Delta Magazine September/October 2019 Complimentary Issue

Delta

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

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GUNS, DOGS & HOGS HARVEST HOME

2019 Outdoor & Hunting Guide Delta Dog Contest Winner Lucy, a Goldendoodle, in Madison, Mississippi

in Glendora

4 HOT

sandwich recipes

Building Mississippi’s future Building Mississippi’s future through tech & education.

through tech & education.

Technology affects every part of our lives & the need for a well-equipped tech Technology affects every part of ourYet, liveswe & the need for athat well-equipped workforce is always growing. aren’t seeing reflected intech our workforce schools. is always growing.

Yet, we aren’t seeing that refl ected in our schools.

Through the C Spire Through the C Spire Tech Movement, we’re helping to expand computer science Tech Movement, helping to expand computer science & introducethrough students education &we’re introduce students to the incredible thingseducation they can accomplish it. to the incredible things they can accomplish through it.

Join us & learn how you can help bring Join us & learn how you to can helpschool. bring computer science your computer science to your school. cspire.com/techmvmt cspire.com/techmvmt ©2019 C Spire. All rights reserved. ©2019 C Spire. All rights reserved.

12 retirement communities with one mission...

1. HERNANDO WESLEY MEADOWS Independent Living and Assisted Living Phone: 662-429-2070 2. CLARKSDALE FLOWERS MANOR Cottage & Independent Living and Personal Care Phone: 662-627-2222

...to serve older adults in the spirit of Christian love.

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3. TUPELO TRACEWAY Cottage & Independent Living, Assisted Living, Supportive Living Green House® Homes, and Short-Term Rehab Phone: 662-844-1441

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4.WEST POINT DUGAN Supportive Living and Short-Term Rehab Phone: 662-494-3640

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5. WEST POINT THE HENRY CLAY Independent Living Phone: 662-494-1079 6. COLUMBUS TRINITY PLACE Independent Living, Personal Care, Supportive Living and Short-Term Rehab Phone: 662-327-6716 7. YAZOO CITY MARTHA COKER Supportive Living Green House® Homes and Short-Term Rehab Phone: 662-746-4621 8. RAYMOND RIGGS MANOR Garden Homes & Independent Living, Assisted Living, and Memory Support Green House® Homes Phone: 601-857-5011

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www.mss.org 9. MERIDIAN ALDERSGATE Cottage & Independent Living and Assisted Living Phone: 601-482-5561 10. HATTIESBURG WESLEY MANOR Independent Living Phone: 601-264-8847 11. LEAKESVILLE TURNER-DUVALL Independent Living Phone: 601-394-2621

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12. GULFPORT SEASHORE HIGHLANDS Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Support Apartments & Memory Support Green House® Home Phone: 228-831-7000

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T H E D I S T R I C TAT E A S T OV E R . C O M

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Publisher: J. Scott Coopwood Editor: Cindy Coopwood Managing Editor: Pam Parker Contributing Editors: Hank Burdine, Maude Schuyler Clay, Noel Workman, Roger Stolle Digital Editor: Phil Schank Consultant: Samir Husni, Ph.D. Special Projects Coordinator: Stacye Trout Graphic Designers: Sandra Goff, Maggi Mosco, Isabella Horn Contributing Writers: Anne Braly, Dawn Rosenberg Davis, Clint Kimberling, Brenda Ware Jones, Logan Kirkland, Susan Marquez, Aimee Robinette, Angela Rogalski, Tom Speed, Mark Stowers, Cal Trout Photography: Sarah Bell, Anne Braly, Austin Britt, Claiborne Cooksey, Blake Crocker, Randall Haley, Brette Harman, Timothy Ivy, Johnny Jennings, John Keene, Logan Kirkland, Bill Powell, Sandie Ward Account Executives: Joy Bateman, Cristen Hemmins, Kristy Kitchings, Wendy Mize, Ann Nestler, Cadey True Circulation: Holly Tharp Accounting Manager: Emma Jean Thompson POSTMASTER: Send all address changes to Delta Magazine, PO Box 117, Cleveland, MS 38732

ADVERTISING: For advertising information, please call (662) 843-2700 or email Delta Magazine accepts no responsibility for unsolicited materials or photos and in general does not return them to sender. Photography obtained for editorial usage is owned by Delta Magazine and may not be released for commercial use such as in advertisements and may not be purchased from the magazine for any reason. All editorial and advertising information is taken from sources considered to be authoritative, but the publication cannot guarantee their accuracy. Neither that information nor any opinion expressed on the pages of Delta Magazine in any way constitutes a solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities mentioned. No material in Delta Magazine may be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the publication. Delta Magazine is published bimonthly by Coopwood Magazines, Inc., 125 South Court St., Cleveland, MS 38732-2626. Periodicals postage paid at Cleveland, MS and additional mailing office. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Delta Magazine, PO Box 117, Cleveland, MS 38732-0117. Delta Magazine (USPS#022-954)

Delta Magazine is published six times a year by Coopwood Magazines, Inc. EDITORIAL & BUSINESS OFFICE ADDRESSES: Mailing Address: PO Box 117, Cleveland, MS 38732 Shipping Address: 125 South Court Street, Cleveland, MS 38732 E-mail: publisher@deltamagazine.com editor@deltamagazine.com

deltamagazine.com Subscriptions: $28 per year 6 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

from the publisher

The Great Outdoors

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couple weeks ago as we prepared our woods for the incoming deer season, I thought

SANDIE WARD

about the many times “I had a deer stand on that tree when I was fifteen” or “I remember when Mike harvested that big buck from a climbing stand over there by the ponds back in 1979.” Memories flashed through my mind all afternoon as we cut trees and marked the property lines with red paint.

The men in my family were wing shooters.

They were not interested in deer hunting at all.

Duck, dove and actually quail hunting (when quail were numerous in the Delta) are the outings I remember as a child tagging along with my father and grandfather. Then, one day my childhood friend Mike Nassar and I stumbled across a TV show hosted by a man named Fred Bear. In the early 1970s, Fred Bear was the authority on bow Holding my Bear bow when I was twelve years hunting in America and for old with my friend, Mike Nassar. some reason his show captivated us. Mike and I soon talked our parents into buying us recurved bows and we spent countless hours in my backyard teaching ourselves how to shoot them. When we thought we were good enough, we jumped on the back of my Honda SL-70 and rode out into the country, climbed up in a pecan tree, and waited for a deer to pass. We waited and waited and waited. There probably wasn’t a deer within several miles, but we didn’t know that.

A year later, our hunting efforts took a huge leap forward when my father got us a membership in the old Po Boy Hunting Club located on Above, initials of friends carved into a tree who have hunted with us over the years on our property next to the Mississippi River. Below, one the Mississippi River just north of Gunnison. Then, later in high school of the ponds in our woods. and college, Mike and I moved our hunting excursions to the private land I still own to this day. In fact, it is also the same land where I introduced my sons to the great outdoors.

And now as fall approaches, I look forward to another deer season full of new experiences and good times making memories with family and friends on this very same land. It’s a special place, and this is a special time of year for anyone who loves the outdoors.

On page 97 we feature our annual Outdoor Section. We hope you enjoy it and look forward to hearing about your hunting experiences of the 2019-2020 season. DM

Scott Coopwood Publisher @scottcoopwood1 publisher@deltamagazine.com

8 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

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from the editor

Back to School “Don’t you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly-sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.”

– Tom Hanks as Joe Fox in You’ve Got Mail

I can’t help it, but in my mind once school starts, it’s fall. It just is.

No need to remind me that it’s still a hundred degrees outside.

As I write this, school supplies have been purchased, first-day-of-school pictures have been taken (and posted), and dorm rooms are being filled with…well, it depends. There are two extremes. If you’re moving in a son, you can get by with very little. At least we did. My sons basically grabbed a few towels from the bathroom cabinets (you know, because “new ones feel weird”), got an old blanket and comforter from the pile that was always in our attic play room, stuffed them all into Hefty Cinch Saks, and they were good to go. Nothing matched. They didn’t care.

Daughters’ dorm rooms, however, have reached heights of interior design Scott and me with Mary Helen Varner and Vivi A few more staff favorites Waddell at the inaugural Delta Meat Market mania never before seen. This happy hour at the new Cotton House Hotel. from our Delta Dog Contest phenomenon makes me tremble with fear as I will be experiencing it in exactly one year when our daughter, Travis, leaves for college—and I have a sneaking suspicion that garbage bags stuffed with used goods from home won’t be part of the process. My practical side informs me that this trend has gotten a little crazy. I mean, when I started at Mississippi State, I felt lucky to be able to go to Stein Mart with Sonya, my best friend and roomie-to-be, to pick out matching comforters. We were also very on trend, cleverly stacking milk crates under our beds for storage. I have no idea where we got them. (Do milk crates even still exist?)

But I will make this prediction about Travis’s dorm room. Everything will match. She will care—and it will be fun.

All this to say that I love back-to-school time and everything it ushers in–the Millie, one of a kind, submitted by Claire anticipation of cooler temps, wearing sweaters, carving pumpkins, shorter days (yes, I’m Winn of Benoit one of those people), and football games. If you’re a fan of small town high school football, you’ll enjoy reading John Cox’s Final Word column “Looking for the Lights,” which will conjure football memories for all ages. And to help with the hectic pace and busy school nights, I think you’ll love our hot, cheesy sandwich recipes, page 140.

I want to personally thank everyone who participated and voted in our Second Annual Delta Dog contest. We’re excited to reveal the overall winner, Lucy, on our cover, but I can assure you, choosing our winners was not an easy process. Check them out on page 126. We had almost triple the number of entries from last year, and we loved every single one!

As you read this issue, I hope it brings to mind Louis 3, a Labrador Retriever, all the good things to be enjoyed in the season submitted by Caroline Parker of Oxford ahead. So sharpen your pencils and throw on a sweater—fall has arrived! DM In full disclosure, being a cat person at heart, Jaguar was secretly my favorite “dog” submission!

Cindy Coopwood Editor Jaguar, a cat, submitted by Dr. Steve Stricker of Oxford

10 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

@cindycoopwood cindy@deltamagazine.com

contents SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER Volume 17 No. 2

134

departments 36 BILL POWELL

40 44 50 82

82

106

features

56 64 72 97 145

166

SHOPPING

Sneak Attack: No sacrificing comfort for fashion with this new style Favorites for Fall: Top picks of fall trends

ART

Bobby Whitlock: Self-taught musician, rocker and now–artist

MUSIC

Kern Pratt: Greenville native blazing a trail in Blues world

HOME

Harvest Home: Memphis couple creates family haven in Glendora

FOOD

Hot Sandwiches for cool fall nights Finding biscuits in Natchez, the Biscuit Capital of the world, page 140

HISTORY

Blanche K. Bruce: A portrait of change

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WONDERBIRD SPIRITS STARKVILLE CAFÉ

State’s first grain-to-glass distillery uses Two Brooks Farms rice

COTTON HOUSE HOTEL

Decades of good food, great memories and small town traditions

2019 OUTDOOR & HUNTING GUIDE

Blending hospitality, food, and libations from the rooftop down Woman of the Wild, page 98 Legacy Gun, page 106 McIvor Shooting Facility, page 114 Hog Hunting, page 118 Delta Dog Contest, page 126

THE MENU GUIDE

BILL POWELL

SARAH BELL

134

BOOKS

Reviews of new releases and what Deltans are reading now

Eating & drinking in the Mississippi Delta and beyond

in every issue 18 Letters 24 On the Road Where we’ve been, where we’re going next

28 Off the Beaten Path Roaming the Real and Rustic Delta

32 Hot Topics 170 Events A listing of events including concerts, festivals, book signings

178 Delta Seen Snapshots from area fundraisers, art openings and social events

184 The Final Word

by John Cox

ON THE COVER: Photo of Lucy, a Goldendoodle, in Madison, Mississippi, submitted by Elizabeth Howe Bates for the Delta Dog Contest.

14 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

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LETTERS

I wanted to write and tell you we were delighted with the positive response from our ad for Lina’s in Leland, in your May/June issue. Longtime customers and new ones were so complimentary! We constantly fight the perception that Lina’s is “expensive” and your showcasing several gift items under thirty dollars helps customers realize that we offer much more than just antiques.

Patty Gibbs Leland, Mississippi You all put together stories that really motivate people to go on adventures! You recently featured an article about my art and conservation work in Grenada at Lee Tartt Nature Preserve combined with beautiful photography by Jason Williams. On an evening walk at the preserve, one of my board members encountered a group from out of town who went off the beaten path to find the preserve and experience a swamp first hand after reading the article. They lucked out with a private tour which included a close encounter with a prothonotary warbler.

Robin Whitfield Grenada, Mississippi

You can imagine my surprise when a sister in Hattiesburg called to tell me my name was in the Delta Magazine. I was able to get a copy and read your July/August column: “Good Things: An Ode to Martha.”

It was flattering to be mentioned along with your mother and Martha Stewart in teaching you to sew and take care of a home.

When my sister called, she added the “mayonnaise is the best treatment for wooden furniture” statement from your editor’s letter and said I told her the same thing years ago. She calls me “Miss Mayonnaise.”

Ann Howell Clinton, Mississippi I always enjoy reading articles that explore Mississippi’s past people and places.

Andrew Ross’s very interesting article about Julius Augustus Davies (“A Most Unusual Collector”) brought to mind my greatgranduncle Will Ticer who donated a similar collection of Native American artifacts to Ole Miss and Delta State. One of his most fascinating pieces was a rare Jefferson Peace Medal, which Ole Miss eventually repatriated to the Chickasaw Nation. This medal and many other items from the Ticer collection were featured, along with the Davies collection, in Professor Calvin Brown’s classic book Archaeology of Mississippi (1926).

Joel Hays Raymond Mississippi I thoroughly enjoyed the article about the Rushing family (July/August 2019). We always loved visiting the winery and Tea Room and were greatly saddened when they closed. My husband and I have also moved away, but that article brought back fond

memories of the past. I am always eager to see what’s in the next issue.

Lynda Meredith Akron, Ohio I’ve just been reading your July/August issue of Delta, and I want to tell you how good it is. Just one fascinating story after another. Some contemporary and some historical, some about music, some about design, plus art, literature, etc. I loved the two-page photo of the farm irrigation and the story about the young designer in Manhattan—just for starters. The story about Davis Island and the Thompson family. Even the photos in the Delta Seen section are great!

A very good Saturday morning read about an amazing place. Congrats!

Tony Silber Trumbull, Connecticut I recently read the article in the fall issue (September/October) of 2018 on the hunting clubs in the area and thought it was great. Oh, what fun it was to grow up at Donaldson Point, riding with my father, the late Pete Bramuchi of Shelby! What a great magazine you have—I keep all of my issues!

Cathy Bramuchi Greenville, Mississippi

SEND COMMENTS AND LETTERS TO: editor@deltamagazine.com or Delta Magazine, PO Box 117, Cleveland, MS 38732

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To subscribe, call (662) 843-2700 or visit deltamagazine.com 18 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

Y’all Said SOCIAL MEDIA COMMENTS @deltamagazine

We Asked...

From The Edit: Where were you the day the Apollo landed on the moon?

Working in the newsroom of the Delta DemocratTimes newspaper. I actually took b/w photos from the tv by setting the shutter speed to 1/30 second as tv frames are 30/second. – Jody Correro My childhood home in Monroe, Louisiana. My big brother (twelve years older) took me outside and told me about the landing while we gazed at the moon.

Unforgettable! – Kay Coleman I was living in Edinburgh, Scotland. My father was in seminary. We watched the landing on a black-andwhite television at a neighbors home in the Morningside neighborhood of the city. – Neil White Standing at the entrance gate of the Monteagle Sunday School Assembly watching the landing on probably a 9-inch black and white TV. – Erie Newton I was at home in south Texas before my last semester at UT Austin. My parents woke me and my younger brother and sister to see the moon landing. Mother had made various midnight snacks, including deviled eggs dyed red, white, and blue. I remember the moon landing, but it might be because of those eggs. – Frances C. Tims In my home in Shreveport, Louisiana. Our TV was on the channel which had the Apollo Landing on it. I was expecting my first child and thrilled to watch this historic event along with my parents. My little brother took a picture of the TV screen when the first man walked on the moon. A very exciting time! – Shellie Harrison

What’s your favorite summer cocktail?

Gin & Tonic with a lime squeeze—Hands down. Nothing else will do (well, maybe an ice cold Buschhhhh). Oops—beer isn’t a cocktail! – Ellis Darby Blue Lagoon! – Melanie Tackett Gin & Tonic with Bombay Sapphire and fresh, garden mint! – Cal Trout DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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seeing double

PHOTO BY MARTY KITTRELL

These twin tenant houses in Issaquena County harken back to a bygone era when dwellings likes these dotted the landscape in every direction in the Mississippi Delta. Back when cotton was king, the fall meant working from sunup to sundown in order to pick the cotton and deliver it to the local gins before the winter arrived. The vast cotton fields that once stretched to the horizon have now mostly been replaced with grain crops, drastically changing the look of the Delta in the fall, but remnants like these remind us of what once was. DM

20 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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STEAK • SEAFOOD • WINE • COCKTAILS

ON THE ROAD

where we’ve been, where to go next

MEMPHIS GLEN ALLAN This grand piano that sits on the Mezzanine in the Peabody Hotel was custom-built by Knabe & Gaehle in 1838 for Francis Scott Key, who wrote the lyrics of the “Star Spangled Banner.” The piano was used until his death in 1843. – THE PEABODY HOTEL

elta D e h t g n i m a Ro

LINN

Unusual round house with pie shaped rooms for storing cotton built in 1920. – BOB WILBANKS

PHOTO OPS & GREENVILLE Skeeter jumping across cotton rows. – MECHELLE GENTRY WILSON

McCARLEY

Honoring the past on the edge of the Delta. – DELTA MAGAZINE

24 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

Resting place of Delta icon, Holt Collier. President Roosevelt’s hunting guide when the President hunted bear in the South Delta. – WASHINGTON COUNTY CVB

PACE

LAKE CHICOT

Washing Away With the ebb and flow of the water, the roots of an old cypress tree are revealed. – ANNE CERANTI

VICKSBURG This ornate carving still stands above the door at an abandoned school in Bolivar County. – BOB WILBANKS

FUNKY STOPS Roaming the real and rustic Delta

Traveling On

A blanket of orange and gold leaves from the old trees standing guard covers some of the graves at the Vicksburg National Cemetery. – MARTY KITRELL

MADISON

WALLS

Railroad tracks in the north Delta near the Tennessee line. – JIM HENDRIX Automobiles and other vehicles on display at the annual Scarecrow Cruise and Car Show event. – JIM HENDRIX Instagram users, follow @deltamagazine and see #DMphotoops

DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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Healthcare for Women

by Women 26 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

601.936.1400 • EastLakelandOBGYN.com

ZZZ EFEVPV FRP Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi, A Mutual Insurance Company is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. ® Registered Marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an Association of Independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans.

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OFF THE BEATEN PATH roaming the real and rustic Delta

THE KENNEL CLUB STEAKHOUSE & LOCUS BENEDICTUS RETREAT CENTER Good Eats and a Special Spiritual Experience

BY ANGELA ROGALSKI

A

new steakhouse in Batesville offers more than great food, a full bar, and steaks that absolutely melt in your mouth with flavor— The Kennel Club Steakhouse. Owner Ben Liles says that not only do customers deserve the full treatment when it comes to a delicious meal and a killer steak—they also need to be in an atmosphere of fun and relaxation.

“The Kennel Club in Batesville opened in April,” Liles says. “We do steaks and seafood, along with a couple of really great pastas and a few chicken dishes, just a variety of menu items. But we primarily offer steaks and seafood. We have a full bar available for those who want it. It’s about the steaks, the drinks, the music, and having a great time.”

The Kennel Club Steakhouse opens at 4 p.m. and closes around 10 p.m., depending on the crowd.

100 House Carlson Drive, Batesville 662.563.0012

BY AIMEE ROBINETTE

W

hen one arrives at Locus Benedictus Retreat Center, located just west of Greenwood, there is an immediate sense of peace and inner relaxation. The retreat center is a gathering place for anyone who needs to heal from life’s hurts, no matter their faith or lack of one.

What started with a massive statue of St. Mary Magdalene as a surprise gift, Locus Benedictus’ roots began with the idea of a private family chapel. Once completed, siblings Lee Abraham, Sam Abraham, Sandra Briggs and Magdalene Abraham, after thoughtful prayer and consideration, realized they were being called to open a retreat site for anyone who God sent.

Locus Benedictus offers spiritual direction and days of prayer, support groups for caregivers, those grieving, and those struggling with addictions, depression and abuse.

1407 Levee Road, Greenwood 662.299.1232 or visit locusbenedictus.org 28 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

The Kennel Club Steakhouse in Batesville is drawing diners from far and wide. Below, Locus Benedictus offers a spiritual retreat outside of Greenwood.

OFF THE BEATEN PATH

roaming the real and rustic Delta

THE WELLS RANCH A Rural Destination in Yazoo County

BY DAWN ROSENBERG DAVIS

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ne can find rolling pastures, a beautiful lake, and some of Mississippi’s most engaging scenery about fifteen miles from Yazoo City and just thirty miles from the state capital at the Wells Ranch.

It is a truly one-of-a-kind event venue in the Bentonia area of rural Yazoo County.

Calvin Wells takes great joy in providing a space for family reunions, church events, class reunions, and smaller get-togethers. The event space and parking constitutes a few acres of the working ranch, offering amenities such as the large central screened pavilion with accompanying kitchen area, a covered patio leading to additional screened pavilions for BBQ cooking on the three-section grill, air-conditioned men’s and women’s bathrooms, and much more. The Wells Ranch even offers fishing from a large pier, built by Wells himself.

“I try to think of anything that a group might want to have on location and offer as much of that as I can,” says Wells. “I’m always thinking of something else I would like to add. People say it’s a lot of work, but I tell them when you love what you do it is not work. I enjoy every minute of it.”

