An Old Pioneer Home

The above photograph was taken of an old Itawamba County pioneer log home located north of Mud Creek south of the Ryans Well Community in Itawamba County during the 1950's. The old log structure no longer stands. This structure is an excellent example of the type of frontier structures built in Itawamba County during the 1830's.
 

Peppertown Pier

A pier at the Peppertown boat ramp on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway features a beautiful view of the waterway directly across from Fulton. The drive to the ramp crosses the Tombigbee River on old U.S. Highway 78 and travels through the river bottomlands where many sloughs and swamps can be seen from the old levee following the path of the old Fulton and Pontotoc Road built during the early 1840's.
 

Mary Jane Lowry Rogers: 1843-1909

Mary Jane Lowry was born June 29, 1843 and died March 20, 1909 in Oklahoma. She married Dr. Franklin Rogers (son of James Zimri Rogers and Amy Davis) on January 3, 1861 in Itawamba County. The family lived in the Marietta community before moving west to Texas during the 1870's. She was the daughter of Samuel Dickey Lowry and Rebecca Jane Coons.
 

Soy Beans and Corn on the Old Lemuel Beene Plantation

The Lemuel Beene plantation was located in northwestern Itawamba County in the fertile Twenty-Mile Creek and Tombigbee River area. Today the area is one of Itawamba County's larger agricultural areas where soy beans and corn were found on this hot summer day.
 

The Old Stephens Cemetery Chapel

The old Stephens Cemetery chapel just off River Road is a shady peaceful refuge on a hot Mississippi's summer day. The historic cemetery dates back to the mid 1800's and was once part of the old Zachariah Stephens plantation west of the Tombigbee River.
 

The River Port at Fulton on a Summer Afternoon

Port Itawamba at Fulton on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway is seen from the John E. Rankin Bridge on a summer afternoon.
 

Captain William Marion Inzer

William Marion Inzer was born in Gwinnett County, Georgia on June 7, 1837. His parents moved to Talladega County, Alabama when he was one year of age. By the start of the Civil War he was living in Itawamba County but joined the 58th Alabama Inantry where he served as a captain. He married Martha Jane Moor on October 30, 1864. Captain Inzer died on March 27, 1878 and is buried in the Providence Cemetery, north of Tremont in Itawamba County. His oldest daughter, Mary Elizabeth Inzer married Thomas Pinkney Weaver on February 8, 1882 and after he graduated from medical school they moved during 1896 to De Leon, Texas where he practiced until his death in 1921. Mary Elizabeth died during 1945.
 

The WPA Courthouse: 1937 to 1972

The WPA courthouse was in use from 1937 until 1972 when the latest rennovation took place. The west wing of the courthouse was added during the 1950's. It is interesting to note that the original Federal style 1852 courthouse structure is still enclosed within the present-day courthouse structure.
 

County Courthouse Remodeled During a 1937 WPA Project

The Itawamba County Courthouse was remodeled as part of a WPA project during 1937. The above scene of the work shows the north entrance to the courthouse on March 22, 1937 as the work progressed. Basically the old 1852 Federal style building was enclosed with an addition of extra rooms and the outside of the building stuccoed making the building style modern. Tomorrow I will post a photograph of the building taken during the 1950's showing the new style of the courthouse created during 1937.
 

Dorothy Kay's Birthday Party on the Town Square ca. 1930

The courthouse square in Fulton has been the center of the community for generations. The public square has been used for singings, speeches, traveling shows and such since the founding days of the county. Around 1930 a birthday party was given for little Dorothy Kay of Fulton on the courthouse square (brick courthouse shown in the background of the photograph) that was attended by 32 other town children.

Those in attendance were: (Front Row left to right) Mildred Gaither, Marguerite Senter, Hugh Brown Patrick, Bobby Stringfellow, Dorothy Kay, Corrinne Reeves, Geneva Sheffield, Nell Cleveland, Rose Wilson Patrick. (Second Row left to right): Prebble McKee, Juanita McAdams, Rosalind Tandy, Madge Orr, Christine Haynes, Ernestine Haynes, Viginia Pate, Earline McAdams, Mary Edna Brown. (Third Row left to right): Muriel Reed, Ruth Sheffield, J.T. Bryant, Jimmie Brown, Wayne Senter, Dick Senter, Tyrus Gibbs, Grace Gaither. (Fourth Row left to right): Helen Howard, Dorothy Senter, Barbara Hawkins, Theresa McAdams, Faye Dulaney, Ruth Nanney and Twila Pearce.
 

