From the Archives: Small Towns in Mississippi, Fort Adams

Fort Adams is a former river town in Wilkinson County at the southwest corner of Mississippi, near the Louisiana border. I have only been there once and want to return. That might be an interesting day trip, but it is a haul from Vicksburg. These photographs are from a short stopover in 1986. I was on the way to New Orleans and had read about Fort Adams somewhere. Sure enough, it was at the end of the road, at the end of the world. 

Up until at least 1864, Fort Adams was a Mississippi River port, but the river channel shifted away, leaving the town far from the river. Today, the town serves hunters and fisherman from nearby hunting camps. The Gro in the photograph above was busy midday.

Notice how the two buildings above were mirror images of each other. But the white building had narrower clapboards that faced the porch. The white unit was once a gas station because the concrete footing for the pumps is still in front.

This little store is another matching wood frame building. 

These photographs are all 4×5" Agfapan 400 frames from my Tachihara wood field camera with a 180mm ƒ/5.6 Caltar II-N lens. Click any picture to see details at 1600 pixels on the long dimension.

Standby for more photographs from the archives as I sort through decades of negatives. 

Small Towns in Mississippi: Union Church

Union Church is an unincorporated community in Jefferson County at the Junction of MS 28 and 550 in west central Mississippi, approximately half way between Fayette and Hazelhurst. According to Wikipedia, "The community of Union Church was formed primarily by a group of Scotch settlers who left North Carolina around 1805 for the promise of fertile land to be farmed on the eastern banks of the Mississippi River. The town was originally called Scotch Settlement. The founding families were headed by George Torrey, his son Dougald Torrey, Laughlin Currie and Robert Willis."

Union Church played a role in the daring raid by Col. Benjamin Grierson and 1,700 horse troopers, who rode over 600 miles through hostile territory from southern Tennessee, through Mississippi, and finally to Union-held Baton Rouge, Louisiana during April-May of 1863. The troopers briefly stopped in Union Church during the night of April 28-29, after which they continued east and then south.

I drove into Union Church on a blazing hot and muggy day in early August (2020) while I was on one of my photographic tours. Some handsome old churches, farm houses, and stores caught my eye.

Former church? (Fuji Acros film, Leica IIIC, 50mm ƒ/1.4 Canon lens, green filter, 1/200 ƒ/4.0)

Driving in from the north on MS 28, I saw this big white wood building that looked like a former church. If there was a sign describing current use, I did not see it.

Old shop (Panatomic-X film, Fuji GW690II camera, minor fill flash)

Two old stores sit at the junction of MS 28 and 550. On the first store, the roof looked reasonably sound, but there were fallen tree limbs and debris on it. That is definitely trouble in this damp climate.

Store 2 was engulfed with a mess of vines and jungle. The walk-up window may have been for ice cream sales, but who can tell at this stage? It is sad that these places are no longer in business.

Union Church Presbyterian Church (Moto G5 digital file)

Heading west on 28 towards Fayette, I saw two churches, one no longer in use and the other in nice condition. Union Church looked like a quiet little town with some prosperous farms. I was glad to stop and look around.

Most of these photographs are from medium format Kodak Panatomic-X film from my Fuji GW690II camera or 35mm Fuji Acros film from my Leica IIIC camera and a Canon 50mm ƒ/1.4 lens. 

The Mississippi Delta 37: Tchula

Tchula is a tiny town in Holmes County, Mississippi, on US 49E a few miles south of Itta Bena. I wrote about Itta Bena in The Mississippi Delta 27 but had never driven 49E further south to see that stretch of the Delta. I decided to explore on a blazing hot 2020 summer day.

Former road bridge, Front Street, Tchula (Tri-X 400 film, Fuji GW690II camera, green filter)

Entering town from the south, I turned onto Front Street. A bridge formerly connected to Cooper Road, which follows the Tchula lakeshore. 

Front yard, Front Street, Tchula

Background

Tchula is rough, just gruesome. I found a long article in The Guardian. "Poorest town in poorest state: segregation is gone but so are the jobs. In his second dispatch from the US’s most deprived communities, Chris McGreal visits Tchula in Mississippi, where crime is high and opportunities are few". 

