This week we come to you from the Stone County
town of Wiggins. Settlement of the area began
in 1886 when Madison Hatten homesteaded 160
acres there. A village was established and named
Niles City but the name was later changed in
honor of one of the oldest residents of the
area, Wiggins Hatten, who happened to be the
father of Madison Hatten.
The young
town of Wiggins received a great boost in 1896
when the Gulf and Ship Island railroad line
was completed through the town connecting Hattiesburg
and Gulfport.
The timber
industry brought growth and an economic boom
to the area but as vast tracts of timber were
cut down in south Mississippi a search for new
source of revenue began. In 1912 a pickle factory
was constructed and it continued to thrive through
the depression and ensuing decades and at one
time it was the largest pickle manufacturing
plant in the world.
Today,
the pickle plant has shut down but the area's
timber industry has made a comeback. Wiggins
appears to be moving toward a bright and prosperous
future.
In
our first story we meet Jill and Fred Lusk of
Wiggins. They operate Lazy L Farms, which is
an exotic animal sanctuary, that takes in abused
and unwanted animals. Their farm has turned
into a zoo of sorts.
We
travel next down Highway 49 to Biloxi. Here
the Children's International Summer Village
(CISV) takes place every three years. Children
from around the globe converge on the area to
learn of different cultures and find out how
people are more alike than different.
The Prentiss
Institute, in the town of Prentiss, is a good
example of one of less than ten Rosenwald Schools
still standing in our state. With the combined
effort of Booker T. Washington and Julius Rosenwald;
these schools changed the landscape for African-American
education in the South. This segment continues
our look at Mississippi's Ten Most Endangered
Historic Places.
Walt takes us on a visual
journey from the beginning
to the end of a summer thunderstorm in Mississippi.
In this weeks edition of Walt's Way.
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