Mississippi Roads comes to you this week from the Golden Triangle. We are in Columbus for the sixth annual Tennessee Williams Tribute and Tour of Victorian Homes. http://www.muw.edu/tennesseewilliams/
Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tennessee Williams was born in Columbus, Mississippi in 1911. He spent his beginning years in an old Victorian home that was the rectory for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, where his grandfather, Reverend Walter Dakin, served.
In 1993, that home was in danger of being torn down to make room for a church expansion. In an effort to preserve this historic literary landmark, the yellow and blue gingerbread home was loaded onto flatbed trailers and taken to Main Street. Once there, the home was restored and it now serves as the official Welcome Center for the town of Columbus.
In our first story we travel up to Clarksdale and visit another old home that played an important role in the life of this renowned American playwright.
The Cutrer house in Clarksdale, Ms. has been many things over the past century. The original purpose for the opulent Italian Renaissance home was as the residence for one of Clarksdale’s founding families, the Cutrer’s. The home’s reputation for elaborate parties and somewhat eccentric residents served as inspiration for one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century, Tennessee Williams.
The house was sold during the great depression and became a Catholic school and boarding house for nuns for years until it was deserted for decades and eventually scheduled to be torn down. Through the efforts of numerous folks in the community, the house was saved and is being restored. By saving the house, it serves to preserve an important part of Clarksdale’s history for future generations.
The Tennessee Williams Tribute and Tour of Victorian Homes is a six day extravaganza of everything Tennessee. There are movies, lectures, luncheons and numerous scholars are here to answer questions and give insight into this uniquely brilliant and talented Mississippian.
There are also some amazing parties with the highlight coming on Saturday night with a Southern Soul Food Supper followed by live music and dancing and a one man show by Jeremy Lawrence called Talking Tennessee.
As a matter of fact there are numerous plays held throughout the six day event that are guaranteed to satisfy even the most ardent Williams fan.
In our next story we travel west to the Delta for another noteworthy literary event.
It was a comfortable late April evening just outside Charleston on the grounds of the home of Myrna Colly-Lee and Morgan Freeman. Meeting tonight was the second of what is to become a twice a year tradition, a literary salon sponsored by the couple’s SonEdna Foundation. The foundation was set up to help writers. Myrna Colly-Lee says the foundation is their way of giving back to Mississippi.
http://www.sonedna.org/
Five writers read to the hundred and 40 or so in attendance.
All of the writings are from an African-American point of view. That is the canvas on which all the stories and essays and poems are painted. But in the final analysis, every bit of it was about life. Living life jut as anyone of any color does, flavored with and from the viewpoint of a particular culture.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Columbus is the church where Tennessee was baptized in 1911 and also the same church where his grandfather the Reverend Dakin served as pastor. The sermon that was given here on Sunday was based on a theme from Williams’ play “A Streetcar Named Desire”.
After the service, a traditional southern Sunday lunch is held at the church Parish Hall and then it is off to the second part of the festival, the tour of Victorian Homes in Columbus. This is a great opportunity to see inside those wonderful stately homes that dot downtown Columbus.
And speaking of homes, in our next segment we travel highway 82 west to Starkville and check in on the Cotton District that offers up its own unique style of homes.
In 1969, visionary Dan Camp began renewing a slum district in Starkville, transforming it into a quaint, uniquely designed, sought after community deemed “The Cotton District.” The neighborhood has since flourished, adding restaurants, boutiques, and even hair salons to the variety of apartments and homes, making it one of the earliest known examples of the trend called New Urbanism. It was such an important revitalization for the city that in 2005, Dan Camp was even elected Mayor of Starkville. http://thecottondistrict.net
http://www.cityofstarkville.org/
http://www.classicist.org/rossawards_history.html
Many of the activities for the Tennessee Williams Tribute and Tour of Victorian Homes take place on the campus of the Mississippi University for Women. This event is truly a collaborative effort between many public and private groups from the Columbus area that come together each year to put on this wonderful festival. Visitors from eighteen different states and five foreign countries come to Mississippi to enjoy this unique tribute to Tennessee Williams.
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