The ranch offers the opportunity for children and adults to feed the resident animals including chickens, pot-bellied pigs, Guinea foul, ducks, geese, and horses. the Wells Ranch is an immaculately maintained and manicured experience of rural ranch life in central Mississippi.

933 Wells Road, Bentonia 662.571.3959 or visit thewellsranch.com

Calvin Wells offers many experiences including fishing, feeding and petting numerous farm animals and general outdoor fun at the Wells Ranch.

DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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30 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

WE’VE GOT THE

DELTA

COVERED SOON TO BE IN 20 LOCATIONS

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HOT TOPICS MISSISSIPPI’S FIRST HOSTEL IN CLARKSDALE Popular mode of travel arrives in the Delta Located in the heart of downtown Clarksdale, the Auberge Clarksdale Blues Hostel is Mississippi’s first Hostel. When developer Robert Weinstein happened to stumble upon a Shack Up Inn key left behind by a guest at his Auberge NOLA hostel, his interest was piqued.

“It all grew from that first visit,” Weinstein says. “This guest had an interest in Clarksdale, stayed at The Shack Up Inn and then stayed with me in New Orleans. And that’s what did it.

I was immediately drawn in.”

And the rest is history. Opened in July, Auberge Clarksdale, is housed in the former Madidi Restaurant building, and offers dormitory-style lodging to those who want to scratch off the typical hotel stay to make new friends with shared bedrooms, bathrooms and a large communal space to cook, watch television, strum guitars or simply, just hang out.

“It’s a really popular way to travel in other parts of the world,” Weinstein says. “And, it’s starting to catch on in the states.”

The main draw for Weinstein’s New Orleans guests is the unique, friendly atmosphere of a hostel. “You go into a room and you have

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five other people—if you’re in a six-person room—saying, ‘Hi, nice to meet you,’ and you immediately have friends.”

The hostel is conveniently located near many of Clarksdale’s popular restaurants and venues such as Ground Zero Blues Club, Red’s Juke Joint, Cat Head Records, Hambone Art Gallery and the New Roxy Theater. And according to Weinstein, they are happy to help arrange pickups from the local Greyhound Station or the AMTRAK station in Marks.

164 Delta Avenue, Clarksdale, aubergehostels.com

THE LITTLE MEXICAN STORE Offering authentic Hispanic ingredients and more With a growing Hispanic population in the Delta region and an increasing interest in authentic Mexican cuisine, it stands to reason someone would open a colorful and vibrant grocery store that caters to these groups. The Little Mexican Store, owned by Charlie Gonzalez and Julio Martinez, natives of Pachuca and Monterrey, Mexico respectively, is neatly arranged and organized with products easily found in our neighboring country south of the border.

Among the offerings at The Little Mexican Store are fresh produce featuring Nopales— cactus pads—which can be made into soups, grilled or boiled, and a variety of peppers, including chile, serrano and

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other delicacies. There is also an assortment of hot sauces, corn flours and mole paste to create authentic hispanic dishes. Fresh canela, aka cinnamon, is also available along with fresh breads. Shelves lined with brightly-colored Mexican pottery bring a whimsical and genuine feel to the store. Gonzalez said that although it is filled with items that showcase their birthplace, they opened the store with the idea of serving everyone in the community. Both men have fallen in love with Cleveland and the store is a testament to their commitment to the community. The Little Mexican Store is open Monday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

1321 Highway 8 West, Suite 1-A, Cleveland, 662.545.4159,

32 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

HOT TOPICS RIDE THE DELTA AND HEAR THE BLUES Fun on the banks of the Mississippi There’s no better way to combine a little exercise and soak up the local culture than this annual bike ride through the gorgeous terrain of the Arkansas and Mississippi Delta Region. The 2019 Tour da Delta will be held Saturday, October 12, in Helena, Arkansas in conjunction with the annual King Biscuit Blues Festival, October 9-12 on the banks of the Mississippi River. There are rides of various lengths and levels, a fun-run and other events in and around the Helena Bridge, Moon Lake and Storm Creek Lakes and along the St. Francis Scenic Byway.

Each registration also comes with a one day pass into the King Biscuit Blues Festival, twenty dollars in “Blues Bucks” for lunch after the ride at participating restaurants in Helena, and Tour da Delta socks.

Cyclists will also be treated to doughnuts and bagels and entertained by Blues artists at some of the rest stops. Lodging accommodations and showers are also available for those interested.

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Visit, tourdadelta.net or kingbiscuitfestival.com

CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY CELEBRATING 150 YEARS A beautiful Vicksburg landmark Church of the Holy Trinity in Vicksburg will celebrate the 150th anniversary of its founding on Sunday, September 29, kicking off a year of celebratory events.

Reverend Andy Andrews, a Greenville native, will lead the parish in a year-long series of anniversary observances including a turkey dinner and bazaar, a special reconciliation service, and a final celebration in September 2020.

Holy Trinity Church was founded in 1869 when sixty individuals, members of Vicksburg’s first Episcopal parish (Christ Church), gathered in the downtown office of a leading physician.

They were determined to build for the future— a new, larger house of worship in their bustling town after the tumultuous Civil War. Classified now as Romanesque Revival, it featured a tower that would rise 190 feet from ground level to the apex of the cross. The original design provided for stained glass memorial windows, for which, unbeknownst at the time, Trinity would become widely known. To this end, a reconciliation memorial in the form of stained glass windows was dedicated to

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soldiers of both North and South who had fallen in battle at Vicksburg.

In September 1878, construction was interrupted for six months by another great disaster in Vicksburg history—a yellow fever epidemic that killed more than three hundred people. By the time the first service was held in the completed church on Easter Sunday, 1880, the parish had placed three stained glass windows above the altar in memory of the founding members taken by yellow fever.

Over the years many other memorial windows would be placed in the church, but most famous are the opalescent windows made by the studios of Louis Comfort Tiffany in New York. In Mississippi, there are only eleven of Tiffany’s famed windows, and six of them are housed in Holy Trinity Church.

900 South Street, Vicksburg, 601.636.0542, churchoftheholytrinity.org DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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34 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

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I The undefeated season no one knows about I The 1907 coach who got players drunk at halftime I The 1920 star who was expelled for dancing I The clandestine kidnapping of “Bully” I A nude walk through campus that ended freshman hazing I The season Archie Manning intercepted four passes I The defense that was better than 1959’s squad I The player who was banned from the NFL for life!

I The significance of 1943 — when no team was fielded

LISTS INCLUDE:

I The best and worst Ole Miss teams I The ten greatest victories of all time I The ten most disappointing defeats I The all-time Ole Miss offense and defense I The all-time Ole Miss special teams I The ten greatest Ole Miss college players I The ten greatest Ole Miss NFL players I The top salaries of each head coach I Ten Ole Miss records that will never be broken

ON SALE AT BOOKSTORES EVERYWHERE OR ONLINE AT www.NautilusPublishing.com DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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BOOKS

Buzzworthy Comments

Stories from 125 Years of Ole Miss Football, by Christopher Castellani (Nautilus Publishing) To commemorate 125 years of Ole Miss football history, the Nautilus Publishing Company has published Stories from 125 Years of Ole Miss Football, a collection of stories and photographs that don’t fit the typical “sports book” model.

Editor and publisher, Neil White says, “We didn’t want to re-package the same stories that have been repeated through the years. Every interview began with a simple question: Tell us a story most people don’t know about.”

White and his team of contributors—including Rick Cleveland, Billy Watkins, Robert Khayat, Jeff Roberson—interviewed more than one hundred former players and coaches, as well as children, grandchildren, and widows of former Rebels. (Special/DM Staff ) Neil White

Mississippi Juke Joint Confidential by Roger Stolle (The History Press) Juke joint—two words often used, often abused. They convey an inherent promise of something real, edgy, from another time.

All juke joints are blues clubs, but not all blues clubs are jukes.

Here, artist recollections and insights delve below the murky surface to tell the tales, canonize the characters and explain the special brand of blues bottled in these quasi-legal establishments.

Author Roger Stolle works from the inside to educate and entertain with a mix of history, anecdote and discovery. It’s a wild ride. Stolle owns Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art, a blues store in Clarksdale, as well as his own music and tourism marketing service.

He is a Blues Revue magazine columnist, WROX radio deejay, XM/Sirius radio correspondent, Ground Zero Blues Club music coordinator and Juke Joint Festival cofounder. (Special/DM Staff ) The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson (Harper Collins) The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson is a piece of wonderful historical fiction: emotionally moving on the narrative level and enlightening on a historical level.

Set in the impoverished Kentucky Appalachian Mountains during the Depression, this novel tells the story of Cussy Mary, who is a pack librarian and, along with her father, one of the last of the blue people. She loves her job delivering books on her mule to the poor and uneducated people living in isolation, even though she is constantly subject to cruel bigotry because of the genetic condition that makes her skin blue. Out of this comes a story of hardship, kindness, and bravery.

This novel is a testament to the life-saving power of books and literacy.

It’s also a beautiful story, complete with the seamless integration of two lesserknown parts of American history: the Blue People of Kentucky and the Pack Horse Library Project. (Liza Jones)

The Gifted School

by Bruce Holsinger

o Mary Beth Fyfe

Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe

by Heather Webber

o Liz Young

An American Marriage

by Tayari Jones

o Susie James

A Walk Across America 2

by Peter and Barbara Jenkins

at Parmida Technologies

Greg Iles. He understands Mississippi’s past like few others, and isn’t afraid to delve into the most uncomfortable chapters of it to bring out prescient story after prescient story.

He’s a state treasure. o April Thornton Taylor, Restaurant assistant manager Cottondale, Florida

Roger Stolle

Carrollton, Mississippi

Nevada Barr. Her Anna Pigeon series showcases our national parks and also empowers women. o Judy Meeks, Retired Senatobia, Mississippi

Greg Iles. His characters are always so intriguing and the places he references in his books are familiar. As a reader you are always guessing the outcome up to the very end.

Kim Michele Richardson

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Where the Crawdads Sing

by Delia Owens

o Mary Perry

Catfish Dream

by Julian Rankin

o Don Kemp

A Patriot’s History of the United States

by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen Game of Bones

by Carolyn Haines

Sean Dietrich. Otherwise known as “Sean of the South.” He can make you laugh, cry, contemplate your very existence and make your heart smile all in the same paragraph.

He is a brilliant writer with a knack for making all of his readers his best friends. He is a blogger, podcaster and novelist worth reading. o Connie Jaudon, Retired

o Kay Anderson Mills

o Mary Branch

o Jason Whittington, Warehouse manager Indianola, Mississippi

For the Record Books Delta Magazine fans are currently reading

o Beth Henderson Stevens

We asked Facebook friends and Delta Magazine Fan Page Group members to give us their favorite southern author.

o Emily Herbison Summer of ‘69

by Elon Hildebrand

o Kevin Cox

Advise and Consent Series

by Allen Drury

o Lee Catherine Collins

30 Ways to Love and Encourage Him & Her

by Ruth Ware

o Stephanie Davis

Children of Ruin

by Adrian Tchaikovsky

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Penguin Random House) There’s a lot to enjoy about My Sister, the Serial Killer, Oyinkan Braithwaite’s darkly funny, debut novel. It’s a story with a staccato rhythm and completely amusing characters, both of which make it a speedy read.

This story, set in Nigeria, is about the complex sisterhood between Korede and Ayoola.

Ayoola, beautiful and charismatic, just cannot seem to stop killing her boyfriends. Korede, dutiful and sensible, is a nurse at the local hospital and is adept at cleaning up her sister’s bloody messes. When Ayoola begins a relationship with a doctor for whom Korede has been pining, resentments reach an all-time high.

As a satire with a page-turning plot, this book goes by way too fast with its deadpan humor and concise, precise writing. The sinister lightness sticks to the reader long after the last page. (Liza Jones) Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee,

by Casey Cep (Random House) In Furious Hours, Casey Cep revives the true crime story Harper Lee tried to write in the years after To Kill a Mockingbird.

But Cep delivers exceptionally more, as Lee is just as interesting to most readers as the trial that inspired her last unwritten book.

A rural preacher kills five family members in order to receive the life insurance money.

However, a colorful lawyer gets him acquitted, and it seems he is free until a vigilante family member kills him at the funeral of his last victim. And who defends the vigilante family member? The same lawyer who defended the preacher he killed—and the middle of the book belongs to this crafty, Southern lawyer. The last part is all about Lee, and her tribulations in the wake of her bestselling masterpiece. This book is engrossing on all three accounts, and Casey Cep is a talented writer. (Liza Jones) The Beautiful Mysterious: The Extraordinary Gaze of William Eggleston

by University of Mississippi Museum and Historic Houses (University Press) This book is an examination of the life and work of the artist widely considered to be the father of color photography. William Eggleston was born in 1939 and grew up in the Mississippi Delta town of Sumner. His innovative 1976 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York helped establish color photography as an artistic medium and has inspired photographers and artists around the world.

Edited by Ann J. Abadie, the catalog contains fifty-five Eggleston photographs, thirty-six that were featured in The Beautiful Mysterious exhibition at the University of Mississippi Museum from September 2016 to February 2017. Eggleston’s longtime friend William Ferris donated all the photographs to the Museum. They range from 1962 into the 1980s, representing each of Eggleston’s projects during that time. (Special/DM Staff ) DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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WOMEN’S · CHILDREN’S · HOME

100 FRONT STREET SUITE A INDIANOLA, MS (662) 452-5131

DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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ART

Bobby Whitlock

Self-taught muscian, rocker and now—artist

BY SUSAN MARQUEZ • PHOTOGRAPHY BY SANDIE WARD

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Some of Whitlock’s colorful abstract paintings.

B

ROAD STROKES OF INTENSE COLOR. Delicate swirls of paint. Refined landscapes and frenetic abstracts. It’s hard to define the work of Bobby Whitlock. He

describes it as “emotional abstract.”

He’s never had an art class, and in fact he just took up painting a year ago. Yet he is drawn to painting naturally. “It’s like I’ve always painted. I’m compelled to do it.

There’s no way I can’t do it.”

Whitlock was never one to study something before he did it. Without a single music lesson, he made his mark on the music industry in a significant way. His musical career began with Memphis soul acts including Sam & Dave and Booker T. and the MG’s. Whitlock is the co-founder of Derek and the Dominos with Eric Clapton, and he was the co-writer of many of the songs on the Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs album, including “Bell Bottom Blues,” “I Looked Away,” “Tell the Truth,” “Keep on Growing,” “Anyday,” “Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad,” and “Thorn Tree in the Garden.” And the hit “Layla”? That’s Whitlock on the organ and singing the background vocals. Whitlock has also worked on records with George Harrison, DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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Just over a year ago, Whitlock picked up a paint brush for the first time.

Instead, she told me to paint.” That same of Oxford. Then, he married musician The Rolling Stones, Buddy Guy, and day Whitlock drove to an art supply store in CoCo Carmel, and the couple moved to a Delaney & Bonnie. He has written songs Austin and purchased an easel, some acrylic farm on the edge of town outside of Austin, that have been recorded by such legendary paints, and paintbrushes.

Texas. artists as Ray Charles, Tom Jones, Tedeschi “It was April 1, 2018. I set up the Trucks, Sheryl Crow, George Jones, easel, put the canvas on it, and and many more. opened the paints. I had no idea “I have been singing since I was what I was doing. I brushed some in diapers,” says Whitlock. “I have color onto the canvas, and when I an uncanny ability to remember was finished, I showed it to CoCo things very early in my life. I vividly and told her I wasn’t cut out for remember singing at a very young painting. She took one look and said age.” to try it again tomorrow.” The next The son of a “hellfire Southern day, Whitlock painted another Baptist preacher,” Whitlock says he canvas, using two hands instead of bounced around between his one. “I was like a crazy man, grandmother’s house in Memphis painting the canvas with both and different obscure places in hands, just to be different. And Arkansas.

Derek and the Dominos: Jim Gordon, Carl Radle, Whitlock, and honestly, it looked terrible. I was “My father would just drop us Eric Clapton. ready to give up, but CoCo said she off somewhere while he went to had never known me to quit anything I “We’ve been here thirteen years,” preach.” His mother sang, and Whitlock started, and she convinced me to give it Whitlock says. Last year he was in one of the sang along with her. “I also taught myself to another go.” play different instruments. I could play barns on the property and found some The next day he painted again; only that anything. I guess I’ve always done what I canvases. “I brought them down and gave time he stood back and looked at his work do.” them to CoCo. She is very artistic, and I and decided it was good. “I showed it to For several years Whitlock lived outside thought she might like to paint on them.

46 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

Above left, Whitlock’s home studio. Right, Whitlock with his wife CoCo.

CoCo, and she liked it. I put it on Facebook so I could get my friends’ reactions, and they all seemed to like it. That gave me the confidence to keep going.”

And keep going he did. Whitlock paints every day, on both canvas and panel, sometimes up to eight or more hours a day.

“I learned to open up and let the creative principle of the universe operate through me. It’s the law of the universe that allows a wave to only go so far up on the shore before it retreats into the sea. I learned I could not drive the process. I had to surrender myself to it, and when I do, it operates for me and as me. When I try to put my own spin on it, to change what it is, it’s ruined. For me, it’s not unlike writing a song or singing. The same principle applies. The first thing that flows out is usually what it’s supposed to be.

Your first instinct, the very first thing is where it needs to be. If you try to refine it, it’s not what it was supposed to be.”

Whitlock says he never knows each day what he will be painting.

“I’m not inspired by any one thing. I don’t visualize in my head what the painting will look like. I just look at the paints and it’s like the color chooses me.

Some days I paint with great intensity, and it shows. The work will be bold and have hard brush strokes and texture. Other days it’s calm and more precise. But one thing that holds true with each one is that it feels like I’ve always painted.”

Only after a piece is done will he truly know what that day’s painting was all about.

“I step back and look at it. It’s amazing to

me that I created what’s on that panel. It may be mountains, a swamp, the ocean, or some other scene from nature. Other days it’s more abstract. Each one of my paintings is a surprise and a gift to me. I can’t draw or circle or paint a stump I may see out in a

swamp. I just paint what I’m led to paint.

Afterward, I look at the painting for a while then give it a name. I always look at the painting and say, ‘thank you.’” He posts most of his art on Facebook. “The folks who comment on it are a part of the process.”

While he paints on canvas, most often he paints on a board. “The panels are sturdier.

I have boards cut the size I want then I go

home and hand sand each piece. There’s a lot of work that goes into each of my paintings.” He paints in a converted bedroom in his Austin home.

“I go kind of crazy when I paint,” he laughs. “There is paint everywhere, on the floors, walls, ceilings, and even the windows.

A lot of feeling goes into each painting. I get into a zone when I’m painting, and I’m oblivious of anything going on around me.

It’s a stream of consciousness.”

With many paintings under his belt, Whitlock has started a website for his art, bobbywhitlockart.com. The art is for sale through the site.

“People seem to like it.” Whitlock had his first gallery showing on April 20 during the grand opening of the Art Collective Gallery in Rogers, Arkansas.

“I’m one of several artists in the show. For me, it’s the same feeling as getting my first record deal. I’m really excited.”

“I’m glad to have done all I did,” says Whitlock, referring to his musical past. “I have had some absolutely incredible experiences, and I’m grateful.”

Whitlock and Carmel still work on their music at home every day, and they have a permanent residency at The Saxon Pub in Austin. They often tour internationally as well.

“While I’m painting, CoCo is in our home studio working on our next record.

We’ve got a creative dynasty going on over here,” he laughs. “It’s an amazing experience to be Bobby Whitlock at seventy-one!” To learn more, visit bobbywhitlockart.com. DM DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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September 27-28, 2019 Blue Front, Hollandale Friday, September 27 6 PM - Jazz Persuasion / 7 PM - Quetia Davis

Saturday, September 28 Food vendors, Arts and Crafts and much more!

8 AM - Delta Running’s 5k Run/Walk / 10 AM-Noon - Gospel Music Noon-8:30 PM - Hollandale Blues Band / Mississippi Marshall Libby Rae Watson / Bobby Whalen / J’ Cenae Reverend Rob Mortimer / John Horton / Nathaniel Kimble Call 662-827-2241 (Hollandale City Hall) or visit @SamChatmonBlues on Facebook.

Convention & Visitors Bureau

DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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MUSIC

KERN PRATT This Greenville guitarist is blazing a trail in the Blues world

BY CLINT KIMBERLING

Kern Pratt may not be a household name around the state of Mississippi, but blues aficionados know the name and are more than familiar with his raspy vocals and fusion of Delta blues and rock. Pratt, born and raised in Greenville, is a songwriter and guitar player who has been playing the blues his whole life.

In fact, he can pinpoint the exact moment when he started down this path. It all began when he was eight years old and he found a music store down the street from his dad’s Western Auto Parts store. “I saw a guitar and instantly said, ‘I want to do this.’” Even today, Pratt says he keeps a guitar within arm’s reach so he can always pick it up. Even sleeping with it some nights.

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Growing up in the Delta, Pratt remembers it was hard to escape the blues.

But he turned inward and embraced the musical heritage of his hometown.

“I’ve always been in love with the blues. I saw Muddy Waters play at one of the first Mississippi Blues Festivals. And when I was growing up in Greenville, there were lots of players around, coming in and out of town, and people like TModel Ford and Eddie Shaw would come in my dad’s shop.”

As a young musician, Pratt started taking lessons from Bo Ridgeway.

Ridgeway, who Pratt considers to be the

best guitar players to come out of Greenville, taught Pratt for four years.

Pratt then formed his first band at age eleven. Then, as young teenager he started touring and went out on the road with the band Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds.

If he wasn’t sure music was for him, it was after taking a trip to Las Vegas; he had made up his mind.

Pratt, who gets his unique first name from his grandfather, says, “I used to hate it in school, but it has worked well for me as a musician.”

Now in his mid-fifties, Pratt has over forty years of experience in the music industry.

“I’ve been doing this my whole life.

And I’ve never wanted to do anything except this,” he says.

The Delta blues is a big part of the music he writes today. But Pratt adds his own rock component.