County Vegetable Crops Coming In

Fresh vegetables are currently plentiful throughout Itawamba County. There’s a good bounty of fresh purple hull peas, snap beans, okra, sweet corn, yellow squash, and butter beans. The county is being over run with fresh juicy red tomatoes as well. Most every family in the county has a small garden spot, if not more than a few tomato plants and folks in Itawamba County are known for sharing their bounty. Most everywhere you visit folks will ask if you want any fresh tomatoes.

This time of the year brings back memories of childhood meals of fresh vegetables during the summer months. One of my favorites was a green vegetable gumbo that included such fresh vegetables as cabbage, corn, okra and tomatoes. The soup was cooked slow in a big pot with a piece of fatback. The end result was a delicious medley of fresh vegetables cooked to perfection in a rich and tasty soup. Of course the gumbo was served with a generous supply of southern cornbread.

Other childhood favorites during the summer months were purple hull peas, snap beans and butter beans served with a generous supply of Dixie relish with a good side serving of fresh sliced tomatoes and radishes. To top such a meal off we usually had a hot peach cobbler and a generous supply of sweet tea.
 

Roman Swiss Thomas: 19th Century Itawamba County Merchant and Planter

Roman Swiss Thomas was born February 2, 1841, the son of William Carothers Thomas (born April 5, 1817 in Giles County, Tennessee, the son of Ezekiel Thomas and Nancy Jane Carothers) and Nancy I. Gibson (daughter of Silvanus Gibson, Jr. and Mary “Polly” Orr” of Wilkes County, Georgia). The Ezekiel Thomas family came to Itawamba County around 1839 from Lawrence County, Alabama settling in the old Van Buren and Richmond area where William Carothers Thomas was a landowner and a prominent member of the county’s Baptist clergy. Ezekiel, the patriarch of the family, died about 1843 and was buried in Keyes Cemetery (his daughter Suka had married Judge William Keyes for whom Keyes Cemetery is named).

Roman Swiss is found in the 1850 Itawamba County census with his family and is enumerated in the 1860 Monroe County census in the town of Aberdeen downriver from Itawamba, listed as a merchant living in the household of Dr. B.T. Armstrong. After the Civil War he is back in Itawamba and Lee counties in the Plantersville area. Roman Swiss Thomas married (1) M.E. Borum, daughter of western Itawamba planter and merchant Richard M. Borum of Woodlawn (2) Anastasia Stovall, the daughter of Itawamba County planter and merchant George Stovall of old Richmond in the southwestern part of the county. During the 1900 and 1910 census records Roman Swiss Thomas is listed as a merchant in the town of Plantersville in Lee County. Roman Swiss Thomas died on January 26, 1917 in Lee County.
 

The Fulton Shirt Factory: 1937

A view of the Fulton Shirt Factory photographed during 1937 shows the front of the two-story brick building facing South Cummings Street. The business was a division of the Tupelo Garment Company and employed 200 workers. Today the Bancorpsouth building sits upon the lot. This photograph was taken as part of the WPA project for Itawamba County.
 

Hopewell School Group at Bounds Crossroads

Pictured is a school group during the 1950's at Hopewell School at Bounds Crossroads north of Tremont. The school building on a hill above Briar Creek in the beautiful hills of eastern Itawamba County was the center of the community for generations. Included in the photograph is Virginia Pugh (first row, fifth person) who later became country music legend Tammy Wynette.
 

Its Watermelon Thyme

Local watermelons are beginning to appear on the local market now. And what a treat they are. There's something about local homegrown produce that is so much better than store-bought vegetables and fruits. Watermelons have been a part of Itawamba County's agricultural past for generations. Most every farm always included a watermelon patch. During the olden days farmers would plant some watermelons in among the cotton plants in the fields and during the late summer hot days when chopping cotton, the working family members would come upon a big nice watermelon hiding among the cotton. This was surely a treat in the days before air conditioning and refridgeration.

When I was a kid my elderly aunt and uncle always had a nice watermelon crop on their New Chapel farm and it was always a treat to visit them during the late summer as I knew they would always have an ample supply of watermelons. The picked melons would be stored in the shade of a large water oak tree in their side yard. In the afternoon we would always have a watermelon cutting and before leaving for home, I would always get to choose a melon to take home.