A 2019 article in The Guardian describes how little help was forthcoming after flooding in that year. 

“It was so painful to visit homes today and see what we saw. No one should have to live like this in the richest country on earth,” Barber told the crowd at the Good Samaritan Ecumenical church.

“But there must be, and will be, a movement of people who say, ‘That is wrong, and we can’t stand for that any more.”

Mississippi Today featured a 2019 article on flooding and neglect of the inhabitants, "Living Day to Day: Surrounded by water and ignored by powerful officials, Tchula and its people fight for survival"

A somber 2015 article in The Atlantic, titled "How White Flight Ravaged the Mississippi Delta," describes the horrors of poverty, segregation, racism, and the flight of wealth to other places. Tchula now is the fifth poorest town in the country, according to the 2015 Atlantic article.

The Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting documented how Covid devastated Holmes County when it was already off the cliff with no safety net.

2020 Photographs

No more lunches at Speedy's, Tchula

Main Street view west, Tchula

Main Streeet view west, Tchula (Fuji X-E1 digital file)

I stopped on Main Street and went into the food store. Everyone was very friendly, and everyone was wearing a mask, even kids on bicycles. The local folks were more rigorous with their masks than Vicksburgers (or MAGA rally attendees at the White House). Trains occasionally thunder through town at high speed.

Former gas station, Main Street

Back lot of former commercial building, Jefferson Street, Tchula

Many of the former commercial buildings are no longer used. The vines shows abandonment.

Juke joint, US 49E, Tchula (Tri-X 400 film)

US 49E, view north, Tchula, Mississippi (Tri-X 400 film, Fuji GW690II, yellow filter)

This has been our short visit to Tchula. Type "Mississippi Delta" in the search box for other examples of Delta towns. 

All photographs with one digital exception were from Kodak Tri-X film via my Fuji GW690II camera (the "Texas Leica") with a 90mm ƒ/3.5 EBC-Fujinon lens. Praus Productions in Rochester, New York, developed the film in Xtol developer. I scanned the negatives with a Minolta Scan-Multi medium format film scanner.

On the Dixie Overland Highway, Historic US 80 - Girard and Start, Louisiana (LA-06)

We continue on our exploration westward on historic US 80 through rural Louisiana.

4554 US 80 Girard, Louisiana (Fuji X-E1 digital file, 18mm ƒ/2 lens)

Girard is an unincorporated community in Richland Parish, Louisiana, on the west side of the Boeuf River. Originally, the town could ship merchandise to other markets via the river. But starting in the mid-1800s (before the Civil War), the railroad became the prime means of shipping agricultural products. This is now solely a bedroom community, with houses and a few stores.

The Easy Pickins' Thrifty Sales store is in a nicely-restored old grocery at 5144 US 80. It was open and quite interesting. I asked about old cameras, but the owner only had some old Kodak box cameras and Polaroids. There are always Polaroid cameras at these types of stores, but the lack of most types of instant film makes them useless today.

US 80, view east, Start, Louisiana

Start is another unincorporated community along US 80, this one in Richland Parish, Louisiana. It consists of an unused (?) gin, big gas station, and some homes. 

The buildings of the C.W. Earle Gin, address 5947 US 80, are a short distance south of the highway. Some of the equipment and siding was quite rusted, and I could not tell if this is a going concern or not. 

Texaco, US 80 view west, Start, Louisiana

This is all the excitement in Start. The next community west is Monroe, the "big city" of central Louisiana. We will continue our trip on US 80 in the next article. Thanks for riding along.

These digital images are from a Fuji X-E1 compact camera with the 18mm ƒ/2 Fuji lens.

Travels on the Mother Road, Route 66: Part 8d, Budville and Cubero, New Mexico (2019)

Continuing east on Route 66 (where it still exists) or I-40 through central New Mexico, the country is pretty arid with only an occasional farm or truck stop. According to the Route 66 Adventure Handbook, Cubero was bypassed by a new road in the 1930s. An entrepreneur built the Villa de Cubero, which is still in business on Route 66 where it diverges away from the interstate. You can buy snacks, gasoline, and other essentials there.

Courtesy of 66postcards.com (Thank you!)