“My sound is definitely the Mississippi Delta. I can’t help who I am and where I come from. But I put a rougher edge on it,” he explains. “To me the blues is about telling stories and conveying your feelings in the music and lyrics.”

Pratt’s last album, Broken Chains, was a breakout success. It debuted at number fourteen in the nation and at number one DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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JEFFRELEE PHOTOGRAPHY

Pratt is one of the most recognized blues guitarists in the state. For many years, he has been dazzling audiences with his performances and has released several records to critical acclaim. For more information visit kernprattmusic.com.

in the region on the Billboard blues charts.

The album went on to receive numerous five-star reviews from blues magazines and was even nominated for a Grammy award.

“I knew we had made a decent record, but I wasn’t expecting it, honestly.”

The attention the album received lasted for months and opened a slew of opportunities for Pratt and led to some career highlights.

“Playing sold out shows in Italy. Having my name mentioned in American Blues magazine. These are things I never thought I’d see.”

Pratt’s road to success included some hard times and struggle. But, he never once considered giving up on music. He recalls some frustrating times that forced him to live week to week.

“Times on the road can be tough. Going hungry and doing without until the next gig. But I’ve always said that you can’t get into it to make money. If you do, you’re in 52 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

the wrong business. This is all I’ve ever wanted to do. And I’m fortunate that I’ve made a decent living at it,” he says.

These days, Pratt plays wherever he can.

He is a fixture on the blues festival circuit during the summer and has an upcoming trip to Montreal. He usually travels with girlfriend and singing partner Denise Owen. Together they play a lot of gigs around the state. Although not as much they used to as Pratt can afford to be pickier about the spots he plays.

“Touring in a van can be hard when you’re getting older. I’m not driving to Rhode Island for just any gig these days.”

Still playing in front of a live audience is a favorite part of what he does. “The feeling I get when the audience is into what we’re doing. When I get into my zone, the band, the people pick up on that; there’s an energy that we all share and feel. That’s the best thing.”

Pratt is looking forward to the release of his new album. He and his record label,

Endless Blues Records, have arranged a firstrate lineup of guests and session players such as Owen Hale, a Malaco and Muscle Shoals studio session drummer who has played with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Reba McEntire, and George Strait. Kris Jenson, a baritone saxophone player, has played with Greg Allman, Dickey Betts, and Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band. And James Evans, a tenor sax player, has played with the House Rockers from the legendary Subway Lounge in Jackson. The album, yet to be named, is slated for an October release.

Hoping to repeat the success of Broken Chains, Pratt has been working hard this summer and spending time in a recording studio in Baton Rouge. As a result, he says, “Some songs on the new album are very Louisiana and have a jazz feel to them. It’s still hard blues and definitely Delta blues, because it’s still me. But, the sound is a little different. It’s really taken me out of the box, and I like it where it’s led. All the tunes on

this album are strong. In the past, I’ve thrown in a song or two as filler. There are no filler songs on this new one. This is some of the best music I’ve ever done,” he says.

Mick Kolassa, the chief bluesman at Endless Blues Records, is also eagerly anticipating the album release this fall.

Kolassa first met Kern about five years ago through a mutual acquaintance.

“It was natural that we would connect because we have so many friends in common. Plus, he plays the blues. And that runs through my blood,” says Kolassa.

Kolassa and Pratt eventually found their way to work together on this album.

“I love his enthusiasm for the music. His last album was great, and I wanted to help him make a better one. To add some polish to his sound,” he says. “He’s got a unique sound. You can hear that it’s a product of everything he’s ever been involved with. He projects everything that the blues in the Delta currently is.”

Pratt wrote most of the songs on the upcoming album. But, he’s also included a cover of one of Kolassa’s songs—”Baby’s Got Another Lover.” Pratt also recorded the song “Chicken Heads,” made famous by his hero Bobby Rush. And the song “Baby Wears Her Clothes” was written by Pratt’s friend Virgil Brawley before he passed. Pratt recorded the song and dedicated it to Brawley on this album.

Kolassa has high hopes for the record.

“There’s some exciting new stuff that I really think his fans are going to enjoy. Kern is the real deal. He grew up in the blues, and he represents it very well on this album.” DM DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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TAYLOR’S WONDERBIRD SPIRITS Mississippi’s first grain-to-glass distillery uses Delta-grown rice

BY TOM SPEED • PHOTOGRAPHY TIMOTHY IVY

Ancient mythologies are rife with images of majestic birds, a species that symbolized freedom, power, and wonder. The mighty griffin. The phoenix. Native American myths, too, focus on the majesty of our feathered friends.

56 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

ar removed from those ancient lands and cultures, the drive out of Oxford on Old Taylor Road which was once a languorous, bucolic journey out to the little catfish shack in a tiny crook of road known as Taylor, is now an immersion into an urban

F

extension enveloped by rows and rows of apartment complexes, condo-miniums, and new retail developments.

It’s only when you finally feel like you’ve left this newly minted Oxford sprawl, like you can finally roll down the windows and take a deep breath of country air, that you

arrive upon the twenty acre farm that houses the Wonderbird Distillery. It’s perched upon a slight hill and surrounded by grasses, clover, and good ol’ Lafayette County soil.

The property was purchased just three years ago by an unlikely trio of entrepreneurs, each with their own tenuous but special relationship to the area—mostly due to family members having attended Ole Miss.

They also brought together a diverse professional background. More importantly, they shared a desire to get out of the corporate world and a love of gin.

Before co-founding Wonderbird, Forster made his living as a corporate lawyer. Tom Alexander was a software engineer, who had mildly dabbled in home distilling while living in Austin, Texas. Chand Harlow had been working in the world of finance in New York.

As I pulled up the dirt drive on a summer afternoon, I found Forster waving me in, greeting me into the open-air barn that the trio built with their own hands over the past two years.

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Two Brooks Farm When the founders of Wonderbird Spirits sought a local source for the base spirit of their gin, they first considered sweet potatoes. After all, sweet potatoes were local, and abundant. But when they visited Lawrence Wagner at Two Brooks Farm in Sumner, their search came to an end.

The 3,000-acre farm was purchased in 1991

by Lawrence’s father Mike. As parcel number two of what was once the Brooke Plantation, the farm practically named itself. Since that time, it’s been used almost exclusively as a rice farm.

With an eye toward sustainability and ecology, Wagner says the farm’s secret partner is the waterfowl who use the area as habitat.

“We are situated in the middle of the flyway and we have thousands of ducks and geese that come sit on the farm, fertilize it,” Wagner says.

“That initial growth is spurred by the fertilizer the ducks and geese have left. They stomp down a lot of rice straw. They smooth in tracks. We don’t have to do any tillage work. They do a lot of the work for us.”

When the Wonderbird guys met with Lawrence, they immediately realized they shared a sense of purpose regarding sustainability and ecology. When they tested Two Brooks’ jasmine rice, they knew they had the perfect fit.

“They chose Jasmine because it has a kind of buttery, floral aroma to it,” Wagner says. “It’s very aromatic, kind of like basmati. But the biggest part was the amylose content, which is not very high, so it was able to break down more easily.”

While the Two Brooks Farm’s primary customers are food distributors throughout the southeast region, and they also maintain a small retail outreach to local grocery stores and gift shops, as Wonderbird grows, so does Two Brooks.

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THE PROCESS The base grain for distilling gin is essentially irrelevant, Forster tells me. Most distillers use wheat, or even corn. Often it’s an economic decision. What’s cheapest, what’s available. Many distillers don’t even make their own substrate—or base spirit— preferring to import it from areas closer to where the base grains are grown. But the Wonderbird trio had a specific goal of using locally produced ingredients. And they spent more than a year deeply immersing themselves into the art and craft of distillation, attending conferences, hiring consultants, visiting other distilleries, and enrolling in the Seattle-based Distillery University. Each decision was considered carefully, including the rare decision to use rice as a base spirit.

“We are now the only distillery that uses rice to make gin,” Forster says. “We looked at corn and looked at sweet potatoes, but when we got to rice, something about it just spoke to us. We loved what it did to the mouthfeel. It’s very clean and slightly aromatic.”

But not just any rice. Wanting to keep it local and intimately concerned with every nuance that the grain might impart, that meant jasmine rice from Two Brooks Farm in Sumner. Two Brooks Farm is currently run by tenth generation farmers Lawrence and Abby Wagner and prides itself on the creative aspects of farming combined with a carefully balanced nexus of ecology and agriculture—a mindset not that different than that of the Wonderbird trio.

Not only was it more economical to ship

in local grains from a short distance, the rice helped the distillers define the unique characteristic they were looking for. This is where esoteric terms like “mouthfeel’ and “weight” come into play. These are things that many people don’t think about when they’re swilling their summertime gin and tonic, but these guys have thought about it.

A lot.

They’ve even developed their own system to propagate a specific type of cogi— a fungi like substance that helps in the fermentation process—right there on the property, in the barn. They borrowed from the sake-making tradition and even bought equipment from a sake maker in Nashville to help the cultivation.

But what makes gin, gin, is not the base spirit: it’s the botanicals. And that’s why this trio of artisans chose to distill gin.

“It gives you a lot of creative latitude and the ability to be expressive and capture a lot,” Alexander explains. Even with whiskeys you have more constraints. With gin there is a huge area of creative exploration where you can use any botanical in the world. That’s somehow very attractive, something that can show off the best of what Mississippi has to offer.”

More than twenty different herbs and other botanicals were involved in the making of Wonderbird. Not only that, different permutations of those different essences can be rearranged and imparted upon the base spirit in ways that are both subtle and sublime. Yet every specific concoction and conflagration is unique.

Sometimes it’s more alchemy than art.

Finally, they settled on a mix of ten botanicals, including pine needles and red

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clover that are foraged from their farm.

When you buy a bottle of Wonderbird Gin, you will see the number sixty-one emblazoned on the label. That particular nomenclature indicates that it was the sixtyfirst specific blend of botanicals that the trio of artisans arrived upon, even though their efforts when into dozens of iterations beyond that.

“They were all interesting,” Forster says.

“We went deep into the eighties, but we kept coming back to sixty-one.”

THE PASSION The distillery was born not just out of commercialism or out of a desire to make something unique. Gin was chosen for both reasons—the creative aspect and the market need.

While bourbon, tequila, and vodka have had and recently enjoyed rapid and vast periods of dominance in the marketplace, gin has yet to have its moment. But it’s coming. And the men of Wonderbird are ready for it.

“We knew gin from the very beginning,” Forster says. “We all happen to love gin. But if you look at a pie chart of U.S. spirit consumption, gin is about 2 percent and has not yet had its ‘vodka moment’ or ‘tequila moment’ where it’s in the teens or twenties, but we think it’s going in the right direction.

The mixology movement has moved from the big cities to smaller towns and kitchens, and the core of the cocktail culture is gin, especially for classic cocktails. We really think that’s moving in our direction.

To that end, the Oxford bar and restaurant scene has already embraced the spirit in creative ways.

“We’ve been welcomed with open arms by the creative people around us—the restaurants and bars,” Forster continues.

“We are getting on a lot of signature cocktail menus which is a huge validation. Track 61’s biggest drink now, even bigger than the Volta margarita, is something called the Viceroy which uses our gin.”

Plans to extend distribution into neighboring states stand to expand that creative palate.

Apart from other distilled spirits, gin production offers the opportunity to be creative in a sense that can be artistic—-it’s no wonder that the walls of the distillery are peppered with the work of local visual artists. The crafting of this spirit is viewed as 60 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

an art form unto itself, as unique as any painting on the wall or sculpture adorning the vestibule.

But the third reason was simply a practical one: “If you go to make bourbon, you need years to see a ROI, but with gin we can go stem to stern in thirty days,” Forster says.

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THE PRODUCT Every bottle of Wonderbird is made on site in Taylor by just these three guys. They distill it, they bottle it, they cork it, and they affix the labels.

Their first bottle was shipped in May of 2019. By July they had shipped their fourth batch of about one hundred cases to their distributor—more than two thousand bottles. They’re working hard to ramp up production in order to meet the inevitable demand. Plans are already in place to extend distribution to Alabama and beyond.

Another way they are helping to promote the brand is by hosting events on the property. In order to distill spirits in Lafayette County, they had to jump through the regulatory steps to attain resort status, and a big part of that was providing a boost to local tourism. To that end, the distillery already hosts tours and tastings, has hosted a number of afternoon barbecues, and is opening the space to events such as weddings and other parties.

“We hope to accelerate from here, but we are growing this business very methodically,” Forster says. But we won’t go too quick too fast.”

As for the name Wonderbird, the trio again methodically went through a carefully considered process.

“The name was probably the hardest decision we had to make,” Harlow says.

“You’re dealing with three opinions, and there were a bunch of names we liked but were already taken. Independently Rob and Tom started getting into ornithology. This is a big flyway for bird species.”

“We knew our core values wanted to be about optimism and hopefulness,” Forster adds. “The idea of reinventing ourselves started to come up.” That notion recalled the mythologies of the rising phoenix, the powerful griffin, and the majestic thunderbird.

“When the name ‘Wonderbird’ was mentioned,” Harlow says, “We all three instantly knew that was it.” DM

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62 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

A BANK LIKE NO OTHER

Whether you are banking from the field or in your office, we have the small business solutions to fit your needs.

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Starkville Café This small-town mainstay is a must-stop for Deltans headed to Bulldog country for football weekends ARTICLE AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY LOGAN KIRKLAND

64 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

Plates clatter, utensils scrape, and chatter fills the room as steam dances over coffee mugs and breakfast plates.

Since 1945, the conversations have never ended, memories never receded.

Residing on Starkville’s Main Street, Starkville Café is one of the city’s longest standing establishments. The first business that resided in the location was Magnolia Laundry, which then was converted to Britt’s Cafe in 1945. Britt’s operated there until 1963, when new owners purchased the property and adopted the name Starkville Café. As the community has grown and changed, so has the café.

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A busy lunch-time crowd on a typical weekday at Starkville Café.

Current owner, John Peeples, is a Starkville native and is the sixth person to own the restaurant, which he has run for nearly eleven years.

A graduate of Mississippi State University, Peeples majored in agricultural pest management, a line of work far removed from the idea of owning a restaurant.

As time passed in the workforce, Peeples took up cooking as a hobby and participated in occasional cooking competitions. Eventually, he began to look at his love of cooking as more than just a hobby and wrote a business plan for a potential catering company. Coincidentally, around that same time, he received a call that his current job would move him out of Mississippi––to Wisconsin.

Needless to say, Peeples began revamping his resume, but his wife suggested that he should follow through with the business plan for the catering company. Like any smart husband, he listened to his wife’s advice.

“I had no idea that I was getting trained by life to do this,” Peeples says. “Life picked me, I think, to be here.”

Shortly after he started the catering company, his food provider pushed him to purchase the café which at the time, Peeples explained, was essentially dying; the doors were almost closed.

After saying “no” four times, Peeples thought of all the times as a child he rode his bicycle along the streets of Starkville passing by the café, reminding him of how essential it is to keep even the simplest of Starkville memories alive.

Owner, John Peeples works hard to keep the atmosphere welcoming at the Starkville Cafe.”You’ve got to make it a happy place where folks want to come to.”

66 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

“This place means so much to so many people,” Peeples says. “I’m going to recreate it to give it back to the people who built it.”

Peeples felt a sense of nostalgia for old cafés across the United States, noting that they are often a defining feature of small towns and sometimes even the only restaurant. But as communities began to grow, these small cafés began to die out.

“I have a responsibility to this community, to make the correct decisions that keep this place open,” Peeples says. He acknowledges that he hardest part of owning the restaurant is making good decisions for the business, and also for the best interest of the restaurant’s atmosphere and local appeal.

“It’s a delicate balance between managing the business side of the operation and maintaining the ambiance of what makes the café,” says Peeples.

Peeples credits blending and adapting different business philosophies as the reason for the café’s success and longevity.

“Gosh, you’d like to think it was just great food and service, but they come here for a little bit more than that,” Peeples says.

“You’ve got to make it a happy place where folks want to come to.”

For example, General Manager Darin Beall tells that some residents have suggested they should open another store front or to move the restaurant, but every time it’s brought up, Beall and Peeples shoot the idea down.

“It wouldn’t make it; it wouldn’t be the same thing,” Beall says. “You can go cook eggs anywhere, but you can’t bring the atmosphere.”

Old photos of downtown Starkville (L) and Britt’s Cafe (R) prior to becoming Starkville Café. Photos from Images of America: Oktibbeha County by James S. Cole.

Peeples has worked hard to maintain the café, but he gives credit to the previous owners, who laid the foundation for what the business has become today.

“Somewhere in time, there was a cut-off period, and all of a sudden this became the place to come back to,” Peeples says.

Bustling with patrons, Starkville Café attributes its success to its staff, who have arguably the lowest turnover rate for any restaurant in town, with waitresses and cooks serving their patrons for more than fifteen years.

Renee Herd, a sixteen-year-veteran waitress, greets customers with a wide smile and cackles when Beall makes the joke that she has been with Starkville Café since it opened.

“They’re an extended family now,” Peeples says.

Peeples says customers come not only to see and visit their friends but also the employees.

And like any family, Beall says there can be tension, laughter, and heated discussions, but that’s what makes the environment so unique for its clientele.

“It’s fighting all day long and hugging on our way out to the car,” Beall says.

Despite its ups and downs, the restaurant has remained successful because of its customers––especially the “regulars.”

There are two tables regularly reserved for breakfast and lunch—”the liars’ table” and the “window booth.”

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afternoon, and the “window booth” is reserved for those who are still working and need to get in and out quickly.

Like clockwork, forty to forty-five people will rotate through these reserved spots over the course of a day.

“They know that if they find a parking spot, they’ll have a chair for breakfast or lunch,” Beall says.

Even when the restaurant is slammed with customers the Friday before a Mississippi State University home football game, those two tables stay open for their “regulars.”

“That’s their table,” Beall says.

As for the memories, Peeples says it’s “flat out” the customers and people who come into the restaurant. He says the entire restaurant staff knows the customers by name, and the customers know the staff by name. It’s the interactions the customers have with each other that make everything worth the work. In the café, conversations seem to just pick back up where they left off.

“This restaurant has seen a lot of history, and there’s a lot of people in here that remember that history,” Peeples says.

The restaurant hosts hungry customers, ten to twelve bible study groups, class reunions, business meetings, and patrons just passing through town. The café also had its fifteen minutes of fame when NFL quarterback and Mississippi State graduate Dak Prescott sat at a table for a promotional video, not to mention being highlighted on ESPN Game-Day and SEC Nation shows.

“This is a comfort zone,” Peeples says.

“It’s a respected comfort zone.”

Beall laughed when describing how some people are too familiar with the restaurant. He says the café gets calls ranging from someone looking for a spouse (whose phone is likely on silent) to someone asking for a recommendation for a plumber.

Beall says even the funeral home calls to let them know when one of their customers has died, or he will call to check on customers who haven’t been in the restaurant in a while.

Both Peeples and Beall laughed and smiled as they nodded in agreement.

“It’s family, that’s what the cafe is, it’s family” Beall says.

“It’s just a little touch of being human.”

DM 68 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

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Like a comfortable living room, the Cotton House lobby welcomes guests to linger a while, with multiple seating areas.

Cotton House Hotel BLENDING HOSPITALITY, FOOD, AND LIBATIONS FROM THE ROOFTOP DOWN

BY CINDY COOPWOOD • PHOTOGRAPY BY VRX STUDIOS

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A

Cotton House’s impressive facade faces Cleveland’s bustling green strip on historic Cotton Row.

FTER MONTHS OF ANTICIPATION AND WITH MUCH EXCITEMENT, A NEW LIFESTYLE HOTEL HAS JUST LANDED IN THE HEART OF THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA. The Cotton

House hotel now dominates the landscape of historic downtown Cleveland putting a decidedly Delta riff on what feels like a big-city hotel. This unlikely endeavor came to fruition at just the right time, with tourism and interest in Southern culture on the rise. Suffice it to say from local art to music to food, the hotel celebrates Cleveland and the Delta on every point.

“I’m extremely proud of the final outcome of the project in its entirety,” says Luke Chamblee, property developer. “There are many team members that have put in a lot of time the last few years to create an asset that the community appreciates and embraces.”

And embrace it, it does. Great care was taken by Chamblee and his team to consider the unique challenges of opening a boutique hotel in a small town as compared to a large city. “We truly hope that the community feels as if the hotel is theirs—because it is,” he says. “It’s been fun to see their excitement but we also understand the responsibility and high standards that are expected.”

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Modern furnishings and a neutral palette give the well-appointed rooms and suites a crisp clean feel.

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A look back: Much has changed where these old Cleveland icons once stood. Photos courtesy of The Martin and Sue King Railroad Heritage Museum.

A mix of tiles, neutral tones and simple fixtures lend a spa quality to the bathrooms.

Housed in the remaining brick shell of the old Cleveland Motor Company, the event space has industrial elements that are set off by glamorous fixtures.

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The Cotton House is located where the old Delta Hardware and adjacent buildings stood for decades, just down the road from the Mississippi Blues Trail, and practically at the doorstep of The GRAMMY Museum® Mississippi, the only satellite Grammy Museum in the world. “The hotel was developed here because of the uniqueness, energy, and authenticity of this community and the surrounding area,” says Chamblee.

A carefully curated collection of Southern art adorns the hotel lobby, which feels like a living room filled with modern but comfortable seating areas—complete with cocktail tables and piles of coffee table books—inviting guests to linger a while. In addition to the permanent art hanging in the space, there is a dedicated rotating gallery hall, overseen by Amanda Turner, to showcase the works of local artists each month. It kicked off with a collection of Mississippi author Eudora Welty’s iconic photographs.

A show titled Homeland by Clarksdale artist, Hayden G. Hall, is lined up for September.

Each of the ninety-five rooms, which includes six suites, are decorated in a classic, modern style and appointed with top-notch amenities. Downstairs there is a work-out space for guests, as well as local fitness studio, Balance Fitness, which has moved into one of the available retail spaces. An event space is housed in the remaining brick shell of one of the historic buildings that was salvaged and incorporated into the overall design.