Pictured above is a locally grown ice-cold Orange Glow watermelon I enjoyed on my patio. The yellow and orange fleshed melons seem to be much sweeter and more fruity than the red varieties.
 

Gillespie Monument in Historic Walton Cemetery

The Green Berry and Rebecca Poer Gillespie monument in historic Walton Cemetery is located in the old section under large red cedar trees. This beautiful monument includes not only their names, death and birth dates, but also their birth locations. The monument reads:

In Memory of Our Father
G.B. Gillespie
Born in Spartanburg District, S.C.
Nov. 23, 1800
Died
June 4 1875

In Memory of Our Mother
Rebecca Poer Gillespie
Born in Pickens District, S.C.
Oct. 31, 1808
Died
Dec. 3, 1879

Green Berry and Rebecca Poer Gillespie came to Itawamba County after the 1870 census year. They are found in the 1870 Gordon County, Georgia census where Green B. Gillespie (age 69) is listed as a teacher and Rebecca is listed as age 61. During the 1860 census they are enumerated in the Pickens County, Georgia census.
 

The Mississippi Moon is Smiling Down Tonight

Last evening the night sky was well illuminated by a brilliant moon. While sitting on the porch enjoying a nice glass of sweet tea it was pleasant listening to the tree frogs singing their songs as fireflies made the night sky glitter with their spectacular show. The words from an old 1932 song, Mississippi Moon by Jimmie Rodgers, came to mind.
 

Old Van Buren Village Deed: 1843

The old village of Van Buren established during the 1830s was one of Itawamba County's first towns. Established by some citizens of the town of Aberdeen in Monroe County to the south, the old village was a river port on the Tombigbee River and an early center of trade for the plantation area of southwestern Itawamba County. The town had an early demise with most businesses moving to Old Richmond and also due to the building of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad to the west of the town. The village was all but extinct prior to the Civil War. Below is an abstract of an early deed to the town where the commissioners of the town sold the remaining town lots to Thomas Wren.

This indenture made this 12th day of October AD 1843 between Thomas G. Wren of the one part and Boling C. Burnett and Ellen Burnett his wife and John R. Wren of the other part. Witnesseth that whereas the said B.C. Burnett and John R. Wren are and have been trustees and commissioners of the Town of Van Buren in Itawamba County, Mississippi and whereas the land included in said town has been sold out in town lots and the said Burnett and Wren being desirous to prevent and avoid the expense of making deeds and relinquishments of dower in so many small parcels of land and to avoid the inconvenience resulting from the same have this day bargained and sold and sell unto said Thomas G. Wren, all the land included in the said Town of Van Buren towit: The southeast quarter of Section 24 and the northeast quarter of section 25 in Township 10 of Range 8 East lying in Itawamba County, Mississippi. In Witness of which all parties have hereunto set their hands and affixed their seals the day and date above written.

Boling C. Burnett
Ellen Burnett
John R. Wren
Mary A. Wren
Thomas G. Wren

Source: Deed Book 9, Page 508

The old Van Buren Church faced the northeast at the corner of the Aberdeen and Jacinto Road and Jackson Street in the village. For more information about the old extinct village of Van Buren see an earlier post about the subject from this blog.
 

Friends in the Flower Garden

The Fielder sisters with Earnie Cockrell (middle) during The Great Depression. The scene was photographed at the Simpson Place, a farm on Mantachie Creek northwest of Mantachie.
 

Pasture on a Summer Morning

A peaceful setting on a summer morning in western Itawamba County near Mantachie Creek.
 

The Cedar Grove in Historic Walton Cemetery

Ancient red cedar trees are located in the old section of historic Walton Cemetery in Itawamba County. This grove of cedars provides a deep shade for many of the historic monuments in this cemetery.
 

An Itawamba Son and the Golden Gate Bridge

During the Great Depression many of America’s construction wonders were built. One such wonder was the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California. The construction of this great new bridge began on January 5, 1933 under the aegis of the Works Progress Administration - a program begun by Franklin D. Roosevelt, to create public works through Federal funds to help alleviate the effects of the Great Depression. Today it is still one of the engineering wonders of the world.

