that is not associated with the sprawling French Camp Academy and its ministries. Sounding the hour, the musical bells add to the old-fashioned atmosphere of the town. "The first time I heard it," recalled Ed Williford, "I felt as if the hymn was playing right next to heaven."

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French Camp is located at milepost 180.7 on the Natchez Trace, midway between Jackson and Tupelo. During the early days of the Trace, anyone who lived nearby sometimes found themselves assuming the post of impromptu innkeeper.

Modern Trace travelers can find lodging at French Camp Academy Bed & Breakfast Inn. Guest rooms are located in the main log house and in a separate log cottage. Rates range from $75-iSO plus tax per room per night and include a full Southern breakfast complete with French Camp bread. For reservations, call the inn at 662/547-6835 or email [e-mail].

The Council House Restaurant is open Monday through Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30p.m.

For reservations to visit the Rainwater Observatory and Planetarium, contact Jim Hill at [e-mail] 662/547-6377. The address is 1 Fine Place, French Camp, MS 39745.

For additional information, call the academy at 662/547-6444 or see www.frenchcamp.org.