JEFF MOORE

Insalata Misto with Salmon

Aperol Spritz

The Catfish

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Originally occupied by the old Cleveland Motor Company, it features historic industrial interiors set off with glamorous fixtures and decor.

But possibly the most important factor that ensures the continued success of Cotton House, once the dust settles, is its ideal location in this thriving Delta town that is always buzzing. Nestled right across from the downtown green strip, guests can enjoy Cleveland’s impressive array of shopping options, the Saturday Farmer’s market in the summer, numerous festivals such as the Crosstie Arts and Jazz Fest in spring and the Octoberfest Festival Chef Cole Ellis in fall. Then, Cleveland’s 50 Nights of Lights which kicks off the holidays in late November—not to mention the world class Bologna Performing Arts Center on Delta State University’s campus only a mile away.

Adding to the spirit of the property are its two dining and libation locations, Bar Fontaine and Delta Meat Market, both operated by James Beard Award-nominated chef Cole Ellis.

Delta Meat Market, already a local favorite, has moved into its new home, serving counter-style breakfast and lunch, and full-service dinner seven days a week. “It’s really important to us that Delta Meat remains a community focused restaurant,

Buttermilk Panna Cotta

Polpette Alla Bologna

Lady Luck

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RPHOTOS COURTESY ROBINSON ELECTRIC

Industrial, metal-plated walls and contemporary furniture in earthtones and reclaimed wood set a modern tone and give a comfortable but refined tone to Bar Fontaine.

Mason jars filled with cocktail garnishes line the bar.

town needed a high-end bar for adults “This to get away and have a great cocktail in a fun intimate setting ” .

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Casual tables with benches offer easy seating for casual family-style dining at Delta Meat Market.

bar, and butcher shop where people bring their kids and you see three to four different generations eating, visiting with each other, and interrogating tourists,” says Chef Ellis. “I’m kind of kidding about that last part,” he laughs. Delta Meat Market’s well established Friday night happy hour, which regularly features local live music, seems to have shifted over quite nicely to it’s new location across the street, remaining a gathering place for locals as well as a hub for travelers.

Guests who prefer not to venture down to the first floor can sip cocktails at the hotel’s rooftop bar.

“In Bar Fontaine, we’re just excited to bring something new to town,” says Ellis. “Beyond it being a rooftop bar and restaurant, it’s fulfilling to me to be able to introduce different cuisines and serve top quality cocktails to our community and travelers alike,” he says.

“I’ve been wanting to do fresh house-made pasta for a long

time so it’s exciting to be rolling that out at Bar Fontaine and doing it in a small plate fashion so that tables are ordering communally and trying lots of different dishes.”

And Clevelanders and guests from the surrounding towns have enthusiastically welcomed the new bar with open arms. “This town needed a high-end bar for adults to get away and have a great cocktail in a fun intimate setting. Currently our signature cocktails are takes on old classics, but with a twist here and there, he adds.

“We’ve always loved how our regulars and local community members go out of their way to talk to tourists and make them feel welcome,” says Ellis. And now Cotton House, with Delta Meat Market and Bar Fontaine, is playing its part to enhance the community, perfectly blending the energy of its out-of-town guests with Cleveland’s small-town vibe. DM

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HOME

HARVEST HOME

A love of hunting, and an expanding three-generation family, motivated this Memphis couple to create an expansive, idyllic haven for making memories.

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Soft neutral textiles and a mix of natural and whitewashed woods in the large main living area create sophisticated country charm. Antique finds blend effortlessly with contemporary choices, with comfort and durability as the guiding principles.

BY BRENDA WARE JONES • PHOTOGRAPHY BY SARAH BELL OF SELAVIE PHOTOGRAPHY ARCHITECT CARSON LOONEY, FAIA • INTERIOR DESIGNER ANN PARKER

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ERICA EASON HALL

At the front door, stylist Erica Eason Hall made piles of pumpkins sourced from the Watkins’ own pumpkin patch and accented with spanish moss, burnt cones and birch branches.

S

onia and Rudy Watkins of Memphis had been enjoying many a fruitful Mississippi Delta hunts over the prior decade or so, when they finally looked at each other and said, “We really need a place of our own down here!” With a blended family of five grown children,

ages twenty-one to thirty-three (Hallie, Rudy IV, Reagan, Colton, and Riley) plus two little grandgirls, they wanted a retreat that could house them all, and any future additions that might happen along. And so, the happy adventure began.

Pleasing symmetry of furniture and accessory placement lend calm and order to the main seating area before the great fireplace. The long dining table separates the living area from the open chef’s kitchen with additional bar seating for large gatherings.

“

We probably spend one hundred days of the year down here!”

–Sonia Watkins

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Fortuitously, an attorney of their acquaintance was selling a prime 400-plus acre hunting habitat near Glendora, and they knew at once that it could be the place to make their dreams come true. The plan and decision came together when retired farmer and friend Ray Hausner agreed to work with them on managing and developing the property. With the farm’s existing waterfowl and wildlife habitat, and rich timberland, the property only needed a house to make it complete. As for a name, that was easy for the couple to decide. “The firm that I own is called the Harvest Group,” says Rudy, “So we were keeping it simple!”

He continues, “It makes people ask, ‘why did you name 86 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

your farm Harvest Plantation, and not something like Mallard Brake, Sandy Bayou Hunt Club?’ Well, the reason is, it provides the opportunity for my family to create a narrative to share our faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ with anyone who asks the question.” Rudy illustrates his point with a favorite scripture which says, “The harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few,” found in Matthew 9:3638. Also, he notes that Tallahatchie Country is almost exclusively an agrarian economy, and the people who live there are dependent on the success of their harvest.

They engaged the professional services of architect Carson Looney, FAIA, a principal with the firm of Looney

Camo hip waders and boots stand at the ready for early-morning hunts in the mud room. (below) A collection of decorative vintage plates and platters portraying the duck-hunt theme graces the hallway leading to the master quarters.

A Thermador gas cooktop dominates the meal-prep space in the bright, clean-lined kitchen, that opens to the dining and living quarters for ease of entertaining.

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Farm-style shiplap paneling and warm hardwood floors provide cozy appeal. Lined curtains can be pulled to block the morning sun for those who don’t fancy rising early to hunt.

Ricks Kiss, to draw the plans for what was to ultimately comprise some six thousand square feet of living area.

Looney’s vision was a farmhouse vernacular style, clad in white-painted red cypress, with a tin roof, to blend effortlessly into the existing rural landscape. The garage outbuilding, with a full guest suite above, was designed to resemble a stable, that perhaps could have pre-dated the main house. Swindoll Construction, LLC, brought the vision to life and Good Winds Landscape of Memphis completed the project with lush plantings, aided by Professional Lawn Care of Drew. As a crowning touch for the sweeping property, they had a three-acre lake designed and dug beside the house site, which provides a serene view from the many windows of the dwelling.

Indoors, the same vintage-farmhouse-casual charm prevails, with many modern touches thrown in to create an eclectic ambience. Through the front door, a huge space combines the great room, dining area, and kitchen, for maximum togetherness when some or all of the family is in residence for a holiday or a hunt. The soaring cathedral ceiling of the great room is a glowing, polished pecky A sliding barn-style door with Shaker-style panels accesses a guest bath.

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A more feminine look in the second guest room of the main house is achieved with touches of blue and a delicate antique spool bed.

cypress anchored with massive darker beams that echo the warmth of the hardwood floors below. At the far end of the massive room, which calls to mind ancient medieval banqueting halls, is a huge fieldstone fireplace. Flanking the weighty chimneypiece are two windows fitted with old Gothic-arched mullions, an antique-store find.

Interior designer Ann Parker of Parker Design Studio was the natural choice to help the Watkinses furnish and accessorize their new getaway; she had worked with them previously on their Memphis home, and they knew that she was intimately familiar with their tastes and preferences.

Her gift for blending old and new, to create the illusion of an interior that evolved over generations, is evident in each detail. The great room lighting is a prime example of her gift for contrast; illuminating the space is a combination of ultra-contemporary suspended cylinders and a vintage chandelier of two graduated wrought-iron circles.

Additionally, as part of the design team, Parker also worked directly with Carson on designing the interior architecture of the home.

Art by native Mississippians is hung throughout the house, Contemporary art vases and a whimsical grasshopper figurine rest atop some bedside reading material.

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The central living space of the upstairs guest loft landing is furnished with durability and comfort in mind. A nubby arabesque-patterned rug anchors the area. A Walter Anderson deer print echoes the outdoor theme.

adding bursts of color and interest to the home’s ethereal white-painted backdrop. Helping select these pieces, including works by Walter Anderson and Clarksdale artist Hayden Hall, was art consultant Anna Wunderlich of Memphis.

Family meals are enjoyed around a weighty Jacobeanstyle refectory table, situated between the grand living area and the spacious kitchen. A charming bay-windowed nook houses a round table seating four. Additional contemporary stools at the island bar face the work space, clad with blue subway tiles and white-painted Shaker-style cabinetry. The sleek look is complemented by a large enameled black glassfront cabinet, selected to look like an old family piece for holding crockery.

The master bedroom is on the main floor of the “big house,” and here as elsewhere, a sense of elegantly rustic calm prevails. Whitewashed shiplap siding walls in both the sleeping quarters and the master bath provide a clean, crisp backdrop for the neutral textiles and simple, stylish appointments.

Upstairs in the main house, two spacious bedrooms with Each of the twin built-in bunks, encased in shiplap to echo the walls throughout the house, holds a double mattress.

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A copper soaking tub, old-fashioned pedestal sink, and a free-standing linen cabinet create a vintage mood in the master bath.

cottage-style angled knee walls provide cozy comfort to visitors, whether they are family members, or friends invited to spend a long weekend at Harvest. Sonia, who is in charge of the Women’s Ministry at their church, occasionally hosts retreats for small groups of parishioners, and Rudy’s consulting clients are often asked to come and enjoy the plentiful hunting in deer, dove, or duck seasons. Ann’s keen eye for apposite detail yielded up some charming antiqueshop finds with a hunting theme, including a varied collection of old plates, which is artfully arranged on the hallway off the kitchen.

Above the garage wing, there is more space for guests of all ages. In one bedroom, delightful double built-in bunks each hold full-size mattresses, accommodating a total of eight—perfect for kids who want to stay up late. The expansive, central living area at the top of the stairs is furnished with comfortable nappa-leather sectional seating, as well as a ping-pong table and shuffleboard court. A compact “half kitchen,” with farmhouse sink, fridge, and

Another vanity area presents a more contemporary look, with modern fixtures and classic mirror.

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Birds, books, and fresh flowers add small grace notes throughout the house.

The ample kitchenette adjacent to the loft living area boasts a weighty farmhouse, or “Belfast” sink set into quartz countertops above dark enameled cabinetry. An avian-themed Anderson print livens the nook.

microwave, is convenient for simple meals or snacks.

“We probably spend at least one hundred days out of the year down here,” says Sonia. “Honestly, this is a place where Rudy and I go to enjoy down time. We love spending time with our family—especially the grandchildren, and we hope there’ll be more of those! Hopefully, the next generations will use it, as we do, to get away from their busy everyday lives.”

One thing is certain: Harvest Plantation can handle whatever the future may bring, and will only mellow and improve with age. DM

FALL STYLING BY ERICA EASON HALL

“

ERICA EASON HALL

When doing seasonal decor—commit to using a lot of one thing—on mantles, tables, or in a vase. Using a sprig of something here and there, doesn’t create the impact of seasonal punch. Being subtle and natural in your color tones and textures, however, creates the understated elegance that you are looking for.” – E.H.

On the back porch, Erica placed pairs of wheat bundles on the hearth under the mantle lined with deer antler sheds. The outdoor dining table, is set off by a shallow dough bowl filled with sheet moss, mini pumpkins and gourds and is topped with bittersweet vine.

92 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

Erica used a combination of pheasant feathers, dried wheat and birch branches in a silver trophy, grouped with a Cinderella pumpkin, a stack of Southern books and a wooden duck and acorn to create a vignette on the coffee table.

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Share your Bulldog spirit this holiday season.

Send friends and family exclusive MSU holiday cards featuring original Enjoy beautiful pictures of familiar

illustrations by MSU alumni.

campus scenes that bring back

Purchase yours online at

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at Mississippi State University.

The of cial State calendar has become a Bulldog tradition. With pictures by MSU’s own awardwinning photographers, it’s truly a one-of-a-kind treasure. Order online at msufoundation.com or call 662-325-7000. .

as Merry Christm

MSU is an AA/EEO university.

94 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

Delta Magazine’s

GUNS, DOGS & HOGS 2019

Outdoor & Hunting GUIDE DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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WOMAN Schonberger with a harvest of Swainson’s Francolin in South Africa.

of theWild

“From the warm window sill the endless fields glowed like a hearth in firelight, and Laura, looking out...felt what an arriver in a land feels—that slow hard pounding in the breast.”

– Eudora Welty, Delta Wedding

BY CAL TROUT • PHOTOS COURTESY OF BETSY SCHONBERGER

Argentina 2019

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A strap of Perdiz in Argentina.

or those of us who love to travel and to hunt, Betsy Schonberger of Wingshooters Worldwide lives a dream life. It’s easy to imagine her with the anticipation of Laura McRaven, Eudora Welty’s beloved character from Delta Wedding, coming up from Jackson into the Delta, except instead of a wedding, she is on her way to scout duck-laden wetlands.

F

A world-travelling huntress, Schonberger is not always in the Delta, though sometimes she is. Still, how many “new lands” must she have had instigate that “slow hard pounding in the breast.”

And, for how many clients since she started her business in Argentina in 2006 has she provided the same.

If you ask her who is the primary market for her family of guides and outfitters, she quickly rattles off three words, “Hunters not shooters.” And leaves it at that, to settle as bird shot peppering the dust.

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South Africa guide Jonas, and fine dogs, Stich and Rick.

South Africa staff.

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Though quickly uttered, it is actually a nuanced description, immediately literal, yet an elegant metaphor anyone who’s spent much time around hunters will recognize at once. To shoot is a singular act. To hunt is a multi-varied system of activities. Though we try, year after year, to make it less so, hunting is work. It means educating oneself in wildlife biology. It means scouting territory, hauling gear and equipment, training dogs and horses, caring for them, telling them goodbye-sometimes too soon. It means paying close attention to the enveloping ecosystem that supports the wealth of biodiversity that in turns supports the game we cherish. It means active participation in conservation programs to conserve habitat and preserve the culture of hunting.

Oftentimes, it means working with and through differences with friends and acquaintances as members of clubs or hunting parties of happenstance. Hunting is not just a labor of the body, but of the mind and spirit, as well.

Shooters show up and pull a trigger.

But that’s not all. Perhaps more deeply, hunters are tireless in their pursuit. They are single-minded of purpose when afield. To hunt is to look. To seek, even. Hunters are persistent practitioners of our most primordial predilections. When a hunter of worth connects on a shot that offers their prey a quick and humane passing, it is not taken lightly, as that moment is the product of thought and work and something akin to prayer. When this hunter tells a hunting story, it is not the tale of a braggart.

When shooters tell stories they—well— we all know what shooters shoot.

Of course, a person isn’t born such an astute observer of the human scene. No, the kind of wisdom that can recognize so much and say it with such brevity must be earned.

Schonberger has spent a lifetime outdoors and around the men who make their lives outside, where their perspectives are pigmented by physical, mental and spiritual taxation. From her earliest days traipsing around her grandfather’s ranch near Hazlehurst to later years following him afield begging for a shotgun with which to hunt quail, she’s known hers is a life best lived outside, among all the struggles and blessings the natural world offers. This is a life few people choose for themselves, especially if they are women. But Schonberger knows what moves her soul, the rewards of remaining true to her calling, “If you want to know about creation,” she said, “wherever

you are, go outside. It’s all happening right there. All the time. Life, death, birth, resurrection.”

In 2006, Schonberger must have felt somewhat resurrected when her life’s purpose suddenly appeared in her crosshairs. She was living in Argentina, doing advertising and marketing work, but like any good hunter simultaneously paying attention, seeking.

One day a chance encounter changed everything. Had she been anyone else having not grown up a ranch girl and wingshooter, she might have missed it.

“I was at the airport and some Southerners were standing off to the side wearing camouflage,” she said. “Nobody wore camo down there then. I walked over and asked them what they were doing and they said they had paid to come down and dove hunt the Cordoba region where I lived.

After that, I started in earnest trying to find a property to buy, but it was really hard to find land with a clear title.”

Finally, her break came while looking for a place to ride horses (another passion carried forward from childhood). She sent an email to a landowner asking if she could come ride some time. He replied, but didn’t even mention the horses. He was interested in her American English and wanted her to come out and translate for him. She did and while there she told him of her desire to buy a property and open a dove-hunting outfit. He offered her a partnership on the spot.

They worked together for several years before parting company over a disagreement regarding quality of service. She is adamant that all of her outfitters maintain impeccable service. Once they dissolved the partnership, she began contacting the abundance of other outfitters who had contacted her throughout the years asking for help. During this process, Schonberger developed a great idea: She didn’t have to be a partner in a single business, but could provide essential services to several.

“I saw I could develop an entire family of outfitters and guide services that met my standards for quality. After some time I realized they could be the best outfitters for any game anywhere in the world.”

Once she saw this vast opportunity before her, she only needed to do the work of making sure the businesses met her standards.

“Usually I’ll go and experience, from a customer standpoint, everything they offer.

I’ll contact a couple of my longtime clients with more discriminating tastes and take them with me.”

Argentina doves in flight.

A Cape Buffalo in Africa.

A Red Fox Lab retrieving a Greylag goose, Orkney Islands.

Black Marlin fishing in Costa Rica.

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End of a morning hunt in Argentina.

If they aren’t happy, it’s an immediate no.

Presently Wingshooters Worldwide offers top-tier hunting and fishing trips. Some of these include dove hunts in Argentina, cape buffalo hunts in South Africa, black marlin fishing in Costa Rica, and casting to steelhead trout on Canada’s Skeena River (for a full listing visit wingshootersworldwide.com).

They even offer eco-tours for families.

This is a recent addition after Schonberger noticed a lot of times wives want to come, but don’t want to hunt.

“Many women want to come on these trips, but don’t want to go spend days out in the wild somewhere like South Africa. What I see is they want to come if they can experience the wider culture of the location away from the hunting aspect. So we’ve started including that, too.”

But this begged the question, how many women are there who do what Schonberger does—and how is she treated in such a maledominated industry?

Schonberger says she is following in a long line of fearless females, such as Jeri Booth of the Detail Company, whom she regards as a pioneer.

“There have been some legendary women who do what I do. In times past and when I first started. I obviously don’t know everyone in the industry, but I’m pretty sure I may be the only woman left doing what I do.” She adds, “As far as the clients go, my job is to make everyone happy. I take care of everything from their travel arrangements to import/export legalities and the complex web of international gun regulations. I don’t think of myself as anything but good at my job.”

All of this is part of what makes her special. Well, this and the fact that she takes the time to develop deep and meaningful relationships with her clients.

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A pair of Coqui francolin.

Nine different species of ducks from an Argentina hunt.

“I’m with them in the field. I have a lot of return clientele who have been hunting with me for years. I just returned from South Africa with a man who is eighty one,” she noted. “In January I’m taking a group that includes an eighty-seven-year-old man on a driven hunt in Ireland. So, the clients are friends, and I enjoy great relationships with them. That’s not to say that I’ve never had to sit one down and straighten him out, but that’s been extremely rare.”

She is willing to do small things other businesses don’t, like take small groups, or even arrange for a party of one to take the trip of a lifetime. Regardless what country she is in, or where on the globe she is heading, it’s that extra effort, that perfect attention to detail that makes her unique to her customers.

And yet, for her rarified status as an international woman of the wild, Schonberger knows where her heart is most at peace. She talks at length about her family and friends who call the Delta home. One of her sisters is a Methodist pastor newly appointed to a pair of churches in Greenville.

For several years now Schonberger has been taking clients on duck hunts with Cameron Dinkens at Linden Plantation, where she’s met author and longtime Delta Magazine contributor, Hank Burdine. As a special treat she takes her groups to Doe’s or the Delta Supper Club. While she has roots in the Delta that go back generations and new friends and business associates through Wingshooters Worldwide, it’s not the people alone who make this region, of all the regions in the world, special to her.

She and her minister sister were talking recently about Schonberger’s church attendance. Much like an Emily Dickinson poem you may remember from the ninth grade, “Some keep the Sabbath going to Church-/ I keep it, staying at Home-/ With a Bobolink for a Chorister-/ And an Orchard for a Dome-... So instead of getting to Heaven, at last-/ I’m going, all along,” she insists that though she can’t be in the pew every Sunday she lives her life in awe of creation and its architect. Schonberger lives among the most remote and beautiful places on the planet, but nowhere is this feeling of astonishment stronger than in the Delta.

Like Laura McRaven she approaches the Delta from Jackson up Highway 49 to Yazoo City. The wonder in Schonberger’s voice is like that of Welty’s character from long ago, “On that drive whenever I drop out of the hills into those wide-open spaces, I feel like I am home. It is my church.” DM

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Double grand-get of Gamble's Odyssey Fritz standing at stud Breeding and training pointing dogs Long or short-term boarding

Dale or Linda Garner 134 Drive 32 | Shannon, MS 38868 (662) 767-8851 | brddgs@gmail.com 104 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

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LEGACYGUNS For Many, Extraordinary Memories Commemorate Exceptional Guns

BY MARK H. STOWERS

A

legacy can take many forms and can be quite elaborate and planned out or simple and unforeseen. They come to be and evolve into something

with much more meaning as time goes on. A simple shotgun bought ages ago for hunting can mean so much more to future generations and serve as a time machine of sorts to connect with long-lost loved ones. Across the Delta, families have passed down businesses, farms, and possessions to each generation, but often it’s the gun of a father or a grandfather that becomes a cherished heirloom because of the memories of hunting and shooting that it elicits and for the opportunity to pass that legacy on to the next generation.