The construction project created numerous jobs during the Great Depression and many citizens of America went west to San Francisco to work with its construction. One such young man of the 1,300-person workforce was Daniel Kermit Moore of Itawamba County. He was a part of the workforce laboring under extreme danger for three years, eight months and six days before the mighty bridge claimed its first life.

Daniel Kermit Moore was born in western Itawamba County at Fawn Grove on October 2, 1912, the son of Daniel Boone Moore (1871-1957) and Alice Marlin (1874-1964). Daniel Boone Moore was the son of William Hugh Moore and Elizabeth Ann Walker. Alice Marlin was the daughter of Ralph Marlin and Lucy Brown. Young Kermit lived on his family farm and attended the local schools. When the Great Depression hit Itawamba County times were hard and work was scarce. Many young men of the area left the rural county countryside and small communities to find work and make a decent living. Some local young men found work at the huge dam being built on the Tennessee River that created Pickwick lake north of Itawamba County. Others moved north to find jobs in the industrial centers of the north, but the young adventurous Kermit Moore set his eyes and dreams westward and moved to San Francisco where he found work with the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge.

During the construction of the great bridge eleven men died while working on the structure. The first fatality during the bridge construction was young Itawambian, Daniel Kermit Moore, who died during a construction accident on October 21, 1936.

On that eventful day, a derrick lifting steel roadway beams toppled and killed the 23-year-old Moore who was working on the structure. The derrick accident was a grim reminder of the dangers faced daily by the bridge workers.

Four months later, on February 17, 1937 another ten men lost their lives when a section of the scaffold carrying them fell through the safety net.

Daniel Kermit Moore of Itawamba County was the first of eleven men who gave their lives during the construction of one of the Wonders of the Modern World. This morning I found his modest gravesite in the old Walton Cemetery west of the Tombigbee River near his Mississippi boyhood farm. His monument stands as a small silent sentinel on the hill above a nearby valley. The quiet pastoral setting was interrupted only by the constant buzzing of tree locusts as horses in a nearby pasture lazily grazed on the emerald-green grass. It was a typically hot and humid Mississippi summer’s day. Young Daniel Kermit Moore’s unassuming granite sentinel is a silent monument not only to this young Itawamba County, Mississippi son, but to the bravery and dedication of those young bridge workers who built the majestic Golden Gate Bridge in California during America’s Great Depression.

Bridge Photograph by Jet Lowe (1984) courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Historic American Engineering Record, Reproduction Number (ca43)

Inez and Lily

Inez Johnson (9 years old) and Lily, her cousin (7 years old) during May 1911. Both were helping Mrs. Johnson, a spooler in the Tupelo Cotton Mills.

An interesting online collection of photographs by Lewis Wickes Hine (1874-1940) at the Library of Congress website are from the National Child Labor Committee. Hines was one of several investigators working for the committee. This committee prepared reports on labor conditions and their impact on the lives of workers, generally concentrating on a particular industry or region. Hines documented working conditions of children in the United States between 1908 and 1924.

The collection (to view the photographs, click the link: Search This Collection) consists of more than 5,100 photographic prints and 355 glass negatives, given to the Library of Congress, along with the NCLC records, in 1954 by Mrs. Gertrude Folks Zimand, acting for the NCLC in her capacity as chief executive.

Included in the online collection are a dozen photographs of the Tupelo Cotton Mill from 1911. During 1900 citizens of Tupelo in neighboring Lee County organized the mill. This mill was the town’s first large industry and was powered by five steam engines and at first employed 250 workers to operate 10,000 spindles and 320 looms to produce demin, pin checks, shirtings, and madras. The complex grew to include a dress factory, shirt factory, and a cottonseed products factory. Located near the railroad south of the downtown area, many area citizens of northeastern Mississippi moved to Tupelo to work here.

Workers at the several plants lived together in a village near the railroad. Today this area is known as Historic Mill Village and is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

In this large collection of online photographs are also scenes from mills in the following Mississippi locations: Bay St. Louis, Biloxi, Columbus, Kosiusko, Laurel, Magnolia, McComb, Meridian, Starkville, Pass Christian, Water Valley, West Point, Winona and Yazoo City.

Photograph courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, National Child Labor Committee Collection, [LC-DIG-nclc-02138]

 

Sanctuary Windows in Historic Church Building

Pictured are three of twelve large illuminated windows in the sanctuary of the Itawamba Christian Church located one block off the town square in Fulton. This historic church building was built as a Baptist church and was originally a large wooden structure. The building was bricked around 1939. The Itawamba Christian Church recently renovated the sanctuary of the historic building providing one of the more beautiful sructures in the downtown area. Today the Itawamba Christian Church, the county courthouse and Christ the King Catholic Church are the tallest structures in downtown Fulton.
 