The Villa de Cubero Tourist Courts catered to early Route 66 travelers. According to the Route 66 Adventure Handbook, the adventure/musical Desert Song was filmed near here (the 1943 or 1953 version?). Desert Song was based on Sigund Romberg's 1926 operetta about a galant and handsome desert sheik who captures the heart of the beautiful city girl and rides off to the desert with her, singing all the time, while he also directs the revolt of the Berber tribesmen.

Villa de Cubero De Luxe Tourist Court (expired Kodak Ektar 25 film, Yashica Electro 35CC camera)

The tourist courts are closed but in reasonably intact condition. The Route 66 Adventure Handbook also notes that Ernest Hemingway may have written The Old Man and the Sea here! Or maybe he did not because he might have been in Cuba. A blog from the Villa de Cubero explores the controversy of Papa Hemingway's stay in the tourist court. We need to weigh the options:
Cuba: tropical breezes, palm trees, beautiful women, lots of booze, and deep sea fishing.
Cubero: desert, not much to do, and booze.

Budville Trading Co. (Moto G5 digital file)

About a mile southeast on old Route 66 you come upon the former Budville Trading Company. It is closed and longer has pumps on the island.

Budville Trading Post (Tri-X film, Hasselblad 501CM camera, 50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens)

A bit further east I saw another closed garage/filling station. This one had another long-wheelbase Cadillac!

That is all the excitement for Cubero. We will continue east on Route 66. Standby for more updates.

Return to Learned, Mississippi (using film)

Gibbes&Sons is a venerable country store, in business since 1899, in Learned, Mississippi. During the week, the store sells souvenirs and munchies. But on Friday and Saturday evening, it hosts steak dinners. And it is popular - what a great way to reinvent! The gent in the second photograph said I was welcome to take a picture - I wish I had written down his name.

It features country-style dining. Share a table and bring your own wine or beer. The proprietors will provide glasses. Wipe your fingers with paper towels. My friends and I ate on the back porch, which was reasonably comfortable despite the humidity.

The back yard has some interesting sheds and bits and pieces from the old days. I did not see these when I visited the shop mid-week in 2014, so it was well worthwhile to eat out on the back porch. While my friends chatted, I walked around with the Hasselblad and tripod.

Back out on Main Street, there are a number of old buildings and one interesting Magnolia tree outlined by the fading light (I warned you readers that I would be taking more "pretty" pictures in the future).

This former country store sits at the corner of Main and Front Streets. I do not know if the building is used today or is just part of the ambience of Learned. It is a nice town and I recommend a visit. Go eat a steak.

The square photographs are from TMax 400 film, taken with a Hasselblad 501CM camera and the 50mm f/4.0 Distagon lens. I had not used 120-size TMax before and was testing a roll. I exposed it at EI=320. The frames from dark locations were underexposed, and I think this film suffers reciprocity failure as low as 1/2 second. TMax is one of the new technology films introduced in the 1980s with so-called tabular silver grains (similar to Ilford's Delta films). The TMax is remarkably fine grain, but I think I prefer Tri-X 400's tonality. Tri-X is more grainy, but with a 54×54mm negative, grain really is not an issue. I scanned the negatives on a Minolta Scan Multi medium format film scanner operated with Silverfast Ai software.

Coles, Mississippi - Not Much Left

If you drive from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to Vicksburg, Mississippi, via the inland route rather than the 4-lane Hwy 61, you pass through a number of small lumber towns in the piney forest terrain. Driving north on Hwy 33 north of Gloster, you soon you enter the Homochitto National Forest. If you go too fast, you will zip by the junction where Mullins Road and McDowell Lane join 33. Oops, you just missed Coles.

Most of the buildings facing the road are abandoned. Whatever business once sustained this town has dried up.

There was an old cottage behind some trees. The porch had some of the old-fashioned outdoor chairs of the type I have seen in New Hampshire and the Adirondacks.

The former gasoline station had become an antique shop within the last few years, but I could not tell if it was open any more.

There was some great debris outside the antique store - my favorite photography subjects.

Photographs taken with a Fujifilm X-E1 digital camera, tripod-mounted, with the Fuji 27mm f/2.8 lens (an excellent and compact little optic). Raw files processed with PhotoNinja software.