1920s and 1950s Guns Still Reign Park Hiter of Merigold has guns from both his grandfather and father that mean a lot to him. Some date back to the 1920s, but each one is wrapped in hunting memories.

“My grandfather’s gun is a double-barrel 12-gauge shotgun that he liked to hunt with. We did a lot of dove shooting when I was growing up,” Hiter says. “That’s the main thing it was used for.”

Hiter also has two of his father’s favorite hunting rifles. “It’s a lever action Winchester .348. I’ve hunted with it myself and my grandfather’s shotgun. They just mean a lot to me because there’s a lot of history there,” Hiter says. The shotgun is 1920s era. The rifle is from the 1950s sometime.”

The rifle from his grandfather is one of a kind as well. “The other one is a Remington pump .35. They were trying to make something better than a .30-30. It was a good, handy, relatively short barrel woods rifle. It has open sights. The .348 was something that came along later and outclassed everything but the .30-06.”

He grew up hunting with the .348 and passed it through the rest of the family. “The .35 of my grandad’s, one of the things I plan to do is take it hunting. I got some ammunition a few years ago to see how it shoots,” he says.

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Park Hiter holding his father’s Remington pump .35 caliber. Below, his father’s lever action Winchester .348.

AUSTIN BRITT

Hartley Kittle’s Remington 12-gauge Model 11 built on a Browning patent. The shotgun was owned by his grandfather.

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JOHN KEEN

JOHNNY JENNINGS

Britt Virden with his grandfather’s Remington 20-gauge shotgun.

Chris Winters, Jr. with his great grandfathers’ Winchester Model 1890 Short pump .22 rifle and 1958 Browning Superposed Pigeon Grade over and under 20-gauge.

Great-grandfathers Live On When Chris Winters Jr. looks at his Winchester Model 1890 pump action .22 Short, the life of his great-grandfather on his father’s side, George Winter Sr., comes through. And when he uses his 1958 Browning Superposed Pigeon Grade over/under 20-gauge, stories of his great-grandfather, James Buford Lee, come to mind. At only fifteen, the young hunter has several generations of history in his hands.

“The shotgun, I’ve known about since I was a little boy,” Winters Jr. says. “I’ve shot skeet and some doves with it. It’s got 28-inch 108 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

barrels with an improved cylinder and modified chokes.”

The shotgun came to his great-grandfather as a 1964 Christmas gift from Winter’s grandmother and great aunt. He only recently found out about the .22 rifle.

“He got it when he was six years old in 1920. It was his first gun, and he hunted squirrels and rabbits with it,” he says. “It’s functional, but we don’t shoot it.”

Even though he hunts with other guns, he values the shotgun and the history behind it.

“It’s certainly something wonderful to have in the family that I can talk about and pass on to my kids when I get older,” he says.

“My great-grandfather who owned the double-barrel didn’t shoot it much because he valued it so much. I’m the same. It’s got beautiful engravings on it, and I don’t want to damage it by getting a scratch or anything, but it’s wonderful to have.”

Black Powder Memories with Simple Beginnings Johnny Laney, a cotton farmer in Coahoma County, has a special gun that dates back to the 1800s. A Winchester Model 1886 that was actually made in 1897.

“My dad told me he bought it from an old man. I looked the serial number up, and it was made in 1897. It shoots black powder, but we’ve never shot it. It’s like an old buffalo (hunting) gun. He bought it and stuck it in a closet,” Laney says. “It makes a good conversation piece. It’s like you bought an antique.”

He also has a Winchester, bolt action, single-shot .22 rifle that belonged to his mother’s father.

“It doesn’t even have a serial number, and I think it was made in the 1930s or ’40s. I still shoot snakes and varmints with it. But I’m a gun trader. I’ve got that disease (laughing). I hunt all the way from doves through turkey. I’m the kind of guy if I get a gun and five or ten years later something that sounds better comes along then I’m liable to trade it and buy that. I don’t save them or put them up forever.”

His father dove and deer hunted “just a little bit” and had a Browning Sweet 16-gauge shotgun that he handed down to his son.

“He just put it in a display case,” Laney says. “My dad wasn’t a big hunter. His deer rifle, I gave to my (former) brother in-law. That was a Winchester Model 400 .308 semi-auto.”

In addition, Laney has a Winchester Model 12 shotgun, a 1950s era gun, he purchased recently.

Gifting a Legacy Outside of the Family Pemble Davis has been a lifelong gun and hunting enthusiast and his hunting excursions have taken him across the U.S. and to several parts of Africa many times. Davis counts two of his big game rifles as his favorites, but he cannot forget a rare shotgun he owned for many years that he passed on to someone else.

The story of this gun, an AE Grade, Ansley H. Fox Shotgun is a true example of legacy. The double-barrel, 12-gauge had 30-inch barrels, fully modified, double trigger with a straight English stock.

He bought the gun from L.L. Vance in Drew when Davis was a child.

“I hunted with him through my grandfather,” Davis says of Vance. “We rabbit hunted, fox hunted, and dove hunted. All these guys had very high-quality guns, but L.L. Vance had the best one. He was a gun trader, a pigeon shooter, a bird shooter, and deer hunter in the Delta.”

Davis says along the way in his life, he has never really been a collector, but instead is a user of guns.

“I bought good quality, mostly German guns,” Davis explains.

The story of how Davis ended up with the Fox shotgun back in the late 1960s is one worth passing down.

He liked the shotgun and told Vance he wanted to purchase it.

Vance gave Davis a price of $250. So, Davis worked on the farm and saved his earnings for several months to make the purchase. But “inflation” kicked in when it came time to put his money down and the price had climbed to $275.

“Mr. Vance says, ‘when you get the other twenty-five dollars come over and get the gun.’ And I did. I borrowed the money from my grandmother’s maid,” Davis laughs.

Davis with his Whitworth .375 H&H

Davis’s .416 Rigby

The gun came in a specially made case by Vance with the papers and a special gun cleaning kit. Davis hunted with it for decades, but then he received an unusual request.

“In 2010 Norma Cooper called me, she was Mr. Vance’s daughter, and says, ‘Pemble, I’m looking for a gun to give Van (Mr. Vance’s grandson). He never got any of his grandfather’s guns and I was wondering if you knew anyone who had one so we could try to purchase it.’”

Davis searched but didn’t find any. Then he made a legacy decision. At the time, Davis had not used the gun in many years and it was in a closet with several other guns.

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AUSTIN BRITT

Above, Lamar and Mike Boyd. Right, Mike’s father’s old Colt Woodsman .22 pistol

“I called her back and says whenever Van came home let me know,” Davis says. “I set the gun out on the table, they came over and we started talking. I said, ‘Van, take a look in that case right there. There’s something you need.’”

The grandson of J.J. Vance opened the case and asked Davis where he had found it.

“I bought it from your grandfather,” Davis replied. “Van asked, ‘what are you going to do with it?’ And I said, I’m going to give it to you if you’ll take care of it. And Van said, ‘I will.’”

Davis’s estimation of the gun’s worth was minimally several thousand dollars, but it wasn’t about the money or “inflation” he was concerned with.

“That didn’t mean one thing to me. What it meant to me was the sentimental value of passing it down to someone who needed it.

Van wanted something that was once owned by his grandfather. He had more reasons to own the gun than I did.”

Davis’s current guns that are special to him are an original .416 Rigby and a Whitworth .375 Holland & Holland caliber he

purchased around 1970. The Rigby was purchased from Cordra York in Memphis around 2000.

“The Whitworth was a bargain at the time,” says Davis.

“Although quality firearms do not loose their value and most have doubled in price over the years.”

Both guns are extremely accurate and Davis has hunted big game with them multiple times in Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Botswana.

From Turkey to Ducks —Special 20-Gauges Still Performing

Johnny Laney with his Winchester model 1886 that was made in 1897.

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Farmer Mike Boyd knows a lot about hunting and guns as he works as a hunting guide and owner of the storied Beaver Dam Hunting Services in Tunica County. He has some legacy guns from his relatives that he and his son Lamar use today.

“I have my grandfather’s Magnum 20-gauge, Auto-5 Browning and my father’s light 20, but believe it or not, my family weren’t duck hunters. When my grandfather moved to Tunica County and bought the farm where Beaver Dam is, they were primarily turkey hunters, and they hunted quail over in the hills,” Mike says. “Wingshooters love the Auto 5.”

The gun, though, was refitted for his grandfather who was smaller than Boyd.

“He shot left handed, and it has a left-handed safety. He had the stock cut, so it doesn’t fit me,” Boyd says. “My grandfather, my father, and my uncle all shot 20-gauges, even when they turkey hunted. I grew up around 20-gauges, but as a kid I wanted a 12 gauge and wanted the biggest and baddest thing out there. But when that thing started beating me up, I backed off to a 20-gauge. My

son Lamar and I both shoot 20-gauges, and we kill just as many ducks at long range as everyone else.”

Boyd believes the gun was made in the 1960s. He also has an “old Stephens Double Barrel A” as well. And, he has one of his father’s pistols.

“It’s a Colt Woodsman .22, and looks like a German Ruger,” he says.

Hartley Kittle—Clarksdale Every day Hartley Kittle is surrounded by guns in his Hartley’s Greenhead Outdoors store in Clarksdale. But, there are special legacy guns in his gun case at home.

“I have one old gun, but I don’t even shoot it,” says Kittle. When I die, my sons will have a good old time (laughing). “I have my grandfather’s old humpback built on a Browning patent; it’s a Remington Model 11 12-gauge. It’s got to be seventy or eighty years old. My father told me it was his father’s.”

Kittle has held onto the gun but hasn’t used it in years because it “kicks like a mule, and when I was a kid, I’d get tired, and I say, ‘Dad, I’m tired and can’t tote my gun.’ He would then give me his gun to carry. Then I had to carry two guns.” Kittle hunted squirrels with the old gun as a boy but didn’t want to wear his shoulder out shooting doves with it.

The gun isn’t the only thing to have been passed down in this family; there seems to be a namesake attached. It was first purchased by “Hartley number one” and then passed down to “Hartley number two,” and now, at age seventy, “Hartley number three”— Kittle—owns it. And he knows more Hartley generations will get to feel and experience the mule-kicking Remington.

“This gun will end up in the hands of Hartley number four, and he’ll pass it on to Hartley number five. It will see five generations of Hartleys.”

MDWFP SHOOTING FACILITIES

McIvor

Turcotte

One Gun for Everything In Greenville, attorney Britt Virden has his grandfather’s (M.L. Virden of Virden Lumber Company) Remington 20-gauge shotgun.

“It’s a collector’s item, but I don’t know much about it. My dad (Matt) used it all of the time, and now I have it,” Virden says. “It was a bird gun—my grandfather shot ducks and doves with it. Then my dad got it.”

Virden has hunted sparingly with the gun not wanting to damage the prized antique, keeping it in his safe.

The shotgun is adaptable with barrels rather than a choke.

“You know how they have different chokes these days, this one had a whole barrel that he changed out. He would shoot doves with a lighter load and then switch the barrel for ducks with a heavier load. And that was the only gun he ever used.”

Virden also has a German made Luger .38 handgun his grandfather brought back from World War I. “It was handed down over the years and I ended up with it. After World War I those things were everywhere,” Virden says. “German made, after the war they just brought them home with them. It’s a military issue .38.”

The value of these weapons cannot be measured by the steel and wood of which they are made, for the memories they evoke are irreplaceable. The respect they demand is due not only to the firepower they possess, but to the weathered hands that held them long years before. And the traditions bound up in each one are not to be forgotten, but are to be passed down and built upon—adding to their legacy for future generations. DM

McHenry

PISTOL RANGE | RIFLE RANGE SPORTING CLAY | 5-STAND SKEET RANGE ARCHERY RANGE

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112 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MDWFP

McIvor Shooting Facility Gun enthusiasts are finding the region’s newest shooting range to be top flight

BY ROBERT MCFARLAND

114 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

The McIvor Facility offers an array of shooting opportunities.

L

ocal hunters and gun enthusiasts now have access to one of the South’s best shooting ranges.

Located on the edge of the Delta at the Charles Ray Nix Wildlife Management Area in Panola and Tallahatchie counties, the McIvor Shooting Facility was opened by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks (MDWFP) this past spring. The McIvor Shooting Facility is a 300-acre, multi-discipline state of the art shooting range and sports facility and is the result of several individual efforts on behalf of the MDWFP, the Foundation for Mississippi Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks and Olin Chemical, the parent company of Winchester Ammunition.

“McIvor provides a public facility where people in the northern part of the state can have a place to go and shoot and feel comfortable doing it,” says Capt. Scottie Jones of MDWFP Law Enforcement division and McIvor project manager.

The facility offers something for everyone, including a pair of 100-yard rifle ranges, a 300-yard rifle range, trap and skeet ranges, a handgun range, 3D archery range and a 15-station sporting clay course.

Sporting clay shooters can walk the narrow paved road along the course or use golf carts which are also offered. In addition, shooters can use their own side-by-sides UTVs, however four-wheelers or other vehicles are not allowed on the sporting clays path.

Visitors can also engage animal targets

such as deer on a trail through a forested area. Facility managers will move the targets and make adjustments to the trail on the fly, which keeps the experience fresh for visitors.

Although it is located on the WMA, the range is isolated from the hunting areas with access to the shooting locations controlled by time cards and counters.

The shooting range is located at 4216 Davis Chapel Road, Sardis, MS 38666.

For more information, call 662-487-1946 or visit www.mdwfp.com DM

The McIvor Shooting Facility Features 15-station sporting clay range • Two skeet ranges, with a trap range overlaid in each • 5-stand range “Duck Flush” 100- and 300-yard rifle ranges • Pistol range • 3D archery range • Pro shop and golf cart rental

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HOG HUNTING Danger delivers excitement in the Delta’s woods and swamps

BY HANK BURDINE PHOTOGRAPHY BY MELODY GOLDING

oward Brent, owner and proprietor of Panther Tract, a 4,600-acre private hunting

H

preserve in Yazoo County that borders Panther Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, is a true Mississippi Deltan with a heart as big as the Mississippi River, from whence he came. Once the Brent family sold their towing operations in 1990, Howard set his sights on his large land holdings in

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John “Wildcat” Stevens and a 250-pound boar hog heading to the skinning rack.

trying to take off and grow and their incessant rooting of the ground will tear up roads and ditches. At the time, the only way to get rid of wild hogs was to hunt them. Howard had a plan.

Hank Burdine with daughter Alden Burdine Dewhirst traveling back to the lodge at Panther “Charlie, you remember ole Bubba Tract for lunch during a successful hog hunt. On a big hunt at Panther Tract hunters typically Weeks that used to work on propellers for ride horseback and social observers use ATV’s. us down at the shipyard. I hear he is a topnotch hog hunter and can probably help the South Delta. Realizing that his land was arose. Howard’s longtime friend and us out.” Howard has never let an more suitable for growing trees than caretaker at Panther Tract, Charlie King, soybeans, he began enrolling his property opportunity to have a good time go by, so called one day. in Conservation and Wetland Reserve after talking to the Weeks brothers, David “Podnah, we got a problem down here. programs administered by the U.S. Farm and Melvin (Bubba), a weekend was set I planted thirty acres of corn in the Lake Services Administration. Oak trees were once it got cold, and a hunt was planned.

Discovery food plot two days ago and planted, and water control structures put Invitations were sent out, and a world some wild hogs got in there and ate every in place in order to class BBQ operation from manipulate water and Yazoo City was hired to cater provide habitat for the the party with barbecued ribs, myriads of ducks and geese chicken and trimmings. Big that migrate through the area Earl from Pearl was booked to each year. A suitable supply the music during the rambling two story house was lunch break. Howard Brent found nearby that was moved knows how to do things up and put atop a large brick right, Delta style. downstairs bunkroom and The weekend hunt was set turned into a glorious for a Saturday, but as Friday hunting lodge. Roads were approached a big front moved built and lakes dug while in and the festivities were put food plots were planted and off one day. The hogs weren’t even an air strip was created. going anywhere for sure and The trees began to grow, and the forecast showed clearing deer began to drift in from and cold through the the adjoining Panther Swamp A re-enactment of a 1902 President Roosevelt Bear Hunt, at which five of his descendants attended, was the inspiration for one of the many hog hunts held weekend, just what you want while teal, mallards, at Panther Tract. for a good hog hunt. Saturday widgeons, gadwalls and wood afternoon arrived with many of the kernel of corn that I put in the ground. ducks began settling into the sloughs, hunting party showing up early and We gotta do something with these hogs.” bayous, and impoundments, chockful of claiming bunks and beds in the spacious Feral hogs have taken over certain parts corn, soybeans, native grasses and wild hunting lodge.

Big horse trailers with of the state and are very prolific, millets. A wildlife eutopia had evolved out sleeping quarters jockeyed for position as sometimes having as many as two and a of marginal farmland and the wild animals horses were let out and corralled around half litters of piglets a year.

Left of the South Delta were reaping the the trailers and fed and bedded down for unchecked, wild hogs will decimate benefits. the night.

I brought a sack of Gulf oysters wildlife food plots and agricultural fields.

It wasn’t long after the trees took off to shuck and twenty pounds of They are very detrimental to young trees and were growing good that a problem 120 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

Choctawhatchee Bay shrimp for a big etouffee and the ornate mahogany bar in the den soon bulged with bottles. Guitars were tuned and the festivities began as log after log was thrown on the roaring fire in the big living room of the lodge overlooking the expanses of Panther Tract.

Later that evening someone walked out on the porch and exclaimed, “Look there, y’all, it’s SNOWING!!” It was going to be one good hunt!!

I awoke the next morning before daybreak to the smell of good strong coffee percolating in the kitchen and the sound of heavy wool socks shuffling about the hardwood floors. Melody and Steve Golding from Vicksburg were already up and getting ready to go out so Melody could begin to photograph in the newly fallen snow for her upcoming book Panther Tract; Wild Boar Hunting in the Mississippi Delta. Slowly, revelers from the night before began drifting into the kitchen, nodding their heads in disbelief as they passed the old mahogany bar with the numerous empty and half full remnants of the previous night standing like sentinels of a hard-fought battle. All reached for cups and the gurgling coffee pot. Trays of bacon were sizzling in the double ovens as dozens of eggs were cracked and rows of cathead biscuits prepared to replace the crisping bacon in the ovens.

Seriousness began to take the place of last night’s frivolity as the day’s hunt was planned and the “Boss of the Hunt,” Howard Brent, gave instructions as to how it was to play out. A hog hunt is a very serious affair as the wild hog is as dangerous an animal, once cornered and turned to fight, as you can encounter in the out of doors. Playtime was now over; we were all ready to get down to business.

At 8:00 a.m. sharp, I looked out the upstairs kitchen window to see a land-based armada of vehicles coming up the long winding driveway.

Boss of the Hunt, Howard Brent, supplying a dose of warming elixir in the form of champagne to social outrider Missy Pillow during a brief stop.

Trailer loads of horses and dogs, four wheelers and Polaris Rangers with dog boxes securely attached, pickups loaded with hunters, men and women, boys and girls, all anxious and excited about the day’s hunt began to pull up.

The snow-covered landscape was stunning in the bright cold sunshine as prancing horses were unloaded and yapping dogs let out to run about sniffing and snorting. Full leather and thick canvas chaps were pulled on over heavy jeans and boots. Bandoliers were draped over dog handlers’ shoulders containing emergency medical supplies for the dogs and horses in case they were needed. Long and lean Catahoula hog dogs, Rhodesian

GRILLED WILD PORK TENDERLOIN WITH BALSAMIC REDUCTION Chef Stewart Robinson shares one of his favorite recipes for wild pork.

Rub 2 2 2 ½ 1 3

tablespoons chili powder tablespoons granulated garlic tablespoons kosher salt teaspoon cayenne pepper tablespoon black pepper tablespoons oil to coat meat pork tenderloins, cleaned and trimmed

Prepare sauce prior to cooking the pork. This may be done up to a day in advance and refrigerated. Evenly coat pork with oil and season generously on all sides. Allow pork to rest in the fridge at least one our or up to 6 hours.

Preheat grill to 400 degrees. Once heated, place pork on grill over direct heat. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes on 3 sides of the loin. Remove from heat once internal temperature at the thickest portion of the meat has reached 145 (see note.) Allow tenderloin to rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Drizzle with sauce.

Reduction ½ ½ ½ ¼ 16

cup granulated sugar cup Balsamic vinegar cup stock (chicken or vegetable) cup Worcestershire sauce ounces preserves, such as blackberry, blueberry, or fig 4 tablespoons cold/frozen unsalted butter

Combine stock, Worcestershire, balsamic vinegar and preserves in a bowl. Whisk until evenly mixed and set aside. Place the ½ cup sugar in a heavy sauce pan and cook over medium heat till it caramelizes, watching to ensure the sugar does not burn. Once the sugar reaches a light brown color, carefully pour in the wet ingredients. At this point, the wet ingredients will react with the hot sugar and the sugars will become hard again. Reduce heat to medium low allowing the liquids to come to a simmer and the sugar to return to a liquid state. Reduce for 15 to 20 minutes until thick enough to evenly coat a spoon. Remove from heat.

Slowly whisk in the 3 tablespoons of cold unsalted butter ½ a teaspoon at a time. Set aside and allow sauce to cool.

– CHEF AND OUTDOORSMAN, STEWART ROBINSON

NOTE: It is imperative to use a thermometer when cooking wild pork to avoid the risk of trichinosis. Trichinosis is destroyed at a temperature of 137 degrees and above. The minimum should be 140 degrees, but 145 degrees is recommended. Watch it carefully, because by 150 degrees the meat it will begin to dry out.

Invited guest on Panther Tract hunt.

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BURDINE COLLECTION

Baby Doe Signa and Hank Burdine hog hunting on the Mississippi River.

Ridgebacks, crossbred bird dogs, Plott hounds and Black Mouth Curs were all a part of the pack of chase dogs.

