MISSISSIPPI MAIN STREET, TOURISM PROFESSIONALS TAKE ROAD TRIP ON HERITAGE HIGHWAY

 
JACKSON, Miss. -- Representatives from Mississippi Main Street Association (MMSA) and Mississippi Development Authority (MDA), Division of Tourism, recently traveled along Mississippi Highway 82 as part of a regional tourism initiative to celebrate its designation as the state's first Heritage Highway.
 
MMSA and MDA Tourism representatives explored the towns and cities of Columbus, Eupora, Greenville, Greenwood, Indianola, Kilmichael, Leland, Starkville, Vaiden and Winona from May 10-12 during National Tourism Week.

The travelers convened at designated times and places; otherwise, everyone ate, shopped and toured on their as cultural heritage tourists.
 
Each individual kept up with his or her own expenses and an estimated $4,528 was spent during the weekend. Money was spent on lodging, food and beverage, transportation (gasoline), and retail.

The group recorded and captured the road trip through social media. More than 25,000 hits were recorded on Facebook over the 3-day period.
 
"The diverse cultural heritage assets along Heritage Highway 82 – architecture, literary, music, culinary, history, art – all provide a rich, authentic Mississippi cultural heritage experience," said Sarah McCullough, Cultural Heritage Program Manager, MDA Tourism. "To fully experience all of Heritage Highway 82 would take several days."
 
"Given that $4,500 was spent by a small number of independent travelers in only two days, the potential economic impact on these communities and rural areas is immeasurable," McCullough said. "Cultural heritage travelers also spend more, travel more, and stay longer than other travelers."

Part of the Heritage Highway 82 Road Trip included a reception at the Cotesworth Center for Culture and Heritage in North Carrollton.
 
Members of the Williams family, who have owned the historic home and surrounding farm for generations, were present as well as state legislators, mayors and local and state leaders in tourism.

Legislators attending included: Senator Lydia Chassaniol, Tourism Chair, Winona; Senator Terry Brown, President Pro Tempore, Columbus; Senator John Polk, Universities and Colleges Chair, Hattiesburg; Senator Giles Ward, Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Chair, Louisville; Senator Chris Massey, Nesbit; and Representative Rita Martinson, Tourism Chair, Madison.
 
"I will not soon forget walking up the front walk at Coteswoth, listening to Dr. Sanders and being amazed that this jewel existed for all to enjoy," said Bob Wilson, MMSA Executive Director. "I really wanted to share that image, feeling and experience with everyone I knew in Mississippi and throughout the country."
 
"Thanks to Sen. Chassaniol, Rep. Martinson, Gloria Kellum and everyone else for their hard work over the years and for allowing us to be a part of Cotesworth in the future," Wilson said.
 
See Road Trip photos and Facebook posts:
Mississippi Main Street
Visit Mississippi

Visit Mississippi's culinary trail at
http://www.visitmississippi.org/culinary-trail.aspx
 

Ripley Main Street Awarded Grant to Turn Vacant Renfrow’s Lot into Park and Amphitheatre

For Immediate Release

Press Release Contact: Libbi Bryant 662-587-3722

Project Coordinator: Allison Windham 662-837-1868

Four community “Sparkplugs” and Ripley Main Street volunteers recently attended a 2 day state-sponsored grant writing workshop where they were awarded a $3,000 grant. Their winning proposal, “Renfrow’s Corner”, an open air building concept will begin construction immediately. The plan includes a picnic area that will consist of movable tables, chairs and umbrellas for shade and color; an amphitheatre utilizing the existing property slope; large border planting to create the feeling of an entrance and “walls” along the property edge; and an outdoor movie screen and stage to be used for events. Once completed, this space will be available for public use.

Allison Windham, Libbi Bryant, Whitney Bridges and Paige McKenzie were part of the Appalachian Community Learning Project (ACLP) workshop created by the Rensselaerville Institute. ACLP uses citizen sparkplugs to create the community change needed to jumpstart projects that benefit local communities. By starting with small projects such as, Renfrow’s Corner, a small community can gain the experience needed to move on to more complex strategic development activities. Eight Mississippi communities, including groups from Vardamen, Lamar, New Albany, Louisville, Columbus, Brooksville and Bruce attended the workshop at the BancorpSouth Conference Center in Tupelo, MS on May 20-21 and were awarded grants from the Appalachian Regional Commission; training services were provided by the Rensselaerville Institute (http://www.rinstitute.org) and Mississippi State University Stennis Institute (www.sig.msstate.edu).