The American Memory Collection of WPA Era Posters

I spend a lot of time at the Library of Congress online site. Their American Memory collection is a wonderful massive online gallery of a small sampling of what is available at the library. One of my favorite areas is their large online collection of WPA-era posters.

The By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943 collection consists of 908 boldly colored and graphically diverse original posters produced from 1936 to 1943 as part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. Of the 2,000 WPA posters known to exist, the Library of Congress's collection of more than 900 is the largest. These striking silkscreen, lithograph, and woodcut posters were designed to publicize health and safety programs; cultural programs including art exhibitions, theatrical, and musical performances; travel and tourism; educational programs; and community activities in seventeen states and the District of Columbia. The posters were made possible by one of the first U.S. Government programs to support the arts and were added to the Library's holdings in the 1940s.

Take time to visit this wonderful gallery of artistic posters. It will be time well spent. The posters can be searched by keyword or browsed by subject. There is also an interesting background history for the collection.
 

Muscadines on an Early Sunday Morning Bring Back Memories

In the edge of an old garden spot near my home muscadine vines climb the towering trees in the edge of the woods. During an early morning walk today I noticed a bumper crop hanging from the towering trees.

This native grape is found all over the hills and hollows of Itawamba County. They are so plentiful, when the grapes ripen and fall from the towering trees over the highway, some sections of the roads are simply stained purple from the fruit.

Muscadines are an important part of the South’s culinary history. A native to the southeastern United States, muscadines have been cultivated for more than 400 years. During 1565, Captain John Hawkins reported the Spanish settlements in Florida made large quantities of muscadine wine and before 1760, the first recognized muscadine cultivar was found by Isaac Alexander in Tyrrell County, North Carolina. It was first known as the Big White Grape and was later renamed Scuppernong, after the area where it was found.

As a child growing up in the rural hills of Itawamba County, a popular annual event was muscadine hunting. The entire family would go into the Itawamba County woods with pails to find and harvest this delicious native grape. It was an exciting adventure for a young boy. After filling the pails, the grapes would be brought home from the woods for processing.

Within hours the whole house would be scented with the fruity aroma of muscadines being processed into jelly in the kitchen. And most always after a muscadine harvesting we would be treated with a special dessert after supper – Muscadine Cobbler made with nature’s bounty harvested earlier that day. There’s nothing better than a hot muscadine cobbler with a buttery crispy crust topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
 

Catch a Falling Star: 1958

Foil stars and a moon hang from the ceiling at a school dance in the Itawamba Junior College gymnasium in Fulton fifty years ago during 1958. Selections by such artists as Ricky Nelson, Elvis Presley, The Chordettes, Pat Boone, Chuck Berry, The Platters, Perry Como and Bobby Darin were probably played by the school orchestra. It was the year The Bridge Over the River Kwai won the Academy Award for Best Picture and such television programs as Concentration, The Huckleberry Hound Show and the Donna Reed Show premiered on the small screen.
 

Golden Canna After An Early Saturday Morning Dew

Cannas have been a favorite in southern gardens since late Victorian times. Kin to banana and ginger, this flowering plant can be seen in most flower gardens of Itawamba County. Golden Canna (Canna flaccida) is native to the wetlands of the southeastern United States and Central America and the Antilles. This plant loves the hot humid Mississippi summers and mild winters and provides a vivid golden palette for many Itawamba County country gardens.
 

Tennessee Williams Tribute and Tour of Victorian Homes to be held in Columbus

Downriver from Itawamba County, the Seventh Annual Tennessee Williams Tribute and Tour of Victorian Homes will be held in Columbus September 4-7. The three-day event will feature a number of Williams’ works, as well as lectures by some of his friends, scholars and historians. Columbus is the birthplace of the poet, author and playwright.

Parties, lectures, movies, exhibits and tours will all be a part of the tribute. Headlining the event will be Emmy Award winning actor Richard Thomas starring in two separate productions relating to Tennessee Williams.

Information about the social functions scheduled and other events during the festival may be found at the tribute’s website or by calling 1-800-327-2686.

