Stepping Back in Time
Turn north from US Highway 82 onto a two-lane road, go around a curve and down a slight hill and you will feel like you have stepped back into history. The Town of Carrollton, Mississippi, sits nestled in the hills overlooking the delta, waiting to delight you with beautiful old homes, stately churches and history on every corner. On Friday and Saturday, you can choose to visit homes such as Wayside, The Oaks, The Vance House and Stanhope as part of the annual Carrollton Pilgrimage. Men like William Ray and J. George moved into the area and bought land for $1.25 an acre and began to build homes for themselves and their families. Many of the homes began as simple dwellings but grew as fortunes increased. With 66 units listed in the National Register of Historic Places, Carrollton was one of the largest districts in the state. Many of these buildings have been maintained through the years. The Captain Ray House has been owned by four families since 1847 – James Collins, William Ray who gave it the look it has today, B. Johnson and now Betty Ray, a descendant of William. Others have changed hands so many times that the listing of owners looks like small phone book. Only a few of the homes have needed restoration. Lum Reek, home of Tommy and Libba Goodman, is one that was almost lost because it remained vacant, on a back street, behind overgrown shrubs. Like its neighbor, Seven Gables, today it is an example of what can be done under the guidance of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Churches played an important role in the early years of Carroll County and we are blessed to have five of the congregations worshiping in historic structures. Of the five, only Grace Episcopal Church is still using its original building, built in 1884. The others – Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian – have outgrown their facilities or lost them to fire and rebuilt before 1900. Four of churches will be open to tour. Several other buildings will also be open. The Pilgrimage Headquarters will be located in the Town Hall, at the corner of Lexington and Washington at the 4-way stop. Gee’s Store will be open again. One of the longest operating mercantile stores in the state, the shelves are still stocked with the goods that were there the day they closed. Polyester fabric shares the shelves with crisp collars and cuffs and button hooks for shoes. Merrill’s Store, on the other hand, has been a store, a bank, a dry cleaners, a furniture and coffin factory and even served as courtroom while the current Courthouse was being built it 1876. Today it houses the Merrill Museum with its fine collections of bottles, arrowheads and J. McCain memorabilia. Senator J. George’s library at Cotesworth will be open. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the Library. Cotesworth is 2 miles from the 4-way stop at Carrollton. Weekend tickets are $25 for adults and $10 for children through high school. On Saturday, visit arts and crafts exhibits of the Pioneer Day Festival, find your roots in Carroll County at the Genealogy Expo and buy a duck for North Carrollton’s Big Sand Creek Festival Duck Race. All these and more are free to attend. For more information about any of these events, check out www.VisitCarrolltonMs.com, email requests to [email protected] or call 662-237-6910.