For more information about the Renfrow’s Corner project or to volunteer your talents, contact the group’s sparkplug, Libbi Bryant, 662-587-3722 or Allison Windham, 662-837-1868. For more information on ACLP or the Rensselaerville institute, contact David Watson-Hallowell at (973) 853-2139 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Be sure to visit The Institute’s website at www.rinstitute.org and for more information about The Appalachian Regional Commission you can visit their website at www.arc.gov/index.do.

Remembering the Old Country Store

By Lise Foy, MS Agriculture & Forestry Museum

On summer afternoons, Daddy would take us to Mr. Hoover’s store at the intersection of Lodi Road and Highway 82 for a snack.  It usually consisted of a hunk of hoop cheese, crackers, a slice of bologna or a can of Vienna sausages and a coke.  I fondly remember the smell of the old store where you could buy garden seeds, fencing materials and feed.  I was always fascinated by the combination and range of items for sale in his store.

In post-antebellum Mississippi, changes came about in the economics of daily life that opened the way for the development of the country store.  Owners of plantations began to use sharecroppers or tenant farmers for labor.  Because money was practically non-existent for production of crops, trade under a crop-lien system of credit developed. Farmers pledged their anticipated crop as security for furnishings and supplies necessary to produce a crop.

While this seemed like a great way to trade, Merle Travis may have just hit the nail on the head with the lyrics, “another day older and deeper in debt, I owe my soul to the company store.” Even though he was singing about the life of a coal miner in 1946, the notion rings true for the Mississippi sharecropper of the Reconstruction era.

Commissaries were opened on plantations and at crossroad sites.  The owners of these commercial enterprises dominated community life perhaps more effectively and completely than had antebellum planters. Their power base was both protected and secured by crop lien laws which stifled commercial development in small trade towns.

After 1900, improved roads and transportation by automobile enabled farmers to produce a larger variety of goods for sale and promoted competitive markets. Business and cash flow increased in Mississippi during this period.  Small trade towns became business centers.

Typical businesses that flourished in these small towns included the filling station, cotton gin, sawmill, grist mill and, at the center of commerce in town, the general merchandise store.  Former residents of rural areas moved their families to town, built homes, and increased economic activity which created new jobs.  And, so began economic development as we know it today in Mississippi.

Like so many of its kind that have been lost to fire, changes in population centers or ‘progress’ in general, Mr. Hoover’s store was a victim to the widening of Mississippi Highway 82 between Winona and Starkville.  Still, others remain as flourishing modern businesses on Main Streets across the state. 

There are a few that come to mind that are thriving today.  People will drive out of their way to visit these wonderful pieces of nostalgia.  Or, maybe you live near one and shop there because it is convenient and the service is personal.

William’s Brothers General Store in Philadelphia, Mississippi is over 100 years old.  According to an August 2012 article in the Mississippi Business Journal, this store employs 50 to 60 people and carries things like horse tack, smoked hams, cowboy boots, men’s blue denim overalls and chicken feed.  The store once featured in National Geographic, still looks much like it did when it opened. 

The General Store located at the heart of Small Town, Mississippi at the Ag Museum is a replica of the old time general store in the 1920’s.  Visitors can see displays of items that were for sale during this period, while enjoying an ice-cold Coca-Cola in a glass bottle with candy sticks, old-fashioned rock candy or a moon pie.  There is a checker board on the front porch and rocking chairs just across the way that invite you to ‘sit a spell’ and reminiscence about the country store from your childhood. 

The Museum General Store also carries a wide assortment of toys including jacks, marbles, yo-yo's, tops, pick-up sticks, and local Mississippi products including Mississippi Bees Honey, Hillside Vineyards Jelly and Jams, Daddy's Barbeque Sauce and Rubs, Mississippi Cheese Straws, Smith Farms Pepper Sauce, Hidden Arrow's Farm goats milk products, BearCreek Herbals scrubs and spritz's and JR Webb Pottery. We can build a basket just for you featuring any of our Mississippi products.

Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/msagmuseum, visit our website at www.msagmuseum.org and sign up for our monthly newsletter to track the progress of the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum renovations.