The Tennessee Williams Tribute and Tour is coordinated by the Tennessee Williams Tribute and Tour of Victorian Homes Volunteer Committee and sponsored by The Billups-Garth Foundation, The Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau, Mississippi University for Women, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Columbus Arts Council, Columbus Historic Foundation, Main Street Columbus, the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library, Mississippi Humanities Council as well as funds and donations from area citizens and arts patrons.

Tennessee Williams photograph (World Telegram & Sun photo by O. Fernandez) courtesy of The Library of Congress (reproduction number LC-USZ62-128957)
 

A Patriotic Monument in Old Salem Cemetery

The old Salem Cemetery in northeastern Itawamba County contains many beautiful and ornate monuments. One such monument featuring a waving flag is the Melmoth Augustus Waddell monument.

Melmoth Augustus Waddell was the son of Melmoth Barr Waddell (son of Jesse Waddell and Kisiah Ann Cole) and Mary Jane Harris (daughter of Hopkins Turner Harris and Sarah Elizabeth Farley). The family lived in nearby Tishomingo County and later moved to northeastern Itawamba County.

Melmoth Augustus Waddell is found in the 1900 Tishomingo County Census with his father, Melmoth B. Waddell, born October 1850 in Georgia and his mother Mary along with his siblings Bardell, Belle, Willie, and Jesse
 

A Unique Shopping Experience in Itawamba County

The Itawamba County Farmers’ Market is a unique shopping experience where only products produced on Itawamba County Mississippi farms and in Itawamba County kitchens are offered for sale. Held during the summer growing season on the town square in Fulton, this weekly event is a unique and fun shopping experience.

Today’s farmers’ market just off the town square in Fulton was well attended by both county farmers and buyers alike. The market, usually held each Friday afternoon on the town square was held today on Wiygul Street being tomorrow is Independence Day. An afternoon visit to the market proved to be a culinary delight.

Itawamba County produce and home-baked products are sold from the backs of trucks along the street. Today there was a colorful array of fresh garden fruit and vegetables including sweet corn, field corn, new potatoes, squash, okra, tomatoes, green onions, and plums. There were home canned delicacies such as Dixie relish, squash pickles, jams, jellies and preserves and fresh baked items from some of the best country kitchens in the county including old fashioned tea cakes, fudge brownies, peach cobblers and zucchini cinnamon bread.

The county farmers’ market is a wonderful place to visit. When in Fulton on a Friday afternoon this summer be sure to take a leisurely stroll under the ancient oaks of courthouse square along the sidewalk on Gaither Street and enjoy the homegrown delights from the soil of Itawamba County and the culinary treats from some of the best country kitchens of the area.
 

Sweet Tea Festival on the Fulton Town Square July 3-5

The Sweet Tea Festival will be held on the Fulton Town Square this Thursday through Saturday. All proceeds of the event will benefit the Itawamba County after-school program, A Way Out. Included in festivities will be a carnival featuring several rides for both children and adults as well as several community booths featuring everything from good Itawamba County country cooking to Itawamba County pottery. On Saturday there will be a Sweet Tea Competition featuring the best brewers in the county. Live music will be featured during the festival including Mississippi gospel and popular music. On Saturday the drumline, Partlow’s Drummers will perform. Also included in the 3-day festival will be a 5k run and walk as well as a car and bike show. For a good old fashioned Mississippi festival, be sure to visit Fulton during July 3-5 for the Sweet Tea Festival and help support a worthwhile organization.

Pictured is Shuane Holiday (left), festival coordinator and project director of A Way Out with fellow project volunteer and community supporter Jeff Langley, working Wednesday on the town square in preparation for The Sweet Tea Festival.
 

An Itawamba County Fourth of July Picnic 78 Years Ago

Above is a printed notice about a Fourth of July Picnic to be held in Fulton. The picnic was to feature speeches and later ball games. In the July 10, 1930 edition of the Fulton News Beacon a front page article about the picnic was printed, which reads in part: “On Friday the fourth, a large crowd of people assembled here to hear the speakers who had accepted invitations to speak here that day. Hon. Geo. T. Mitchell, candidate for Governor, and Congressman J.E. Rankin, were the only two who failed to get here, but there were plenty of others who were not expected, to keep the speaking going almost continuously all day. Those who listened attentively heard a great deal about the meaning of the fourth of July and our government.”