Mississippi Roads takes you to northwest Mississippi. We are in the bustling and ever-expanding Desoto County town of Olive Branch. http://www.ci.olive-branch.ms.us/content/aa_home.php
A great place to spend an afternoon of browsing and shopping in antique, floral and specialty shops is in Old Towne Olive Branch. This quaint original downtown area was preserved and revitalized as other areas of the city began to expand.
The Old Towne Association maintains the quality of the area and also holds special events down here like: The Classic Car and Flywheeler Show, Mayfest Arts and Crafts Fair and Old Town Appraisal Fair. But for the music lovers don’t miss the spring and fall concert series or the very popular Summer Hootenannies.
And speaking of music, in our first segment we meet a couple who moved all the way from England to Mississippi because of their passion for one very special musician.
Sometimes, when the full Mississippi moon is rising, Glen Parry catches a glimpse of the vision his wife, Jenny, had that compelled her to take him, and leave their home in England and buy a building in Southhaven, Mississippi to open a bed and breakfast. They call it Gracepines. But the Parry’s dream has been more of a nightmare at times; mired in red tape.
But codes notwithstanding, why come to Mississippi to open a B&B, anyway? Well, it’s all because of him. Elvis Presley. Glen’s wife, Jenny, has been an Elvis fan all of her life. And while we might not think it’s a big deal to pop up to Memphis and visit Graceland and all the Elvis stuff, when you live in the U.K., it’s quite a hop.
http://www.gracepines.com/
Like many other cities, Olive Branch had a different name when it was first founded near where several old Chickasaw Indian Trails crossed. It was originally called Watson's Crossroad.
One of those old Indian trails eventually became a very well traveled road known as Pigeon Roost Road, it winds from the Tennessee state line through Olive Branch and on into Marshall County, Mississippi. It was named for the legendary, but now extinct, carrier pigeons that nested in the Nonconnah River bottoms. Millions would roost in trees with some limbs reported breaking under their weight.
In our next story, we travel down another road in the state that has a few stories of its own.
The northern section of highway 49 does a neat trick. That part of the highway that runs through the Delta. I mean it is pretty slick that a highway can run north and south at the same time, anyway, depending the lane you’re driving in. But here’s a highway that manages to go east and west at the same time that travelers on it are going north and south.
At Tutwiler, the motorist southward has the choice to go west through Indianola on his way south to where the road rejoins at Yazoo City, or to take the eastern route through Greenwood.
Either way, he’ll pass field and woods and swamps that look similar. And villages that once were an important link in the Delta agricultural network, where supply stores for the big plantations were, and where juke joints for the plantation workers were. Except for shadows, they are mostly gone.
Businesses are attracted to Olive Branch for its close proximity to Memphis and easy access to major transportation plus excellent education. The proof is in the pudding with more than ninety national and international companies stationed in the city’s industrial parks and employing more than five thousand people.
In our next story, we take you inside one local Olive Branch business that is the largest importer and grower of fine Bonsai in the United States.
Since the age of five; Brussel Martin has been fascinated with Bonsais. He started a small Bonsai business in his parent’s backyard which has grown three fold in the past five years. He has taken his love of Bonsais and created the best of both worlds. He gets to continue his childhood hobby of creating beautiful Bonsais and make a great living out of it too. http://www.brusselsbonsai.com/
Seven and a half families a day move into Desoto County to ensure that their children obtain a quality education. The school district is the second largest in Mississippi and continues to lead the state in academics, technology and the performing arts. As a matter of fact, in the 2006-2007 school year, four new schools opened in the city of Olive Branch alone.
In our next story, we meet a man who is in the business of education and training but it’s not geared for kids.
Ray Ainsworth is the man horses talk to. He has national recognition for his ability to communicate with and calm horses. He has a television program that runs on cable and satellite TV. But according to Ray, all that exposure isn’t for fame. It’s to get to more people to stop doing the wrong things to try to train their horses.
Ray Ainsworth has yet to run up on a horse that he couldn’t get through to. And he doesn’t use physical abuse as a tool. Matter of fact, he hardly ever touches the horse. They just communicate with each other. He’s always been able to do this with horses. http://www.rayainsworth.com/
Olive Branch is all about providing its citizens with a high quality of life. You can easily find this good life through the five different parks in the city that feature everything from soccer fields, baseball fields to lakes and tennis courts. Not to mention that there are four 18-hole championship golf courses in town. In less than a century and a half, Olive Branch has made the transformation from an Indian trail crossing to the fastest growing city in the fastest growing county in Mississippi.
|
