NATCHEZ &045; Natchez is a town that attracts many people, especially because of the antebellum homes and history of the place. Add the culture’s influence on the architecture and the plants and ecosystems of the area, and the reason for a visit by Iowa State University landscape architecture students is clear.

&uot;Natchez is well known for one of the peak places for antebellum architecture,&uot; assistant professor Heidi Hohmann said. &uot;We knew we could get a lot here.&uot;

With sketch pads, colored pencils and erasers in tow, students lined the sidewalks, steps and ledges of town Friday, looking for inspiration to put pencil to paper.

These landscape architecture students from Iowa State University hit Natchez this week on one of their last stops on a semester-long program throughout parts of the country. Seven of the 15 weeks of the semester are spent on the road, the other eight in Ames, Iowa. On this three-week tour, the group has been traveling down the trail of Lewis and Clark, starting in St. Louis and following the Mississippi River.

Thursday was spent traveling down from Vicksburg and seeing the Natchez Trace.

The students spent the first part of Friday morning at a color drawing demonstration on a picnic table where they were camping. Then they came downtown where they sketched a building on Main Street.

They have sketched Main Streets across the country to show the differences of the regions they visit. In the afternoon, they were drawing in residential areas.

Mostly the students are looking for regional differences that define these places, Hohmann said.

&uot;It’s the stupid things when you live in a place you don’t think of,&uot; Hohmann said.

Added assistant professor Ashley Kyber: &uot;Everything is very different from what they see in the region they’re from.&uot;

The main objectives of the program are to study native plants and ecosystems, the cultural imprint on the landscape and the construction in how places are put together with a studio class &045; drawing.

Aside from the buildings, they also looked at land use over time and also at the native plants. In Natchez, the students are looking at the kudzu, a non-native plant that &uot;takes over systems that would normally be inhabited by native plants,&uot; professor Gary Hightshoe said.

The students seem to enjoy the experience to travel instead of sitting in a classroom.

&uot;You can only learn so much in the classroom,&uot; said student Angie Young.

Learning cultures, history and architecture as well as a lot about their profession, the students said they have gotten a lot out of the experience and they are glad to have had it.

&uot;You learn a lot about the profession and a lot of places and cultures,&uot; said student Max Clausen. &uot;And you learn a lot about yourself.&uot;

The first three weeks of the semester they spent in Ames, Iowa at ISU, then the next four throughout the northwest, then three in Ames again, then these three on the road and the last two in Ames.

From St. Louis to the Ozarks, to Memphis and Vicksburg, from Natchez to New Orleans and even onto the shore of the Gulf of Mexico they will study. This is the first time, in their four years taking the students around the country, they have taken this route. Normally, they go from Winnipeg, Canada straight south through Texas and to Mexico.

Students in the first semester of their sophomore year are required to participate in this program. The students have different classes and receive 15 credit hours for the semester.

&uot;I didn’t understand how much it (landscape architecture) was about other cultures until this,&uot; said students Eric Becker.