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Peache's
Willora “Peaches” Ephram was born in Utica, Mississippi, in 1924 to sharecropper parents. Unable to work in the fields, Willora stayed inside, learning to cook from her mother and grandmother. By the age of 8, she was preparing whole meals for her family to eat as they retuned each day from the cotton fields. In 1948, she moved to Jackson in search of a better life with only $8 to her name. After working for a while as a cook in the long-closed Blackstone Café on Farish Street, Willora had, by 1961, saved up enough money to open a restaurant of her own. For more than 50 years, Ms. Peaches, as she’s known to just about everyone, cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner for Jackson’s black community. Everyone from Muhammad Ali to Medgar Evers enjoyed her fried chicken, greens, and candied yams. During the Civil Rights Movement, Peaches’ Restaurant served as a safe haven for activists.
The Cleaners
The cleaners in this rural Louisiana town still has clothing that is ready, but was never picked up.
Cricket's Bait & Treasures
I stopped by Cricket's and chatted awhile with the owner. She says the place has been photographed many times and she said I was free to do so as well.
Pioneer Village
TROY, AL (WSFA) - If you make the drive between Troy and Montgomery I'm sure you've seen it. Maybe you've even wondered, what's over there. Well, one man is hoping the next time you head that way you'll stop in instead of driving by. "We have been open since August 5th," said Randy Griffin, owner of the Branding Iron Grill. Griffin has been in the food industry for close to 25 years. When he decided to open his new restaurant he decided the Pioneer Village off Highway 231 in Troy was the perfect place. "I just like the setting of the village with all the log cabins and I really just like the area because it's rustic. "Griffin is hoping to set a trend. He says more stores are on the way and they're painting some of the buildings and fixing the place up because there's a lot of history.
King's Tavern
The King's Tavern building was built in 1769, making it the oldest structure in the old river port city of Natchez. When the British moved in and established the nearby Fort Panmure, the King's Tavern building was originally built to be a block house for the fort. As there was no saw mill near this frontier town, this building and other structures were constructed using beams taken from scrapped New Orleans sailing ships, which were brought to Natchez via mule. Another source of wood used in the King's Tavern building construction were barge boards from flat river boats, which were dismantled and sold after arriving in Natchez with their goods after traveling down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Boatmen couldn't take their flat boats back up these rivers, so they just added to their profit by selling the boats as wood, which was needed to build Natchez. Besides the wood, sun-dried bricks also were used as building material. The result is a building which has an ambiance and decor of another era from the outside. Though the outside of the Kings Tavern has the rustic 1780s authentic wooden brick architectural style, the inside is a lovely place for cozy, quiet, intimate meal or to host luncheons, dinner parties, receptions meetings. The King's Tavern also provides meals for the large tour buses full of visitors who are traveling along the Natchez Trace Pathway. ~ Wikipedia
Radio Station of Yesteryear - WJDX
Update: We stopped by recently & the new owner was there. He'd just bought it & plans on tearing down the studio that was added on back in the 70's. It's in really bad shape anyway. He said he's thinking about turning the old building into an apartment. We suggested an Air BnB. The original building, the one that looks like an old Philco radio, was the transmission station. The actual studio was at the Lamar Life, now Standard Life, building downtown. This was Mississippi's second radio station, but Jackson's first. It began broadcasting in 1929. The first radio station in Mississippi operated out of Vicksburg, 44 miles due west of Jackson. WQBC was an AM broadcasting station licensed on 1420 kHz on October 24, 1927.
Bargain Wagon
I couldn't find anything online about this place. No one was around to ask either. This place is just outside of Morgantown, Ga. & I look forward to checking it out again.
Boral Bricks
Mississippi brick plant to close, lay off 79 workers
Published: Jan. 26, 2007 at 7:10 PM CST|Updated: Jan. 31, 2007 at 1:08 AM CST
(Macon, Miss.-AP) January 26, 2007 - An Atlanta-based company that has a plant in South Carolina says it will shut down a Mississippi facility this spring.
Boral Bricks Incorporated says it will shut down its Macon plant on March 31st, idling 79 workers.
Plant manager Pete Papas says the decision to shut down comes in response to a slowdown in the national brick sales market.
Papas says the company has no plans to relocate the plant.
Published: Jan. 26, 2007 at 7:10 PM CST|Updated: Jan. 31, 2007 at 1:08 AM CST
(Macon, Miss.-AP) January 26, 2007 - An Atlanta-based company that has a plant in South Carolina says it will shut down a Mississippi facility this spring.
Boral Bricks Incorporated says it will shut down its Macon plant on March 31st, idling 79 workers.
Plant manager Pete Papas says the decision to shut down comes in response to a slowdown in the national brick sales market.
Papas says the company has no plans to relocate the plant.
Southern Club
Owner was Lionel (Chic) Vidrine- Cecil Doyle played there in the band Madison Fog- rail around the stage- David Greely remembers $2 bill bets at Bouree, Fats Domino Sept 29, 1961.
