orner of Hospital and Shortcut Roads
Mississippi Roads travels to Leflore County in the Delta this week. We are at Cottonlandia Museum where the discovery of the Delta begins. http://www.cottonlandia.org/
The Cottonlandia Museum gives a good lay of the land, so to speak; of the Mississippi Delta. The museum focuses on five dimensions of local and regional history: Archeology, agriculture, animals, art and antiques.
The Malmaison Room holds some amazing artifacts and antiques from the home of Greenwood Leflore, the last chief of the Choctaw nation east of the Mississippi, Leflore, who was a planter and Mississippi senator; signed the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, which gave all the Choctaw land in Mississippi over to the Federal Government.
His home Malmaison was built in 1852 about twenty miles north of Greenwood in Carroll County where fear of malaria and flooding were lessened by virtue of being in the hills, above the swampy delta. Malmaison was a magnificent show place and a Mississippi landmark until it was destroyed by fire in 1942.
The homes in our next story might not be elegant, but they are iconic symbols of the hard working laborers who helped farm the Mississippi Delta.
Steve LaVere is a man with vision. Whether it’s restoring the old 3 Deuces Building in downtown Greenwood, maintaining the gravesite of Robert Johnson, or producing Grammy winning record albums, he has a lifelong passion to be a part of something unique.
That vision is what drove him and two of his friends to create Tallahatchie Flats. The flats are a collection of six perfectly restored old sharecropper’s shacks that were recently saved from almost certain destruction. They are located along the banks of the Tallahatchie River outside of Greenwood. Each house still retains its distinctive charm and character with period furniture, full baths, kitchens and most importantly authenticity.
http://www.tallahatchieflats.com/
The Cottonlandia Museum is all about education. The Swamp Room offers up the sounds and sights that you might find in a delta swamp like: raccoons, squirrels, turtles and ducks.
The museum also reaches out to area schools by offering teaching aids, program presentations and summer discovery classes that are held at the museum.
The hands-on natural science room is especially popular with the younger kids. Here they can feel the difference between birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians in a please DO TOUCH environment.
And speaking of getting hands-on experience, our next segment is an excerpt from “Life on the Pearl River” which documents how some Clinton students have combined science and art to leave a lasting legacy for others to enjoy.
A group of Clinton Junior High School students and artist Robin Whitfield joined together in creating a mural at the school by combining what they learned in science class and at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science with skills that they have developed in art to create a stunning piece of work. “Life on the Pearl River” follows the students and artist as this beautiful mural is created at the school for future generations to enjoy.
The Delta was built on agriculture, and the historical artifacts that remain tell a story of hard labor through the ages. Mule-drawn plows, harrows, and cotton sacks remind us of the long days of hand labor that aren't that far behind us. Here in the Domestic Hardware section, antique sewing machines, washboards and butter churns remind visitors that the women of 1900 worked just as hard as the men.
And speaking of working hard, in our next story we travel down to the coast to check on the progress and hard work that is being put into saving the massive Oak trees damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
“Saving our urban forest one tree at a time” That’s the motto of Bob Fulgham’s Tupelo based company National Tree Preservation. Since the early 90’s, Mr. Fulgham has had one mission: To save as many trees as he can. Together with his two sons, they do this by using their patented aeration machine that injects a measured amount of compressed air and fertilizer into the soil in a non-invasive way. It loosens the feeder roots of transplanted, construction damaged and mature trees.
We follow this visionary group as they work on the hurricane damaged live oak trees along the Mississippi Gulf Coast and discover some amazing results.
www.nationaltreepreservation.com
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