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Mississippi Roads comes to you this week from
one of the state’s most outstanding attractions
that pays tribute to the hardworking people
of Mississippi. We are at the Jim Buck Ross
Mississippi Agriculture
and Forestry Museum.
The museum depicts the dominant forces that
have shaped the history and economy of the
state. The exhibits, showing the powerful roles
of agriculture and forestry help to express
the fact that Mississippi; as well as America,
has a heritage that is linked to our soil.
So let’s step back in time and retrace
the agricultural progress that played such
a vital role in this state's history, as we
rediscover the spirit of Mississippi's small-town
living.
The Fortenberry-Parkman farmstead started
around 1860 in south Mississippi. The entire
farm was moved to the museum site in 1981.
The main house is surrounded by the dairy room
for churning, a smoke house to cure ham and
sausage and a store house, spring house, chicken
house, potato house and an out house. This
display shows how people used all of the natural
resources to survive in day to day life.
In our first story, we meet some Meridian
men who are using used cooking oil and other
natural resources to develop fuel for their
automobiles. Biodiesel is
a fuel made from vegetable oil that runs in
any unmodified diesel engine. Biodiesel can
be made from any vegetable oil including oils
pressed straight from the seed (virgin oils)
such as soy, sunflower, canola, coconut and
hemp. Biodiesel can also be made from recycled
cooking oils from fast food restaurants. Even
animal fats like beef tallow and fish oil can
be used to make biodiesel fuel. While biodiesel
may sound like something from the movie “Back
to the Future,” its use dates back over
100 years to the invention of the diesel engine.
(See Veggie Van for more info.)
Small Town Mississippi is an area in the museum
that is reconstructed to represent a typical
1920's Mississippi town. Here some of the buildings
you will find are a blacksmith shop, a printer,
a filling station and a grist mill. One thing
you won’t find in this small town is a
lot of chain stores. Back then most of the business’s
were owned by individuals within the community
and they were all unique.
In our next story, we take a look at some
of the unique independent bookstores that still
survive in our state today. We start our journey
in the Gulf Coast
town of Bay St. Louis where a former cottage has been converted into “Bookends” a
gem of a bookstore that is owned by Susan Daigre. In Jackson Banner Hall is
where you will find John Evans and his legendary bookstore Lemuria.
In the town of Oxford a book lovers shrine
stands tall on the square of this quaint
southern town. Square
Books owned by Oxford mayor Richard Howorth
has inspired and nurtured many writers and
readers. The popular Thacker
Mountain Radio Show also can trace its
roots back to this infamous bookstore.
The story of agriculture is told at the National Agricultural Aviation Museum.
Here you will get the opportunity to take a close look at various types of agricultural
aircraft and get a feel for what early farming was all about. You can also watch
a video that will take you from the early days of crop dusting to the present
day. It is really amazing to see how technology has changed our society today.
In our next story, we visit a place that
technology has not touched; in fact Sciple’s
Mill has remained the same for decades
and that’s where we are headed; on
this weeks edition of Walt’s Way. Dating
back to 1790 Sciple’s Mill is run by
a water-turbine wheel, the mill can grind
32 bushels of corn or wheat per hour. The
Present wheel was placed into operation in
1880.
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