Included in Emily Ardoin’s 2014 thesis “Fais do-do to ‘Hippy Ti-Yo’: Dance Halls of South Louisiana”: “The Southern Club is located on Highway 190 to the west of Opelousas and primarily featured swamp pop music. It was built in 1949 and opened as the Southern Club in 1953 and closed in 1996. It featured a restaurant and gambling room. The building is of a frame construction, has a front gabled asphalt shingle roof, a scalloped parapet, and has a concrete pier foundation. The dance floor is constructed of wood strips and the ceiling is acoustic tile. There is a seperate bar in another room other than the one that contains the dance floor. Mostly unaltered. Alterations have been maintenance related: Roof shingles replaced in 1993; wood shakes on primary fac_ade removed in 1990s. Shingles on parapet and neon sign were replaced once, probably in 1960s. Original canopy over porch was damaged and replaced in early 1980s. Some auxiliary spaces were altered over time (pool table room opened and telephone booth in bar space relocated). The National Registry nomination is in progress- the owners hope to restore and reopen.” ~ Louisiana Dancehalls
Included in Emily Ardoin’s 2014 thesis “Fais do-do to ‘Hippy Ti-Yo’: Dance Halls of South Louisiana”: “The Southern Club is located on Highway 190 to the west of Opelousas and primarily featured swamp pop music. It was built in 1949 and opened as the Southern Club in 1953 and closed in 1996. It featured a restaurant and gambling room. The building is of a frame construction, has a front gabled asphalt shingle roof, a scalloped parapet, and has a concrete pier foundation. The dance floor is constructed of wood strips and the ceiling is acoustic tile. There is a seperate bar in another room other than the one that contains the dance floor. Mostly unaltered. Alterations have been maintenance related: Roof shingles replaced in 1993; wood shakes on primary fac_ade removed in 1990s. Shingles on parapet and neon sign were replaced once, probably in 1960s. Original canopy over porch was damaged and replaced in early 1980s. Some auxiliary spaces were altered over time (pool table room opened and telephone booth in bar space relocated). The National Registry nomination is in progress- the owners hope to restore and reopen.” ~ Louisiana Dancehalls
Old Forgoten Sugar Mill
Who knew?! This was a Canadian-American Sugar Refining Company. This appeals to my own heritage. They chartered the Kenilworth Warehousing Company to run it. All I have been able to find on the internet is this 1916 article from The Louisiana Planter and Sugar Manufacturer newspaper. The place was a lot larger than I had anticipated. Most of the structures are gone, but the large concrete ones remain along with one really tall stack & a what I think was referred to as a clarifier. Not nearly as tall, but it cycled the sugar down in a cone that lead to a tank. A portable tank I believe.
Naval Station
New Orleans NAS
Early history
The land underlying the Naval Support Activity is part of an immense West Bank concession given to Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, founder of New Orleans, in 1719 by the Compagnie des Indes. The land changed hands numerous times before being purchased by the United States government on 1849-02-14 for the site of a proposed Navy yard. The Navy yard was not built, however, and the land was leased off for farming. In May of that year, additional ground was purchased by the Navy to enlarge the original site. In November 1901, the Naval Dry Dock YFD-2 arrived and the US Naval Station was formally established.
The original buildings, some of which still stand, were completed on the site in 1903.
Early history
The land underlying the Naval Support Activity is part of an immense West Bank concession given to Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, founder of New Orleans, in 1719 by the Compagnie des Indes. The land changed hands numerous times before being purchased by the United States government on 1849-02-14 for the site of a proposed Navy yard. The Navy yard was not built, however, and the land was leased off for farming. In May of that year, additional ground was purchased by the Navy to enlarge the original site. In November 1901, the Naval Dry Dock YFD-2 arrived and the US Naval Station was formally established.
The original buildings, some of which still stand, were completed on the site in 1903.
The Plaza
Plaza Tower (for a time dubbed Crescent City Towers and Crescent City Residences in a failed proposed redevelopment scheme) is a 45-story, 531-foot (162 m) skyscraper in New Orleans, Louisiana, designed in the modern style by Leonard R Spangenberg, Jr. & Associates. Located in the Central Business District (CBD), it is the third tallest building in both the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana.
The building has been unused since 2002 because of environmental problems such as toxic mold and asbestos. In March 2005, the Plaza Tower was purchased by Giannasca Development Group LLC for $4 million. The Giannasca Group planned a $120 million renovation to convert the office tower into a 197-unit condominium tower with an entirely new facade. However, after damage due to Hurricane Katrina, the group was involved in faulty appropriations of insurance money that had been issued after the storm, causing the group to sue one another and default on the mortgage.