Heavy Kevlar vests were securely strapped on some of the chase dogs and onto the heavy bulldogs and bulldog mixes that had been trained to run in as catch dogs to attack and subdue a wild hog once he is bayed and turns around to fight. GPS monitored tracking collars are attached to the dogs to know where the hunt is heading and to be able to retrieve a strayed dog from the pack. Excitement was everywhere, and the air seemed to be filled with adrenaline as hunters mounted horses and the remaining guests jumped onto four wheelers and into Rangers. After conferring with the dog handlers, who would take over as masters of the hunt and lead the day’s affair, Howard loaded up into his big tired Honda four-wheel drive truck, the doors emblazoned with a very official looking sign “Department of Having a Good Time” and the hunt was ON! On this hunt, because of the size and topography of the place, two groups of hunters and dogs had been invited to participate. No hog man wants his dogs to hunt with another’s pack as the hunting dogs are raised together and trained to hunt together. Chase dogs are keen nosed, long legged tracking dogs trained to sniff out the scent of a hog and take off in hot pursuit without being very vocal because a hog will hear the dogs and head for the thickest most impenetrable cover they can find.

Oftentimes, catch dogs run with chase dogs and when a hog bays, he will turn to fight. The three-to five-inch tusks that grow on wild hogs are very dangerous, having been sharpened by rubbing together as they root around in the ground 122 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

BURDINE COLLECTION

Sid “Bo Weevil” Law and Larry Stephenson in the bowels of Booger Den at Fighting Bayou Hunting Club.

digging up roots and tubers, grubs and worms. A bayed three-hundred-pound wild hog is a fearless, gnashing, squealing, fighting mini bulldozer that is very dangerous. Only when hogs are caught by three to four dogs does a hunter rush in with a knife to dispatch the hog. And, even though pistols are carried they are very seldom used for fear of hitting a prized dog.

Although a hog hunt looks and seems like a mad, wild race of pandemonium, it is a very articulated and closely attended pursuit. These hog dogs are as much a part of the handler’s family as your lapdog that stays curled up in your house, yet they are trained to hunt and that is what they love to do. Dog handlers stay as close as possible to the chasing and hopefully soon to be baying dogs. A hog will run into the deepest, thickest part of a swamp or forest and he knows every foot of the way. It takes a stout, well trained horse and a very agile and strong hunter to keep up with the dogs. A moment’s delay to a bayed and fighting wild hog could mean trouble to a loved dog. This is hunting sport at its highest degree and the men and women who partake of it are of utmost and rare caliber, quite the nimrods.

On this hunt at Panther Tract, with two separate groups of small hunting parties and dogs, over thirty-seven hogs were taken. A wild hog hunt in the Mississippi Delta is an action packed, adrenaline filled, dangerous and exciting endeavor. It is one of the best ways to try to keep the overpopulation of hogs in check, and no meat goes to waste. As quoted in Melody Golding’s book, Panther Tract, “it is…a place of extraordinary hunting, Southern hospitality, camaraderie and the love of dogs, horses and hair-raising excitement.”

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2019

DELTA DOG CONTEST Overall Winners 1st Place Winner: Lucy, a Goldendoodle submitted by Elizabeth Howe Bates of Madison, on cover 2nd Place Mention: Pilot, a German Shorthaired Pointer, submitted by Allyson Burgess of Greenville, on page 97

SPORTING DOGS

1st Place: Mac, a Golden Retriever, submitted by Drake Harris

2nd Place: Hank, a Pointer, submitted by Kristie Nutt, of Flora

of Oxford

3rd Place: Sawyer, a Springer Spaniel, submitted by Tom Shaw of Flowood

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DOGS AT PLAY

1st Place: Maddox, a King Charles Cavalier, submitted by Katie Bennett of Petal

2nd Place: Jax, a chocolate Labrador Retriever, submitted by Melanie Griffin of Louisville

3rd Place: Josie, a German Shorthaired Pointer, submitted by Halleigh Derrick of Pelahatchie

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PUPPIES

1st Place: Ryder, a mixed breed, submitted by Taylor Potter of Hickory

2nd Place: Easton, an English Cocker Spaniel, submitted by Marleigh Mancini of Cleveland

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3rd Place: Leo, a Golden Retriever, submitted by Hannah Mims of Oxford

MAN’S BEST FRIEND

1st Place: Cooper, a Yorkshire Terrier, submitted by Kristie Nutt of Flora

2nd Place: Lola, a Whippet, submitted by Norman Adcox of Memphis, Tennessee

3rd Place: Delta, a mixed breed, submitted by Taylor Potter of Hickory

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DOGS AT WORK

1st Place: Nala and Roscoe, an American Labrador Retriever and a mixed breed, submitted by Gregory Flowers of Clarksdale

2nd Place: Duncan, a black Labrador Retriever, submitted by Brad Shivers of Cleveland

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3rd Place: Honey, an Australian Shepard Mix, submitted by Barbara Lee of Jackson

From big to small. From farm to front yard.

As a Farm Bureau member, you’re eligible to save.* ®

Platinum 2 savings for Farm Bureau Members. ®

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John Deere’s green and yellow color scheme, the leaping deer symbol, and JOHN DEERE are trademarks of Deere & Company.

B0S01KKCU2N73759-00063790

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FOOD

Some Like it HOT 4

Baked Sandwiches to try RIGHT NOW

It’s a shame some think of sandwiches as only a lunchtime option. If you start with good bread, load it with flavorful, cheesy ingredients and bake them to delicious, toasty perfection, the humble sandwich transitions very well into something quite dinner-worthy.

Made with ingredients that are easily kept on hand— they just might become your go-to for everything from busy weeknight meals to last minute game-day fare, or paired with your favorite soup for a casual get-together.

BY CINDY COOPWOOD & CORDELIA CAPPS PHOTOGRAPHY BY BILL POWELL

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CHICKEN, BACON & RANCH SANDWICHES Assemble these ahead of time for a quick weeknight supper, or for a hearty game-day treat. Simply cover and keep chilled till ready to bake.

1 8 12 ⅓ ½ 1 ½ 2

pound thin sliced roasted deli chicken slices bacon cooked and crumbled slices colby jack cheese cup prepared ranch salad dressing cup butter teaspoon garlic salt teaspoon onion powder tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Using a serrated knife slice horizontally through the middle of the rolls, placing the bottoms side by side on a sheet pan. Set the tops aside.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt together the butter, garlic salt and onion powder. Brush the cut sides (both tops and bottoms) of the sliced rolls with about one-third of the seasoned butter.

Place half of the cheese slices over the bottoms, tearing slices if needed, to fit.

Next, layer the chicken and bacon crumbles over the cheese. Spoon ranch dressing over bacon and top with an additional layer of cheese. Place the buttered tops on the cheese. Brush remaining butter on top and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

To prevent over browning, cover loosely with foil. Bake covered for about 15 minutes then uncover and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until the tops are lightly golden.

Separate and serve while warm with additional ranch dressing, if desired.

CUBAN SANDWICH This recipe can easily be multiplied depending on the size of your crowd. We used a large loaf of Italian bread cut into several sections for individual sandwiches.

1 small loaf of bread, preferably Cuban or Italian Yellow mustard to taste 5 ounces deli sliced ham 5 ounces plain pulled pork 2 slices Swiss cheese Dill pickles, sliced lengthwise 2 to 3 tablespoons butter

Slice bread lengthwise and assemble sandwich. Spread mustard, then layer ham, pulled pork, pickles and cheese. Butter one side of sandwich and place on griddle, grill pan or panini press. Cook until cheese begins to melt, then spread butter on alternate side and flip, cooking until brown.

Assembling CBR sandwiches ahead of time is a breeze.

Cubans are usually made on a panini press or on a griddle and flattened as they cook.

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ITALIAN SLIDERS Feel free to choose your favorite italian deli and cured meats for this tasty, cheesy sandwich. There are many varieties such as mortadella, many types of salami, sorprosatta, prosciutto and more.

1 6 to 8 6 to 8 6 to 8 12 to18 2 to 3 ¼ 1

package of 12 Hawaiian buns ham slices salami slices large pepperoni slices peppered salami provolone slices tablespoon grainy mustard cup butter tablespoon minced garlic parsley

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Carefully cut the tray of buns in half horizontally. While still attached, place the bottom buns on a baking sheet or pan.

Spread bottoms liberally with the mustard.

Begin layering the sliced meats and cheese; ham, cheese, salami, more cheese, then pepperoni. When all layers are finished, replace top half of the buns. Melt the butter in a small pan and add the garlic and parsley.

Brush onto the top of the buns. Bake in the oven for approximately 15 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the tops of the buns are browned. Cover lightly with foil if they begin to over brown.

Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly, then cut apart and serve.

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KOESTLER PRIME

SPICY ROAST BEEF HOAGIES Simple deli sliced roast beef is transformed when cooked in beef broth with hot chili pepper spread for a little heat. Toasting the buttered bun keeps the sandwich from getting too soggy.

1 1 3 ½ 6 2

1 1

pound thin sliced deli roast beef cup beef stock tablespoons hot chili pepper spread, if desired teaspoon course black pepper salt to taste hoagie buns tablespoons butter, room temperature sliced Monterey Jack cheese sliced Colby Jack cheese jar sliced hot cherry peppers (roasted red peppers may be substituted) jar sliced pepperoncini rings

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large pan over medium heat stir together beef stock, chili pepper spread (optional) and black pepper. Add sliced beef and stir until beef is coated. Simmer beef for about 10 minutes. Taste beef and adjust seasoning, adding salt a little at a time as needed.

Butter both halves of hoagie buns. Place buns butter side up on a baking sheet and bake until slightly brown, about 10 minutes.

Pile roast beef on toasted buns, allowing buns to absorb some of the juices. Add cheese slices and place back in oven just until melted.

Top with pepper rings and cherry peppers.

BIAGGI’S

P.F. CHANGS

LOCAL 463

Whether you’re in the mood for fine dining, something casual or even something delectable to prepare at home…

R   F Y’ L .

Whould you like a side with that?

If you are looking for great sides to round out your menu, here are some ideas other than chips–which are never a bad idea!

◆ Italian Sliders: Tomato-basil soup, minestrone, caprese

◆ Cuban Sandwiches: Black bean soup, citrus-vinegar based salad, or Italian pasta salad

◆ Chicken Bacon & Ranch Sandwiches: Lemon-dill potato

DRIVE THRU

slaw, tomato-avocado salad, or sweet potato fries

◆ Spicy Roast Beef Hoagies: Waffle fries, French onion

salad, crudite with ranch dressing, or tossed green salad

soup, or German potato salad

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

I-55 at Old Agency Road, Ridgeland, Mississippi | 601.519.0900 See all our retail stores and restaurants online at www.RenaissanceAtColonyPark.com For leasing information, contact The Mattiace Company at 601.352.1818.

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Finding

biscuits in the biscuit capital

What: Natchez Biscuit Festival Where: Along Main Street between Pearl and Wall streets When: Saturday, September 28, 8 a.m.-noon.

Information: natchezbiscuitfest.com

Regina Charboneau says muffin tins are one of the best baking vessels for biscuits.

BY ANNE BRALY • PHOTOS COURTESY OF REGINA CHARBONEAU AND VISIT NATCHEZ

You don’t have to go far to find great biscuits in Natchez.

They’re served in restaurants, inns and B&Bs across town.

Here are some suggestions TWIN OAKS

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~ MONMOUTH HISTORIC INN ~ THE BURN BED AND BREAKFAST NATCHEZ COFFEE COMPANY ~ BISCUITS & BLUES THE CARRIAGE HOUSE ~ KING’S TAVERN

Biscuits are one of those wonderful foods indigenous to Southern cuisine, but nowhere are they more highly exalted than in Natchez, the Biscuit Capital of the World.

How the town became noted for its biscuits is a story that spans the Atlantic, beginning in Paris and ending in a city alongside the Mighty Mississippi, thanks to Natchez native daughter Regina Charboneau, who, as a young woman matriculating at La Varenne culinary school and living in the City of Lights, wanted to treat her Parisian friends to a true Southern dinner.

The Queen of Biscuits And, naturally, that meal had to include biscuits.

“I made them that night, and they were so offers these TIPS good, I’ve been making the same recipe since— ✓ Place the biscuit dough on a tea cloth, tweaking it a few times—for the past forty roll it out to an oblong shape, fold it years,” she says. over, then turn the towel and repeat Charboneau spent the next few years Sweet potato biscuits are even better eight times, before cutting the dough. with a slice of country ham. honing her biscuit recipes, making only one Folding the dough helps create layers.

Use a 6-ounce Dole pineapple juice bad batch along the way. can, the lid and bottom cut out.

“Someone at one of my restaurants poured Nothing fancy. salt into the sugar container,” she recalls. “So But it was when she noticed a change in travel have I ever made a bad biscuit? No. Just ones ✓ Once the ingredients are placed in the trends—one that emphasized the important role that were a little salty once!” mixer, turn it on and count to ten. By that food plays in planning a vacation—that she Charboneau spent time in Alaska before hand, use about twenty strokes. moved back to Natchez.

That’s all the time it takes. Again, you finding her footing in San Francisco where she “People were wanting to experience different do not want to over mix. opened her first two restaurants; Regina’s at the things,” she Charboneau. “My world has been Regis and Biscuits and Blues. Biscuits were stars ✓ Once the dough has been cut, place food, so most ideas that I have are food-related. on both menus. But the South was calling her the biscuits on a sheet pan and freeze Through the years, I became known for my name, and Regina sold her interest in her the biscuits. “That makes a huge biscuits. However, I’m not the only person in difference,” Charboneau says. restaurants and moved home to her native Natchez that makes a good biscuit. The Carriage Natchez in 2001, purchasing the historic home ✓ To bake, place the biscuits in House is another restaurant in town that has built Twin Oaks and in short order she opened a individual ungreased muffin tins. “The a solid reputation on their tiny biscuits. third restaurant, King’s Tavern. Her brother, butter in the biscuits won’t run out.

“Culinary tourism is real. If you ask someone Peter Trosclair, is in the biscuit business, too, Rather, when in the muffin tins, the about their vacation, they talk about the food more having opened another Biscuits and Blues in biscuits will suck the butter back in,” than the architecture. I realized we needed both in notes Charboneau. “It also makes the Natchez.

Natchez.” bottoms crispy.”

Named “Queen of Biscuits” by Gourmet Biscuits are by no means unique to Natchez, magazine, Charboneau has made biscuits for the ✓ Don’t roll the leftover dough in a ball but after extensive research, she found that no other likes of Huey Lewis, the Rolling Stones and Bob and place it in the freezer. Instead, cut city in America lay claim to the title of Biscuit Hope, but perhaps her proudest moment came it into strips and and stack them to to Capital of the World. Charboneau snatched it up help protect the layers. when she secured for her hometown the title of and since 2008, the city has hosted a biscuit cookBiscuit Capital of the World. off every September during the annual Biscuit “Natchez is known for its 18th- and 19thFestival, an event that celebrates the love of the buttery, flaky confections. century architecture, and the houses have been the focus since Spring “I felt claiming the title of Biscuit Capital of the World would give Pilgrimage began in the 1930s when the owners began to open their people another reason to visit,” she says. “Our only sustainable homes to visitors to save Natchez,” she says. “I’m a seventh-generation industry is built on people coming to visit Natchez. We’re in the Natchezian, but lived away for twenty-three years, mostly in San hospitality business and need to give people every reason to come and Francisco, a major tourist destination.”

“The biggest mistake people make is overmixing,” Charboneau says.

“The key is not to overincorporate the fat.”

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Previously called White Cottage, historic Twin Oaks Bed and Breakfast, circa 1832 is owned by Regina Charboneau. twinoaksnatchez.com

visit. The festival gives people just one more reason to choose us for a weekend destination over others.”

Located just eighty miles north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Natchez has been named one of the Top Ten friendliest cities in the country. It has the greatest number of antebellum houses in the United States and is the oldest continuously occupied town on the Mississippi River.

But it’s the biscuits that boost the town’s population the during the last weekend of September each year. “A lot of people come to Natchez just for the biscuits,” Trosclair notes. “The title of Biscuit Capital of the World is really catching on. It catches peoples’ attention.”

“Biscuits are a staple in the south—we couldn’t live without them, and our guests expect them,” says Beth Blackmon, executive chef at The Carriage House, a lunchtime institution that sits in the shadow of Stanton Hall, one of Natchez’s grandest antebellum homes. The menu is a nice mix of Southern favorites, from fried chicken to country ham and greens. But it’s the biscuits that steal the show, arriving tableside on a plate with butter and jelly.

“We can never run out of biscuits,” Blackmon emphasizes.

“If we run out of biscuits, our customers will run us out,” Starr says.

Bridget Green, proprietor of The Burn Bed and Breakfast agrees that biscuits are part of the draw to Natchez. “Most of the comments left in our guest books and even travel reviews on-line mention our biscuits,” she adds. Guests at The Burn aren’t the only ones who love her signature recipe—it also has a special significance in her family.

“My father made these biscuits for years. Now our children call them ‘Grandfather’s biscuits.’ I don’t make them without thinking of him and many mornings we spent together enjoying biscuits and coffee with chicory,” Green says.

Carriage House and The Burn both use straightforward, simple recipes for their biscuits.

But at the biscuit cook-off, recipes run the gamut from those made with spent grains from a local brewery to white chocolate-orange biscuits. Biscuit vendors, too, line the street with an interesting array of biscuit creations, from breakfast pot pie to biscuit sandwiches.

“It grows every year,” Charboneau says, adding that the festival shows the versatility of a food central to the role of Southern identity.

Want to try your hand at making biscuits? For a seemingly simple bread, there’s an art to making biscuits.

LOVE NATCHEZ? This book’s for you.

Bridget Green, Regina Charboneau, and William Bradley joined forces to produce Natchez Style, a gorgeous coffee table book that celebrates the historic town, its architecture, and is packed with entertaining and fabulous recipes. “We had a wonderful time putting it all together. And we can vouch for all of the recipes— we ate everything after each shoot. I can’t speak for Regina or William, but I put on a few extra pounds,” laughs Green. Natchez Style, released in 2018, is complete with extensive party menus, recipes and gorgeous photography. One hundred percent of the proceeds goes towards the continued preservation of Stanton Hall & Longwood owned by the Pilgrimage Garden Club. To order your copy visit, natchezpilgrimage.com

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The Burn Bed and Breakfast, owned by Bridget Green, was built in 1834 and is the oldest documented Greek Revival residence in Natchez. theburnbnb.com

THE BURN BISCUITS “GRANDFATHER’S BISCUITS” This simple recipe can easily be divided in half or doubled as needed. ½ cup vegetable oil 1 cup whole milk sifted self rising flour, as needed

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Whisk together milk and vegetable oil. Slowly stir in sifted flour, mixing in just enough flour until dough is formed. Do not over work dough. It should look similar to store bought biscuits in cans.

With your hands shape dough into balls about the size of a golf ball. Then flatten slightly into the shape of a biscuit. Bake until golden brown. Makes 14 biscuits.

REGINA’S NATCHEZ BUTTER BISCUITS Charboneau is specific about ingredients. “They don’t taste quite like my biscuits if you change the ingredients,” she says. She prefers Calumet Baking Powder and Land O’ Lakes salted butter and salted margarine.

4 ¼ ¼ ½ 1½

cups flour cup baking powder cup sugar cup (1 stick) salted butter, chilled and cut into ½-inch cubes cups (3 sticks) salted margarine, chilled and cut each stick in 3-inch cubes I prefer Land O Lakes Margarine sticks 1¾ cups buttermilk, chilled

Put all dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Turn the machine on low and blend for 15 seconds. Add the butter, margarine and buttermilk to flour mixture before turning mixer on. Turn mixer on low and count to 10. Do not overmix the dough. There will be large chunks of margarine, in the dough—that is a good thing—it’s what makes them flaky.

Scrape dough from the bowl onto a floured tea towel and shape into a long vertical rectangle about 2 inches thick. The dough will seem rough and messy in the beginning. Using the edges of the towel, fold the lower part of the dough (about one-third) toward the center, then fold the top portion down. After folding in thirds, turn and repeat 7 times (roll, fold in thirds and turn).

After the eighth time of rolling, roll dough to 1½-inch thickness.

Using a 2-inch biscuit cutter, cut dough into rounds. Punch cutter into dough cleanly, without twisting. When refolding and re-rolling the dough, gently stack it to retain the layers. Do not overwork.

Place biscuits on a baking sheet and freeze. Once they are frozen, transfer biscuits to plastic bags. The unbaked biscuits can be frozen for two months. To bake, heat oven to 350 degrees. Place frozen biscuits in the cups of muffin tins. Bake until golden brown, 23 to 25 minutes.

The Carriage House Restaurant is located on the grounds of historic Stanton Hall, a Greek Revival mansion built in 1857. visitnatchez.org

CARRIAGE HOUSE BISCUITS 2 5 1 ¾ to 1

cups self-rising flour tablespoons butter, chilled teaspoon sugar cup of buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sift together flour and sugar. Add butter and cut mixture until it looks like coarse meal. Add buttermilk and stir until it forms a ball. Place ball on board sprinkled flour. Roll dough out to ¼-inch thickness and cut into circles. Place on tray and bake for 15 minutes or until biscuits are lightly browned.

REGINA’S SWEET POTATO BISCUITS Although these use the same technique as Charboneau’s butter biscuits, they’re a softer, sweeter biscuit because of the sweet potato.

3 3 3 ½ 1

cups all-purpose flour tablespoons baking powder tablespoons sugar cup (1 stick) salted butter, chilled and cut into 2-inch cubes cup (2 sticks) salted margarine, chilled and cut into 2-inch cubes 1 small sweet potato, baked, peeled, mashed and chilled (to measure 1 cup) 1¼ cups buttermilk, chilled

Put the flour, baking powder, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Blend the dry ingredients on low for 15 seconds. Add the butter, margarine, mashed sweet potato, and buttermilk to the bowl. Turn the mixer on medium speed and count to ten. There should be visible chunks of margarine and butter in the dough.

