Mississippi Roads travels to southwest Hinds County to visit the sleepy town of Utica.

The area was first settled in the late 1700's due to its good water and close proximity to the Natchez Trace.  It was first known as Cane Ridge due to the large thickets of cane growing in the area but the name was later changed to Utica in honor of one of the early residents who hailed from Utica, New York.  Utica was once a thriving railroad town that had a huge truck crop industry, along with timber and sawmills.  The town at one point had over one hundred businesses, an opera house and three newspapers.    

Hinds Community College Utica Campus is just a few miles south of town on highway 18.  The school was originally founded in 1903 as the Utica Normal and Industrial Institute.  In 1958 this historically black school became Utica Junior College and in 1983 it merged with Hinds Community College and is the oldest campus of all the Hind’s seven locations.  There are more than fifty academic and vocational programs available to students at this beautiful 236 acre campus.

And speaking of schools and how they change, in our first story we travel up to Jackson and visit the Magnolia Speech School and see how technology is changing the world for students on that campus. 

http://www.magnoliaspeechschool.org/

The playground swing squeaks at Magnolia Speech School in Jackson.  The sleepy drone has a hypnotic effect on children as they sway back and forth.  And listen.  “And listen…”  Hearing is something so many of us take for granted.  The ability to hear the soundtrack of the world we live in.  Our brains are learning to sort delight from danger just by the sound of it.  Building another of the sensory cushions we rest our being on. 

But what if you couldn’t hear?  Or what if, even if you could hear the sounds, they were just unintelligible jumbled noises.  Meaningless as if it were from another planet? 

Children who have such challenges are the ones who come to Magnolia Speech School.  The school was begun by Elizabeth Matthews when she and her husband discovered their son was deaf.  Back then the only way to prepare a deaf child for the world at large was to teach them to lip read and to make the sounds of words they couldn’t hear.

But since then, miracles have happened.  Through advances like the cochlear implant, profoundly deaf children hear. 

 Mary Ann Keith lives on Main Street in Utica and we tell you this because she is the owner and editor of the Hinds County Gazette.  It’s the second oldest continuously published weekly newspapers in the state of Mississippi. The paper started up in April of 1845 and Ms Keith’s family has been operating it since 1926.  The paper is published in nearby Raymond but Ms Keith is a resident and an alderwomen here in Utica. 

In our next story we meet another Mississippi women who is looking to set some high flying records of her own.

Mary Dilda knows little about living life in the slow lane.  In fact she doesn’t even use lanes!  Early on, Mary knew that flying and racing was in her blood.  After graduating college and leaving the air force she bought and restored a 1945 T-6 Texan airplane, named “Blue”.  Since then, Mary has been thrilling aviation professionals and her many fans breathtaking aerial acrobatics and lightning-fast speeds. Today, she stands as one of the most prominent female pilots in the aviation world, giving men a run for their money. 

http://www.marydilda.com/

Cane Ridge Antiques & Restoration in Utica specializes in the restoration of authentic antique furniture whether it be structural, cosmetic, refurbishing, or even major assembly.

How appropriate that an antique and restoration shop is located here at the Woodmen of the World building which was built in 1885.  It’s the oldest structure still standing in town.

And speaking of old, in our next story we head down the road to the Utica Cemetery where you can find some mighty old gravestones.

Utica cemetery is a picturesque place.  It pre-dates the utilitarian Memorial Garden with their flat, ground level grave markers so the lawn mower can run right over you without having to go around anything;  perpetual care in half the time.

Here in this place, grave markers are individual works of art.   Some of the markers have been here long enough to have become ruins.  And even the piles of rubble and broken brick have a charm and air to them that makes the Utica cemetery one of those burial grounds you would like to come see even if you don’t know anyone in here.

Since 1970 Camp Henry S. Jacobs located just outside of Utica has played host to thousands of Jewish young people from across the Deep South.  These youths have enjoyed the fun and camaraderie of a summer at Jacobs Camp.

Situated on 350 acres of rolling hills and woodlands, with a picturesque lake as its centerpiece, the Jacobs Camp grounds provide a relaxing, natural setting to experience the summer.  The camp is also home to the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience and they also host the Mississippi Art Colony‘s bi-annual retreat plus many other groups and functions.

http://jacobs.urjcamps.org/