Mississippi Roads heads up to northwest Mississippi to Coahoma County at beautiful Moon Lake.
The joke around here is that General Ulysses S. Grant was the first tourist to visit Moon Lake. In 1863 Grant and the Union army blew up the levee connecting Moon Lake with the Tallahatchie and Mississippi Rivers in order to get their gunboats into the Yazoo Pass and try and reach the southern stronghold of Vicksburg.
Even though Grant blew a hole in the levee here the oxbow lake still survives today.
And speaking of oxbow, Moon Lake was formed by the gradual shifting of the Mississippi River and in 1927 the river had a mind of its own and there was no man or levee that was going to contain Old Man River.
Dimming now are the memories of one of the most catastrophic events to ever hit the Delta. April 21st, 2007 marked the 80th anniversary of the break in the levee at Mound Landing above Greenville that allowed the swollen Mississippi River to inundate the land inside the levee and cause the event we know as the 1927 flood.
Today there is a lake on the river side of the modern levee scoured out by the raging flood as it washed through the crevasse. And there is a hand stenciled tin sign tacked to a cottonwood that rather unceremoniously attests to this being the spot where the world started to change for all of us.
If you are looking for a place to spend the night or have a fine meal while you visit Moon Lake then you ought to stop by Uncle Henry’s Place. The building was a casino in the 1930's but was shut down by its patrons and townspeople when they learned that the profits were going to the mob in Chicago.
Uncle Henry’s also has some literary history; Tennessee Williams used this Moon Lake casino in several of his dramas.
As a young boy Williams used to visit the club with his grandfather Reverend Dakin as he made parish calls throughout the county.
But Moon Lake’s history is not all about casinos and the mob. The lake has a long history of being used for local baptisms and in our next story we visit a church that continues to practice that tradition.
For more than 100 years, traditional Baptisms have taken place in the healing waters at Moon Lake. Time was you could see hundreds of folks make the journey to the muddy lake just outside Friar’s Point to gather along its shores on the first Sunday each September. Over the years, more folks have moved out of the delta, and more churches having added Baptismal pools, traditions like the Baptism at Moon Lake are becoming rarer with each passing year. Despite these facts, each candidate still chooses to immerse themselves in the muddy waters at Moon Lake and carry on this great tradition. They hope that by doing so, they will keep alive the traditions started by their forefathers many years ago, and pass it along to future generations.
When you come to Moon Lake make sure you stop by the BMW store. No, they don’t sell cars here, the BMW stands for “Bight My Worm”. This family owned business has been in operation for many generations and they are your perfect outfitter for bait and supplies when you head out on the lake for a day of fishing. Largemouth bass, crappie, bream, and channel catfish can all be found by sportsmen here on the waters of Moon Lake.
And speaking of sportsmen, in our next story we trek over to Yalobusha County in search of a legendary figure in the hunting world.
John Bailey was to hunting what Elvis was to Rock and Roll or Faulkner was to literature; one of the best. He’s mentioned in thousands of books and articles, copies of which are kept in a safe at the hunting lodge he built at Quail Hills near Coffeeville, and he was personal friends with the best of the sports writers. They all wanted to know him and hunt with him. He is buried beside his wife just in back of the hunting lodge at Quail Hills. But every time there is a gathering in the lodge of family and old friends, John Bailey is still there.
He lives in the spunk and spirit of his daughters, twins Jean and Jo Ann, who hunted with him and roamed the ridges and hollows of Quail Hills with him from their young days until he passed away.
He’s alive in the stories that life-long hunting companions still tell about stunning hunts, and hunting stunts that made for trophy memories of a lifetime in the woods.
Whether you come for the fishing, boating, history, food or just the scenery; Moon Lake is a wonderful place to get away for a day or a weekend.
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