Generously flour a work surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle about 2 inches thick, fold into thirds, and roll again. Turn the dough one-quarter turn and roll out again to a 2-inch thickness. Fold into thirds again and repeat the process for a total of four to five times until the dough is smooth. The dough should have a yellow ribbon effect where the butter and margarine are rolled out. This is a good sign that the biscuits will be flaky. Roll the dough one last time to a 1½-inch thickness.

Using a 2-inch floured biscuit cutter, cut the dough into rounds. When re-rolling the dough, gently stack it to retain the layers. Do not overwork the dough. Arrange the biscuits on a baking sheet and freeze. The biscuits are best if first frozen. Once frozen, transfer into a zippered plastic bag. (Unbaked biscuits can be frozen for 2 months.)

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the frozen biscuits in the cups of 2 muffin tins; these biscuits are best if not baked on a baking sheet. Let the biscuits thaw in the tins in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Bake until the tops of the biscuits are golden, 23 to 25 minutes. Turn the biscuits out onto a wire rack and serve warm. Makes about 24 biscuits. DM DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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A smarter power grid, more affordable rates.

Entergy Mississippi’s rates are among the lowest in the nation. And we’re committed to keeping them low. Every year we save our customers millions by buying wholesale power at the best rates. We’ve also added efficient natural gas plants to our fleet to deliver affordable energy for years to come. We’re updating our grid with smart technology, including advanced meters. This helps us reduce outages and gives you better information and tools to help you reduce your bill. We’re ensuring affordability and reliability for our customers.

Because together, we power life.

Learn more at entergybrightfuture.com.

A message from Entergy Mississippi, LLC ©2019 Entergy Services, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Menu Guide

eating & drinking in the MIssissippi Delta and beyond

DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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Airport Grocery APPETIZERS

CECIL’S HOT TAMALES & CHILI

SANDWICHES

Crawfish Tails

Hot Tamales

BBQ

Lightly battered and fried served with chipotle sauce.

Dozen or half dozen.

Chili-Cheese Tamales

BBQ Nachos

Award winning pork shoulder smoked in house, topped with slaw and our very own BBQ sauce.

Three of our famous tamales smothered in our chili and topped with cheese.

Fried Chicken

Pulled pork, lettuce, tomato, jalapeno bbq sauce and cheese piled up on top of fresh cooked potato chips. Enough to share.

House battered tenders.

Chili Made in our kitchen and topped with cheese.

Pork Bites Fried or grilled pork ribeye cut into bite size pieces and served with our sweet honey sauce.

Cheese Stix Beer battered monterey jack stix, served with ranch.

Chicken Bites

Catfish Hoagie Mississippi catfish fried with our sauce on a hoagie bun.

OLD FASHIONED BURGERS APG Burger Bacon Cheeseburger Chili Cheeseburger with Slaw Mushroom Swiss Burger

Fried or grilled fresh chicken tenders cut into bite sized pieces and served with honey mustard.

FROM THE CHARCOAL GRILL A real fire

Ribeye 20 oz. of fresh cut beef.

Filet 8 oz. of fork tender beef.

Fried Mushrooms

Salmon

Fresh mushrooms sliced, fried and served with ranch.

8 oz. wild-caught North Atlantic salmon seasoned and grilled with fresh lemon.

Fried Pickles An APG classic—dill pickle slices, fried and served with ranch.

Fried Mojos

PLATES

Smokin’ hot jalapeno slices, fried and served with ranch.

All plates and grilled items are served with your choice of one side, slaw or salad bar, and Texas Toast. Add crawfish sauce or 4 shrimp, grilled or fried, add sauteed mushrooms.

Sausage and Cheese Plate Seared smoke sausage, cheddar cheese, grilled onions, jalapenos, and mustard.

Served with our very own BBQ sauce.

SALADS Signature Salad Large house salad topped with your choice of fried chicken, grilled chicken, chicken salad, grilled pork, fried shrimp, grilled shrimp or fried crawfish tails.

Hamburger Steak 10 oz. of fresh ground beef with grilled onions and brown gravy.

Lunch and Dinner Monday - Saturday Dinner on Sunday Happy hour every day 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Brunch every Saturday 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. with a Bloody Mary and Mimosa bar

House-smoked pulled pork with our very own BBQ sauce.

Legendary BBQ Ribs St. Louis Style smoked daily with our special dry rub.

Seafood Gumbo or Duck Gumbo

Salad Bar View full menu at Airport Grocery, Cleveland MS 3608 US-61 Cleveland, MS 38732 662.843.4817 146 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

BBQ

Seasonal, delicious, melt in your mouth and made from scratch, served over rice.

Restaurant Tyler APPETIZERS

PASTA AND MS DELTA RICE

Duck Burger

Bar-B-Q Okra

Jambalaya Pasta

Fried okra dusted in a house-blend BBQ dry rub. Served with remoulade sauce.

Marinated chicken breast, sautéed shrimp, oven-roasted tomatoes, and Italian sausage served over penne pasta. Tossed in a light Cajun cream sauce and finished with freshly-grated parmesan cheese.

Two 4 oz. Maple Leaf Farms duck patties cooked medium and served on a house-made brioche bun with garlic Boursin cheese, dijonnaise, house-smoked bacon, Mississippi Red pepper jelly, quick pickles, and choice of starch.

Crawfish Dip Roasted garlic, spicy Italian sausage, spinach, herbs, and crawfish tails topped with parmesan cheese. Served with toast points.

Tyler Country Ham & Burrata Cheese Thinly-shaved three year house-cured country ham, served with North Carolina burrata cheese, cherry tomatoes, micro basil, finished with apple cider reduction, herb oil, and smoked sea salt.

Grilled Pimento Cheese Grilled pimento cheese on goat cheese crusted sourdough bread, side of pickled vegetables and Mississippi Red aioli.

Farmers Risotto Two Brooks Farm Sable black rice gorgonzola risotto, topped with pineapple-rum braised pork cheeks, and seared shiitake mushroom ragu.

House-made Vardaman sweet potato gnocchi tossed in lamb ragu with white wine, fennel, shiitake mushrooms and roasted tomatoes.

Finished with Blackberry Farms brebis cheese mousse.

Fried Chicken Buttermilk and coconut-battered boneless chicken breast and thigh nestled in a pepper jack macaroni and cheese casserole.

Served with seasonal vegetables.

Filet Mignon

Shrimp and Grits

Grilled center-cut 8 oz. Angus tenderloin, topped with whipped garlic herb butter and demi-glaze. Served with seasonal vegetables and your choice of starch.

House-smoked bacon-wrapped Gulf shrimp over parmesan cheese grits finished with a sherry cream sauce. Topped with sautéed spinach.

Chef-selected catch pan-seared and topped with local virgin pecan oil and lemon slices.

Served with a choice of starch and seasonal vegetables.

Ceasar

Ribeye Hand-cut 14 oz certified Angus ribeye topped with Hooverhoney butter and demi-glaze.

Served with seasonal vegetables and your choice of starch.

Bone-in Cold Smoked Pork Chop 14-16 oz. cold-smoked pork chop grilled to order and finished with a truffle and Mississippi honey demi-glaze. Served with seasonal vegetables and your choice of starch.

Romaine lettuce tossed in Caesar vinaigrette with shredded parmesan cheese, crackedblack peppercorn, boiled farm egg, grated bottarga, Vardaman sweet potato cornbread croutons, and everything bagel seasoning.

Country Fried Steak

Cabbage Salad

Sous vide certified Angus skirt steak stuffed with Boursin cheese, reversed fried and topped with New Orleans style BBQ gravy and local brown butter-poached crawfish tails.

Served with seasonal vegetables and your choice of starch.

Grilled cabbage, caramelized onions, roasted garlic and beets, gorgonzola cheese, and candied Duke pecans tossed in warm housesmoked bacon vinaigrette.

Farmer’s Salad Made with fresh, locally sourced fruits and/or vegetables that change with the seasons. Ask your server for details.

LAND

LAKE AND SEA

Catch of the Day

SALADS & SOUPS

Fried Mississippi Delta catfish, charred corn, okra, tomato, and black-eyed peas salsa finished with preserved lemon and basil vinaigrette.

Lamb Gnocchi

Charcuterie and Cheese Board Three-year house-cured country ham, whipped bacon rillettes, two other locally-sourced cured meats, served alongside four artisan cheeses with house pickled vegetables, candied Duke pecans, fruit preserves, Mississippi Red pepper jelly, whole grain mustard and grilled sourdough bread. (serves 4 guests)

Fried Catfish

View full menu at eatlocalstarkville.com 100 East Main Street Starkville, MS 39759 662.324.8422 DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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Crawdad’s APPETIZERS

CRAWDAD’S KITCHEN ENTREES

Crawdad’s Broiled Salman

Fried Mushrooms

Crawdads Catfish Parmesan

Served with ranch.

Salmon wrapped in caramelized bacon over a bed of potato wedges and asparagus topped with a balsamic reduction.

Served with peppers and BBQ sauce.

A Crawdad’s original baked in seasoned bread crumbs, served over a Mississippi Blue’s rice cake topped with our original crawfish sauce.

Gumbo Cup/Bowl

Crawdad’s Tuna Tacos

Made fresh served with Mississippi Blue’s rice.

Seared fresh cut tuna, served over a Johnny cake, skillet corn, avocado, topped with pickled vegetables.

Sausage and Cheese Plate

Fried Pickles Served with ranch.

Fried Cheese Served with marinara and ranch.

Merigold Nachos Beef, peppers, crawfish tails, shrimp dip, and cheddar cheese.

Fried Shrimp Ten classic beer and battered shrimp fried golden brown. served with Lloyd’s cocktail sauce.

Crow’s Shrimp and Grits

Fried Catfish Sliced catfish filets fried to perfection with an optional side.

Crawdad’s Platter A platter of crawfish. Crawdad’s steamed crawfish served since day one from the front porch of a one room cypress shack in Merigold.

CHARCOAL GRILL

Served with Lloyd’s cocktail sauce.

Our take on the classic shrimp and grits cheese grits served with bacon cream sauce, mushrooms, and sauteed shrimp.

Crawdads Shrimp Dip

Crawdad’s Alfredo

Filet

Penne pasta served with either crawfish tails or cajun chicken or shrimp tossed in a creamy cajun alfredo sauce and spinach.

8 or 12 oz.

Fried Crawfish Tails

Crawdad’s original recipe of creamy cheese, shrimp, and peppers.

Shrimp Cocktail Half dozen or dozen served with cocktail sauce in a martini glass.

Grouper Gautier Blackened and served over a crawfish cake and topped with a crab stuffing.

Creole Shrimp Sultana

SALADS

A Crawdad’s original take of New Orleans BBQ shrimp over penne pasta.

House

Ribeye 18 or 24 oz.

Grilled Salmon Topped with dill cream sauce.

Stuffed Pork Chop 16 oz. pork chop stuffed with sausage and topped with chambeaux sauce.

Hamburger Steak Served with onions and gravy.

Merigold Chicken

Lettuce, croutons, cheese, tomatoes, and choice of dressing.

Served with Crawdad’s crawfish sauce.

Caesar

Shish-Ka-Bob

Chopped romaine, parmesan cheese, croutons, and house caesar dressing.

Catfish

Beef, onions, bell peppers and sausage.

Grilled or blackened with Crawdad’s crawfish sauce.

Grilled Tuna

OYSTERS

Served with an optional side.

Grilled Oysters Grilled oysters with brown sugar, applewood bacon, roasted black pepper, jalapeno slices, and parmesan cheese sriracha.

DESSERTS

Oysters on the Half Shell Half dozen or dozen.

Ice Cream View full menu at crawdadsms.com 104 Park Street Merigold, MS 38759 662.748.2441

148 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

Served with caramel or chocolate sauce.

Black Bottom Pie Bread Pudding New York Style Cheesecake

10 South is a casual rooftop bar and grill overlooking historic downtown Vicksburg with spectacular views of the Mighty Mississippi River.

Enjoy outdoor dining on our wraparound terrace or snag a table indoors where the climate is perfect at all times of the year with large retractable garage-style doors to protect against any weather.

BURGERS & SANDWICHES Served on a Brioche Bun with House Spiced Fries

10 South Original Burger Choice of Cheese

12

S M A L L P L AT E S Guacamole / House Fried Flour Tortilla Chips

9

Fritters / Applewood Bacon / Smoked Gouda / Honey Mustard 9 Fried Green Tomatoes / Spicy Crawfish-Tomato Gravy

13

Crab Cakes / Comeback Sauce

14

Poutine / Aged Cheddar Curds / Bacon / Gravy / Green Onions

13

SALADS Caeser Chopped Romaine / Parmesan Cheese / Garlic Croutons Crystal’s Buffalo / Buttermilk Dill / Corn Salsa / Diced Tomato / Red Onions / Shredded Cheddar / Sour Cream / Fried Chicken tossed in Louisiana Buffalo Sauce

5/9 15

Barbeque Bacon Burger 14 Pepper Jack Cheese / Candied Bacon / Potato Sticks / 10 South BBQ

L A R G E P L AT E S & GULF SEAFOOD

That Famous Fried Chicken 13 Pepper Jack Cheese / Candied Bacon / Maple-Chili Glaze

Steak Frites / 14 oz Whiskey Glazed Ribeye / Fries

32

Filet / Mashed Potatoes / Beans / Red Wine Shallot Butter

34

Chicken & Waffle / Sweet Cream Waffle / Buttermilk Fried Chicken Breast / Chili Glaze

16

Salmon / Hoppin’ John / Comeback Butter

25

Blackened Catfish / Parmesan Grits / Corn Maque Choux

23

Shrimp & Grits / Mushrooms / Tomatoes / Bacon / Parmesan Grits / White Wine Garlic Butter Sauce

23

Grilled Cheese 12 Pepper Jack Cheese / Candied Bacon / Sliced Tomato / Honey Dijon / Grilled Sourdough Bread

1301 Washington Street | 601.501.4600 | 10southrooftop.com

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FIND YOUR CRAFT. 1311 WASHINGTON ST, DOWNTOWN VICKSBURG

Eat

IN THE DELTA

Save Room For Dessert For 50 years, The Crystal Grill has been serving Delta classics to generations of families for lunch and dinner.

The Crystal Grill is known for its generous portions and legendary desserts. Locals know to save room for dessert.

What will you try?

OPEN TUESDAY - THURSDAY, SUNDAY w 11:00 AM - 9:00 PM SATURDAY - SUNDAY w 11:00 AM - 9:30 PM 662.453.6530 w 423 CARROLLTON AVENUE w GREENWOOD, MISSISSIPPI facebook.com/TheCrystalGrill

152 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

Mon-Sat: 5 -10 pm / 662 . 4 55.42 27 314 Howa rd St reet / G reenwood, M ississippi t hea l luvian.com/g ia rd i nas

Dickey’s BBQ Pit Station 222

MEATS Pulled Pork Beef Brisket Pork Ribs

CATERING Full Service

SLOW COOKED MEATS Chicken Breats Polish Kielbasa Sausage

Delivery Buffet

Mozzarella Sticks

Salmon Salad

2 meats 3 sides, rolls, relish tray, BBQ sauce , paper utensils. set-up and/or pick up available.

House cut mini blocks of mozzarella hand battered and fried golden served with house marinara.

Spring mix with grilled salmon, tomatoes, capers and parmesan remoulade.

2 meats, 3 sides, rolls, relish tray, BBQ sauce and paper utensils.

PLATES 1, 2, or 3 Meat Plate

Deluxe Lunch Box

Includes two sides and a roll.

Classic sandwich, side, chips and cookie.

SANDWICHES Sliders

Party Platters

Choice of pulled pork, beef brisket, jalapeno cheddar kielbasa, or chicken breast.

Butcher tacos, sliders or assorted desserts.

SPECIALTY ITEMS

Duck Wings Farm raised duck wings fried crispy with a memphis sweet heat BBQ glaze.

Filet Mignon

Kentucky’s Finest Whiskey Flight Woodford Reserve Double Oaked, W.L. Weller Antique, Buffalo Trace Blanton’s Single Barrel

8 oz choice filet served with sautéed spinach.

Classic Sandwich Choice of meat.

Westerner Choice of two meats and cheese.

View full menu at orderdickeys.com 1452 Highway 1 South • Greenville, MS 38701

View full menu at station222greenwood.com 222 Howard Street • Greenwood, MS 38930

662.580.4242

662.374.5086

O N T H E B LU F F A B O V E T H E M I G H T Y M I S S I S S I P P I R I V E R I N H I S TO R I C N ATC H E Z

LOCALLY OWNED OFFERINGS. HOME GROWN HOSPITALITY.

SHAREABLE DISHES. SOUTHERN CHARM.

NIGHTLY LOUNGE SPECIALS & LIVE MUSIC ON THURSDAYS

130 JOHN R. JUNKIN DRIVE | 601.442.9976 ON

AS HOTEL VUE NATCHEZ | HOTELVUENATCHEZ.COM | PILOTHOUSENATCHEZ.COM

DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

| 153

154 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

The Warehouse

Posecai’s

CATERING SANDWICHES Haley Special Boar’s Head mesquite turkey and cheddar cheese served on a French roll with wine and cheese dipping sauce.

Unforgettable Club Boar’s Head mesquite turkey, honey maple ham, apple wood smoked bacon and melted provolone on sliced sourdough bread topped with lettuce, tomato, and mayo.

SALADS Chicken Pasta Broccoli Potato Pimento

DIPS BLT Dip Shrimp Dip

DELTA FAVORITES Catfish Renee

8 oz. Pork Ribeye Steak

SOUPS Broccoli and Cheese Loaded Potato Soup

Pan Roasted topped with crabmeat stuffing and grilled shrimp with angel hair pasta topped with a parmesan cream sauce

Topped with brandy garlic sauce, served with Posecai’s potatoes.

CAKES Caramel Cheesecake Chocolate Cream Chocolate Cobbler Coconut Italian Cream Strawberry

Posecai’s Seafood Salad Topped with jumbo shrimp, avocados, lump crab meat and your choice of dressing.

Double Boned Texas Pork Chop Marinated in Hoover Sauce, topped with brandy garlic sauce, served with Posecai’s potatoes.

Chicken Fried Chicken Topped with country gravy, served with Posecai’s potatoes.

Choice of Fresh Fried Delta Catfish, Fresh-Shucked Fried Oysters, Fried Shrimp, or Billy B’s Seafood Platter Served with fries.

Walk ins welcome. Reservations appreciated.

View full menu at The Warehouse 229 North Sharpe Avenue • Cleveland, MS 38732

View full menu at posecais.com 1443 Trailwood Drive • Greenville, MS 38701

662.846.7223

662.378.3688

THIS IS HOW YOU DEFINE DELICIOUS IN THE DELTA. Dig in to the good life at Louie’s, where the Delta’s best steaks are just the beginning of an amazing night out. We’ve also raised the bar on a variety of seafood and other hand crafted dishes. Now, we invite you to relax and enjoy the best dining experience in the Delta.

For more information or to make reservations, call (662) 335-9797 ext 192.

Thursdays • 5pm-9pm | Fridays & Saturdays • 5pm-10pm

www.louiessteakhouse.com ©2018 Harlow’s Casino Resort & Spa. All rights reserved.

Gambling problem? Call 888.777.9696.

DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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Menu Guide Chef’s Picks

Pilot House Salad

Station 222

Pilot House Salad, includes Boiled shrimp, lump crabmeat, fried boiled egg, capers, green tomato relish, romaine and remoulade sauce. – EXECUTIVE CHEF, KATE BRASHER

Butcher’s Burger – Seven ounces of custom ground chuck, ribeye and New York Strip blended into a perfect juicy and flavorful patty.

Topped with bacon and cheese, and served on a sour dough bun with lettuce, tomato, red onion and pickles. Accompanied by our delicious house-made and hand-cut french fries.

Dickey’s BBQ Ecco Ribeye, served with charred onions and tomatoes topped with a Chimichurri Sauce.

Smoked pulled pork classic sandwich served on a brioche bun with your choice of cheese, jalapeño peppers, onions, picked and slaw topper.

Giardina’s

Posecai’s

Catfish Giardina, our pan seared blackened catfish served with roasted balsamic Sriracha Brussel sprouts, topped with Lump Crab meat, and deep fried red onions. – CHEF CAM SHAW

Posecai’s chicken parmesan – Fried chicken breast topped with George’s red sauce, parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, served over angel hair pasta in parmesan cream sauce.

156 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

Chef’s share their restaurant’s most popular or signature dishes

Cottonwood Public House

Cotton Alley Cafe Our most requested pasta dish is our Cotton Alley pasta.

This dish consists of sliced grilled chicken breast, green onions, sliced roma tomatoes, artichokes, capers, fresh lemon juice and cream sauce over angel hair pasta, then it’s topped with Parmesan cheese. It is served with a house salad and one of our fried french rolls on the side.

Key City Brewing Co.’s Blonde Ale “Mississippi Queen” has truly become Vicksburg’s beer. This light, crisp, and endlessly crushable ale has enraptured a thirsty town, who has shown up in droves to support the small brewpub. “Mississippi Queen” joins a diverse selection of beers brewed in house alongside a curated whiskey selection, gorgeous cocktails, and delicious handmade pizzas.

Lost Pizza Doe’s

El Diablo pizza, topped with grilled chicken, bacon, roasted red peppers, banana peppers and jalapeños. Served with a drizzle of BBQ sauce.

Doe’s famous house-made hot tamales. Served with Doe’s signature house salad, they are a meal in themselves.

Paulette’s Grilled Brochette of Chicken is a Paulette’s staple. Skewered marinated chicken breast fillets, mushrooms, green pepper, bacon, scallions, and white rice in a creamy mushroom sauce.

The Crystal Grill Our signature lemon icebox pie with a mile high meringue.

DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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MULAN

Asian Bistro East DAILY LUNCH SPECIALS!

Voted Best Chinese by the Commercial Appeal and the Memphis Flyer!