The building has been unused since 2002 because of environmental problems such as toxic mold and asbestos. In March 2005, the Plaza Tower was purchased by Giannasca Development Group LLC for $4 million. The Giannasca Group planned a $120 million renovation to convert the office tower into a 197-unit condominium tower with an entirely new facade. However, after damage due to Hurricane Katrina, the group was involved in faulty appropriations of insurance money that had been issued after the storm, causing the group to sue one another and default on the mortgage.
General Store
Fort Adams is a small, river port community in Wilkinson County, Mississippi, United States, about 40 miles south of Natchez. It is notable for having been the U.S. port of entry on the Mississippi River, before the acquisition of New Orleans; it was the site of an early fort by that name. The town was called Wilkinburg and was incorporated in 1798. Prior to that time, the community was known as Loftus Heights and formerly had been a Jesuit mission called the Rock of Davion, first settled as such circa 1689-1700. This is also the site where the Choctaw Treaty of Fort Adams was signed in 1801.
Market Street Power Plant
The Market Street Power Plant is a defunct early 20th Century power plant in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is located along the Mississippi River just upriver of the Crescent City Connection and Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The plant was constructed in 1905 and last produced power in 1973 when it was part of New Orleans Public Service, Inc. In early 2007, Entergy New Orleans sold the plant and surrounding property to Market Street Properties LLC for $10 million.
Mills Family Coca-Cola
“The two-story brick bottling plant following guidelines of the Coca-Cola Bottlers for ‘Bottling Plant No. 3.’ Decorative cast-stone panels feature contoured Coca-Cola Bottle and honeysuckle leaf. Operated by the Mills Family for 75 years until the business was sold to Baton Rouge Coca-Cola Bottling Company. Building later housed commercial offices. Vacant since 2001 and impacted by water infiltration.” ~ Bogalusa Daily News
Art Store
Art Store of yesteryear.
Casino in the Woods
In 1992, "Splash" casino opened in Mhoon Landing, the first casino in Northern Mississippi.
Necco Wafers
Part of the New England based company, Necco in Thibodaux opened in 1964 & closed its doors in 2003 or 2006. I read '03, but saw a claendar inside dated '06. I'd hoped for more inside, but it's really just an empty building now. Here's a great article from the area. ~ https://www.houmatoday.com/article/DA/20060724/Business/608094843/HC/
Gong
While wandering around downtown Merigold, Mississippi, I ran into Ben who was cleaning out the Gong Co. He let me in for a second to see the old grocery store still stocked with merchandise. It was a complete time capsule stuck in time. There is debate as to when the store closed. I’ve attached a story I found on the web about a short history of the Gong’s & their life. https://www.google.com/…/the-gong-company-merigold-dow…/amp/
A Plane & A Rocket
'The tail number on this plane didn't reveal the information I'd hope it would. Still it was magnificent sitting in this filed along the tree line. The rocket is anMR7 Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle. It was the American crewed space booster! It was used for six sub-orbital Mercury flights from 1960-61;culminating with the launch of the first and eleven weeks later, the second American in space. ~ Wikipedia
Paper Mill
The Charles Boldt Paper Mill was first built in 1920 and went into operation in 1921. The mill functioned by using rice straw from local farmers and was expected to be a big boost to the local economy. However, the mill closed after the Great Depression and has remained abandoned.
Peavey
Driven by an unmatched legacy of innovation and a total dedication to quality and reliability, Peavey Electronics embodies the pursuit of perfection in music and audio. It's our unifying spirit. It's proven. And it continues today...just not at this location. ~ Peavey
Roadside Bar
This roadside bar in the Mississippi Delta was stocked with beer still! There were probably more magazines in this one place than any other place I have explored. The Wayne Newton record 'Now' from 1966 was an incredible find! It isn't often you find such great memorabilia in good condition.
Trains
In the New Orleans area is a train museum. I don't think it is still in operation, but these trains still sit behind a fence rotting. I'll check it again in the future & maybe there will be a way in.
Coca Cola
Community members will gather Wednesday night to discuss whether the old Coca-Cola plant could be a new sign of hope for Highway 80.
While redevelopment of the abandoned factory and warehouse space, which shut its doors in 2007, is still in the planning stages, the Jackson Community Design Center sees the space it now calls the old Cola plant, as an important development for Highway 80.
"The Coca-Cola Bottling Company is a potential anchor and a prime candidate to begin an effort of renewal and revitalization on the Highway 80 corridor," the JCDC, an urban research laboratory at the Mississippi State School of Architecture's fifth-year Jackson Center, explained in a June 2010 post on its website. ~ JFP.ms
While redevelopment of the abandoned factory and warehouse space, which shut its doors in 2007, is still in the planning stages, the Jackson Community Design Center sees the space it now calls the old Cola plant, as an important development for Highway 80.
"The Coca-Cola Bottling Company is a potential anchor and a prime candidate to begin an effort of renewal and revitalization on the Highway 80 corridor," the JCDC, an urban research laboratory at the Mississippi State School of Architecture's fifth-year Jackson Center, explained in a June 2010 post on its website. ~ JFP.ms
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