We have been from the far West to the far East of Mississippi. These past two days we have spent driving and we enjoyed every minute of it. Andrew had appointments, so Ken and I just went along for the ride. Our deal was that we would go along for the ride and he would drive our car, so it worked out for all of us. Greenville was our first stop on Wednesday. Now to get there we drove through some of the flattest fields in the land. These fields are also very productive. We saw cotton fields and rice fields in abundance. Now the Mississippi Delta has a certain mystique, but to me it just looked flat. B.B.King Museum has just opened and many signs point to it from everywhere we went, but we were on a mission and we did not go in. Greenville was an important town when the River carried lots of freight, but now the town is in decline. For some reason, everyone here told us to be sure to visit the Delta, but I am not sure why, other than for the history of the Blues, which originated from the Mississippi Delta.
Today we drove up up Columbus, on the far side of the state. That small city seems alive and very well kept. The downtown buildings are all restored and now have apartments on the second floors of the old buildings. Now this city was never burned by Sherman during the Civil War, as did all the other towns. We went to Philadelphia and then Meridian, where only six buildings were left standing after the Union forces blazed through the city. The east side of the state is much more to my liking. The soil is black. Hills, although small, do exist. The highest part of the State of Mississippi is just over eight hundred feet so we did not expect high hills, but a few hills here and there makes for a more attractive topography, at least to someone who has lived in Maryland for the past 38 years.
We found our two days of driving very interesting. Of course, no place took more than two hours to get to, so we came home each night. Jackson is a pleasant place too, as the roads are excellent and the traffic is light. Restaurants are everywhere and with great variety. The good folks from Jackson are very surprised that Andrew and Christina have moved here. For some reason, the do not have many good things to say about Jackson and Mississippi. Now I have to find out why they feel that way. I only have two more days to figure it out, but I am going to try.
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I was born in Lake Village, Arkansas, just on the other side of the Mississippi from Greenville. Maybe one of the reasons people said you needed to go to the Delta is because a lot of folks with more unconventional thoughts (than some other agricultural areas of the South) came from there. Greenville is the home of Holden Carter, Jimmy Carter's press secretary. His father was a Pulitzer winning newspaper publisher for his anti segregation viewpoint during the civil rights era. Doe's tamales, made famous during the Clinton years for its Little Rock outlet, also started here. We used to drive to Greenville to buy a dozen tamales sold and package in a glass pickling jar. It was seldom on the way.
It is flat and that always bothered me as well.
Happy Birthday a little early.
I signed it with a different Goggle account for my first comment, so you may not know that SET is Sarah Elizabeth Toppins.
Oops! Can't get anything right this morning. It's Hodding Carter, not Holden.
Sarah...I was a little too harsh on the Delta, but everyone told me so much about the Delta that they every promised. It is also true that many folks are from the Delta, but the population is shrinking. Ruth.
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