East Memphis Location Audubon Place Shopping Center 4698 Spottswood Ave., Memphis, TN 38117 (901) 609-8680 * MULANEAST.NET 2059 S. Houston Levee Rd. Germantown, TN 38139 (901) 850-5288 mulanbistro.net 158 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

2149 Young Ave. Memphis, TN 38104 (901) 347-3965

DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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Menu Guide: Chef’s Picks

Romies Swordfish Tacos served with cabbage, onions and pineapple with a red pepper glaze.

Koestler Prime Koestler Prime’s braised short rib over Stilton grits, roasted asparagus, and topped with gremolata.

Airport Grocery

Track 61

Signature cheeseburger made with fresh ground Angus Beef, hand pattied with signature seasonings and cooked to order on a flat griddle. Served with your choice of fixings and side items.

Uptown Alfredo is made with fettuccine noodles with creamy home-made alfredo sauce that can be served with Argentinian shrimp or grilled chicken.

Louie’s Steakhouse Louie’s Steakhouse, located inside Harlow’s Casino Resort & Spa features the finest cuts of steak and freshest seafood in the Delta. Some popular customer favorites include the Filet Mignon, Rack of Ribs, and Porterhouse steak.

160 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

Sweet Tea and Biscuits Sweet Tea and Biscuits Fried Green Tomato BLT is made with toasted sour bread that’s slathered with homemade pimento cheese, thick slices of smoked bacon, crisp leafy lettuce and a fried green tomato.

Chef’s share their restaurant’s most popular or signature dishes

Hattie B’s Blues City Cafe A half rack of our world famous ribs and a catfish fillet, served with baked beans, coleslaw, new potatoes or steak fries, Texas toast, and tartar sauce.

The Hot Chicken Sandwich has a fried chicken breast, cole slaw, Nashville Comeback sauce and kosher pickles.

Served with one side.

Bar-B-Q Spaghetti Restaurant Tyler Duck Burger – Two four-ounce Maple Leaf Farms duck patties cooked medium and served on a house-made brioche bun with garlic Boursin cheese, dijonnaise, house-smoked bacon, Mississippi Red pepper jelly, quick pickles, and choice of starch.

Pasta tossed with our delicious Bar-B-Q Base Sauce and served with Diced pork shoulder on top. This recipe was featured on Food Network’s Bobby Flay on Bar-B-Q Specialties.

Mulan Boiled Fish Filet Chili Oil: This authentic Szechuan dish is made with a soup base of raw bean paste, ginger, garlic, green onion, chili pepper and pepper corn that has been stir fried. Then broth and fish are added.

Westy’s

Sherman’s Cornmeal crusted catfish served with braised greens and butternut squash hash.

Hot Fudge Pie is a decadent and creamy delight layered with our original recipe fudge pie, smooth vanilla ice cream, with whipped topping drizzled in hot fudge sauce.

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Voted Best Pizza in

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Indianola, Cleveland, & Coming Soon to Greneda

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162 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

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Menu Guide: Chef’s Picks

10 South Fried Green Tomatoes Crispy green tomatoes, house made spicy tomato gravy with Louisiana crawfish tails. A must try dish and one of Vicksburg’s favorites!

The Gallery The Gallery’s signature chicken salad, served with summer green beans, Merigold tomatoes, and corn bread.

Shotgun House Loaded homemade potato chips with pulled pork, covered with white cheese dip, barbecue sauce and fresh jalapeno slices.

Crawdad’s Chili crusted prime New York Strip over roasted poblano risotto with a Guajillo pepper sauce topped with fried onion rings!

P’Reaux’s

Abe’s

Shrimp Po’Boy – Served with heaping popcorn shrimp on grilled Gambino bread, dressed to order with a side of fries! The Shrimp Po’boy has also been chosen as the “Best of Yazoo” for several years.

Pork belly nachos with Abe’s signature BBQ sauce, creamy cheese, and scallions served over Mexican style chips with a side of fresh jalapeño and sour cream.

164 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

Chef’s share their restaurant’s most popular or signature dishes

Cicero’s Cat and Cow: Catfish fillet served with a small filet with a side of hushpuppies.

Ranchero Full slab of ribs served with a side of baked beans and homemade potato salad and roll.

Libro Mushroom Ravioli – Porcini, goat cheese, ricotta, beach mushrooms, fresh herbs and butter.

Ricki’s Cinnamon flat braided challah bread.

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

HISTORY

166 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

Blanche K. Bruce A PORTRAIT OF CHANGE

BY AIMEE ROBINETTE

A GREAT ORATOR AND ADVOCATE for those who could

“Blanche Bruce was a remarkable person for remarkable times,” says Chuck Westermoreland, chair of social sciences at Delta State University.

He was born into the lowest of lows as a slave and reached the highest of highs as both a wealthy landowner and influential politician at the local and national levels. In Bolivar County, just a few years after slavery ended, he amassed thousands of acres of land and became a political force throughout the county, How did this happen?

He was extremely smart and determined, for one.

Even more important was the fact that he had opportunities not available to his ancestors. To those ancestors, an African-American owning land and having a say in politics was unthinkable.

But with the defeat of the Confederacy, the end of slavery, and the rise of Reconstruction, African-Americans like Bruce could apply themselves and reap the fruits of their efforts like never before. He was the right person in the right place at the right time.”

Bruce was born in rural Prince Edward Island, Virginia, to a white slave owner, Pettus Perkinson, who owned his mother, Polly Bruce.

Many teachers attest to this day that an education can lift people out of poverty, and to that Bruce is a great example. He learned how to read and write from William Perkinson, his half-brother,

MARKERHISTORY.COM

not defend themselves, Mississippi Senator Blanche K. Bruce was a Renaissance man in the truest sense of the word. The life and times of Bruce remains shrouded in some mystery as he was far ahead of his time—and the state—he represented. Bruce was the second African American elected to the U.S. Senate, but was the first to serve a full term. That isn’t, however, the only fact that sets him apart. who, in turn, had learned from his tutor.

Around this time, Perkinson moved his plantation and slaves to Mississippi.

Bruce endured a violent life as a slave, and when Perkinson relocated his operation to Missouri, Bruce escaped to Kansas. After discovering there was just as much violence there, Bruce returned to Missouri, where he established the first school for black children in 1864. He entered college in Ohio a few years later, only to withdraw for a lack of funding.

It seemed Mississippi kept calling him back, so in 1869, Bruce returned to the Magnolia State in Rosedale where he began to attend Republican party meetings. Because of his charisma, politicians took note of Bruce. He was appointed by the governor as conductor of elections for Tallahatchie County. Then by 1871, he served as superintendent of education of Bolivar County.

According to various documents, Bruce created fair budgets for the segregated school system.

Bruce gained popularity and respect, and soon served as sheriff and tax collector. He became financially sound from his career and began to buy land. He was an astute businessman and well respected in the county.

“For me, Bruce has always been a conundrum,” says Emily Jones, Delta State

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University archivist. “Most everything we know about him is from others. We do not have any of his personal papers. We do not have a primary resource of him in the Delta. It’s part of what makes him so attractive in that way. We know just enough to want to know more. He obviously influenced change, the people around him and he was an African-American voice dominated by a white society.”

Once elected in 1875, Bruce found that he and Hiram Revels, a fellow Mississippian and the first African-American elected to the Senate, were at odds with the prevalent political party—the Democrats—that had taken control of the state. According to history, he fought for levee systems and railroad construction, and spoke out for civil rights for African-Americans, Native Americans and the Chinese, who lived in the Mississippi Delta.

“He was on a very unpopular side of politics if he was against the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act,” Jones says. “He was on the side of the underdog. He was present and among the first Chinese sojourners in the Delta. He would have witnessed them as the replacement labor force in the absence of slavery. I imagine he would have felt a kinship. Bruce would have seen them come in and struggle to support a family, see the harsh realities of a country that wasn’t so accepting.”

After his Senate term ended, according to historical records, Bruce was appointed to three posts by Republican presidents.

President James Garfield named him register of the Treasury, a post he held until 1885. He served as recorder of deeds for the District of Columbia between 1889 and 1893 under Benjamin Harrison.

When William McKinley became president in 1897, Bruce was again appointed register of the Treasury.

“Bruce died in 1898 while holding this office. He left mid stride, almost the same way that he appeared,” Jones says. “A presence such as Bruce’s did leave his mark in the political, social, and economic world, and one day perhaps, we will find more of the humanness of this great man. History reveals itself when it is read,” Jones adds. “I keep waiting for someone to open a trunk in an attic and there he will be.”

Westermoreland notes that “Bruce is proof that Mississippi’s people and history have never been isolated from broader national events and trends. He was a man who lived in many places: Virginia, Ohio, Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, the District of Columbia, Indiana. He was not just a man for Mississippi. He was a man for all of the United States of America.” DM 168 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

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EVENTS

We Will Rock You: The Musical by Queen and Ben Elton, Jackson

FESTIVALS, MUSIC & FUN THINGS TO DO September 1

Holly Bluff

9th Annual Holly Bluff Friends & Family Day

Memphis

Gladys Knight Orpheum Theater orpheum-memphis.com

Miller’s Place, 9 am-9 pm

September 5, 7:30 pm

September 12

Cleveland

September 13

Tunica Resorts

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit

Joe Nichols and Diamond Rio

Bologna Performing Arts Center bolognapac.com

Horseshoe Casino

September 14

September 5

Memphis

Yazoo City

Yazoo Music Festival

Oakridge Boys

Main Street

Graceland visitgraceland.com

September 14

Credence Clearwater, Tunica Resorts Memphis September 20

Cooper-Young Festival September 5, 9 am-3:30 pm

Indianola

BB King Day Symposium

Art, music and crafts by over 435 artisans cooperyoungfestival.com

BB King Museum Hosted by MVSU Recording Studio

September 14 Greenville

Delta Dragon Boat Races Schelben Park

September 6

September 20-22

Tunica Resorts

September 7

Cleveland

Jackson

Exhibition Opening Day: New Symphony of Time Mississippi Museum of Art Various events throughout the day msmuseumart.org

September 21

September 19-29

Southaven

Washington Co. Convention Center deltabluesms.org

Landers Center midsouthfair.com

September 21

September 20-21

Cleveland

Pig Pickin’

September 20, 11 am-1 pm

Cleveland

Annual Rice Tasting Luncheon Wyatt Gymnasium at DSU deltaricepromotions.org

September 20 Horseshoe Casino

300oaks.racesonline.com

Tunica Resorts

Hernando

1tth Annual Hernando Water Tower Festival Courthouse Square visitdesotocounty.com

September 27-28

Credence Clearwater Revisited

Greenwood

39th Annual 300 Oaks Road Race September 27-28

Delta Dragon Boat Races, Greenville

Greenville

The 42nd Annual Delta Blues & Heritage Festival

Annual Mid-South Fair

Delta State University dsupigpickin.com

170 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

Landers Center landerscenter.com

Craig Morgan Bologna Performing Arts Center bolognapac.com

Gold Strike Casino Resort

Southaven

Paw Patrol Live!

The Great Pirate Adventure

Memphis Botanic Gardens liveatthegarden.com

September 19, 7:30 pm

Clint Black

Downtown Starkville msbulldogbash.com

Memphis

Brett Young September 7

Starkville

Bulldog Bash

Ruleville

Great Ruleville Roast & Run Downtown Ruleville

September 27-28

Hollandale

October 4

Memphis

Heart with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts Fedex Forum fedexforum.com

October 4

Memphis

Bill Maher Orpheum Theater orpheum-memphis.com

October 5, 10 am-2 pm

Leland

8th Annual Leland Frog Fest & Chili Cook Off

Chris Stapleton, Memphis

AMERICAN HISTORY

Downtown Leland lelandchamber.com

Sam Chatmon Blues Festival October 5

Downtown Hollandale

Leland

20th Annual Highway 61 Blues Festival September 27-October 14

Natchez

Natchez Fall Pilgrimage Tours

Highway 61 Blues Museum lelandchamber.com

natchezpilgrimage.com

October 5 September 28, 9 am-4 pm

Indianola

Indian Bayou Arts & Eats Festival Across from BB King Museum Handmade arts and crafts, live music, kid’s activities, and food

September 28, 9 am-4 pm

Grenada

Downtown Jubilee

Fedex Forum fedexforum.com

October 5-6, 9 am-4 pm

Carrollton

Mississippi John Hurt Homecoming Festival

MISSISSIPPI MUSIC

John Hurt Museum, 1973 CR 109 mississippijohnhurthomecoming.com

Historic Square

September 29

Memphis

Chris Stapleton

Southaven

October 5

Memphis

WWE Presents NXT LIVE!

Lyle Lovett & his Acoustic Group

Landers Center landerscenter.com

Orpheum Theater orpheum-memphis.com

September 29

Memphis

October 9-11

Kevin James

Native American Days

Cannon Center for the Performing Arts thecannoncenter.com

Winterville Mounds

Scott

October 9-12 October 3, 7:30 pm

Cleveland

Kool & the Gang

Downtown Helena kingbiscuitfestival.com

Bologna Performing Arts Center bolognapac.com

SOUTHERN CHARM October 10

October 4-5

Cleveland

Otherfest

Lauren Daigle Look Up Child tour

October 11-12 Tunica Resorts

Boyz II Men

Cleveland

Octoberfest Downtown Green Strip octoberfestms.com

Gold Strike Casino Resort

October 4-5

Southaven

Landers Center landerscenter.com

Highway 61 North keepclevelandboring.com

October 4

Helena

King Biscuit Blues Festival

Carrollton

Carrollton Pilgrimage & Pioneer Day Festival Courthouse Square Food, music and educational & product tents visitcarrolltonms.com

October 11

Tunica Resorts

Chicago Horseshoe Casino

October 12

Bob Seger Fedex Forum fedexforum.com

Memphis

\VisitVicksburg #VisitVicksburg

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Carrie Underwood, Memphis

October 13, 3 pm

Clarksdale

October 23

Pinetop Perkins Homecoming

Carrie Underwood

Hopson Plantation & Shack Up Inn pinetopperkinsfoundation.org

Fedex Forum fedexforum.com

October 13, 7:30 pm

Brandon

Chicago

October 24-26

Oxford

2019 Southern Foodways Fall Symposium

Brandon Amphitheater brandonamphitheater.com

October 17, 7:30 pm

Memphis

Cleveland

Balletx Bologna Performing Arts Center bolognapac.com

University of Mississippi southernfoodways.org

October 24, 7:30 pm

Southaven

The Avett Brothers October 17-20

Clarksdale

Deep Blues Festival Various venues in Clarksdale deepbluesfest.com

October 17-19

October 24, 7:30 pm Clarksdale

Tennessee Williams Festival

Greenville

Delta Hot Tamale Festival

Rolling Fork

Great Delta Bear Affair

Memphis

Penn & Teller

October 28, 7:30 pm

Orpheum Theater orpheum-memphis.com

We Will Rock You: The Musical by Queen and Ben Elton

Mempho Music Festival

Thalia Mara Hall thaliamarahall.net

Shelby Farms Park memphofest.com

October 29, 7:30 pm

October 19-20

October 19-20

Memphis

Memphis

Memphis Comic Expo Agricenter International memphiscomicexpo.com

October 22, 7:30 pm

Fiddler on the Roof Thalia Mara Hall thaliamarahall.net 172 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

October 26 Downtown Rolling Fork greatdeltabearaffair.org

mainstreetgreenville.com

October 18

Jackson

Air Supply Live in Concert Thalia Mara Hall thaliamarahall.net

Various venues in Clarksdale deltawilliamsfestival.com

October 17-19

Landers Center landerscenter.com

Cleveland

Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors Bologna Performing Arts Center bolognapac.com

October 30 Jackson

Jackson

Elton John Fedex Forum fedexforum.com

Memphis

OCTOBER 26–27 OVERLOOKING THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER IN DOWNTOWN MEMPHIS RiverArtsFest is a street celebration of fine arts and fine Memphis music with live artist demonstrations and hands-on art activities for all ages!

Learn more at riverartsmemphis.org

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BOOK SIGNINGS Tunnel of Bones Victoria Schwab September 3: Off Square Books, Oxford, 5 pm

The Yellow House

Shop

Play

Sarah M. Broom September 4: Lemuria Books, Jackson, 5 pm

Dine

If you’re heading to El Dorado to experience the amazing entertainment at the multi-venue Murphy Arts District or to sample some of the unique shopping and delicious eateries in the city’s award-winning downtown, you’ll find all you need to know about the events, accommodations and experiences we have to offer in the El Dorado Insider.

Frankly In Love David Yoon September 14: Off Square Books, Oxford, 5 pm

Stories from 125 Years of Ole Miss Football Neil White and Rick Cleveland September 17: Lemuria Books, Jackson, 5 pm

A Cosmology of Monsters Shaun Hammill September 18: Lemuria Books, Jackson, 5 pm

Slay

download the

El Dorado Insider @ eldoradoinsider.com

Brittney Morris September 24: Lemuria Books, Jackson, 5 pm September 25: Off Square Books, Oxford, 5 pm

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Riddle of Ages Trenton Lee Stewart September 26: Lemuria Books, Jackson, 5 pm

Learning From the Germans Susan Neiman October 8: Off Square Books, Oxford, 5:30 pm

The Years That Matter Most Paul Tough October 9: Off Square Books, Oxford, 5:30 pm

How We Fight For Our Lives Saeed Jones October 22: Off Square Books, Oxford, 5:30 pm October 23: Lemuria Books, Jackson, 5 pm

No Surrender Chris Edmonds October 28: Off Square Books, Oxford, 5:30 pm October 29: Lemuria Books, Jackson, 5 pm

Vicksburg Donald L. Miller October 28: Lemuria Books, Jackson, 5 pm October 31: Turnrow Books, Greenwood, 5:30 pm

Hymns of the Republic S.C. Gwynne October 28: Lemuria Books, Jackson, 5 pm

DM 174 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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The 31st Annual

NATCHEZ LITERARY AND CINEMA CELEBRATION

Visits, Vittles & Vines February 27-29, 2020

176 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

E D U C AT E & INSPIRE

800 W. Sunflower Rd. Cleveland, MS 38732 grammymuseumms.org 662.441.0100

Bring history to life. Follow the Mississippi Blues and Country Music Trails to GRAMMY Museum ® Mississippi—a short drive up or down the legendary Blues Highway 61.

DELTA SEEN

VICKSBURG HAPPENINGS Bill Seratt’s Retirement Party on June 27 6th Annual Ritz on the River on July 18 Photos by Claiborne Cooksey

Bill and Sue Seratt

Marty Garton and Ashley Gatian

Bill and Jacquelyn Blackwell

Lois Vinson and Donna Gray

Laura Beth Strickland and Bill

Nancy Bullard and Kim Hopkins Bill and Lori Burke

Alicia Sharp and Carol Hayes-Davis

Ashley Gatian and Marty Garton

Cori Carraway and Lori Jones

Carolyn Sullins and Tory Sessum

Kim Hopkins and Valencia Flaggs Neil and Katie Ferrell

Jordan Amborn, Amber Diaz and Ashton Hotard

Gloria Gunn and Babbon Jones

Tiffany and Mike Keen

Mike and Jan Jackson

178 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

Ray and Connie Walker

Linda Fondren and Annette Kirklin

Debbie Blossom and Mable Jennings

Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters 40th Annual Awards in Meridian on June 8 Photos by Brette Harman

DELTA SEEN

First row left to right: John Ruskey, Rory Doyle, Coulter Fussell, Aimee Judy Tyson, Fiction Award Recipient and DSU Nezhukumatathil; back row left to right: Richard Howarth, Tiffany Quay Tyson, graduate Tiffany Quay Tyson and John Bushtan John Milham, Steve Rouse, Julian Rankin

Jean Medley, Tiffany Quay Tyson and Lawrence Deas

John Ruskey, Nancy and Bill LaForge

Incoming MIAL President Jimmy Thomas with Milly West

Lyn Roberts, Dustin Parsons, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Marian Bardsdale and Lisa Howorth

MIAL President Lawrence Deas and Jean Medley present Square Books’ Mary Hartwell Howorth and Nancy Members of the Ed Scott Family, A. D. and Richard Howorth, Lyn Roberts and Cody Morrison the Citation of Merit LaForge Vivian Scott Chatmon with Octavia Scott Pack

Nicole and Brian Bradshaw

Pete Halverson, Lucy Molinaro with Craig and Liz Gill

Tanner Aljets, Mark Peoples and Paul Vickie Cook, Sarah Frances and John Hardy Hartfield

Tim and Jean Medley with Claiborne Barnwell

Dee Dee and George Bassi, Master of Margaret Anne and Jimmy Robbins Ceremonies and Banquet Chairman DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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DELTA SEEN

Stewart Robinson and Luke Chamblee

Various events during the opening week at the Cotton House Hotel in Cleveland

Camille Woods, Aimee Robinette, Martha Brown, and Cristie Washington

Marie Ware, Georgia Tindall, Mary Tatum Ellis and Lisa Cooley

Jessica Martinson and Abbie Robinson

Laura Polak, Denise Collins, Amy Maggio and Mira Kimball

Abbie Robinson and Kelli Carr

Debbie Powell, Cordelia Capps and Bill Powell

Anne Barton Jackson and Blake Crocker

Betsy Abraham, Michie Duke and Kristi Burns

Kristy Burns and Paul Janoush

Bryce and Britney Rocconi

Kerri Mosco, Maggi Mosco, Ferris Love Capocaccia, Britney Rocconi and Shelby Tuttle 180 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

Ken McGarrh, Stephanie McGarrh, Ross Hester, Karen Brunetti, Debbie Heslep and Dot Janoush

Janet Skelton, Stephanie Baker, Marietta Russell, Kay Pitts, Liz Barrett, Missy Ainsworth and Cathy Fratesi

DELTA SEEN

2019 Mississippi Writers Guild Conference at GRAMMY Museum® Mississippi on July 26 Photos by Blake Crocker

Maribeth Magee and Reni Bumpas

Bob May and Jeanne Turnipseed

Tricia Walker and Lindsey Anna Pardue

Al and Debra Johnson

Terry and Jesse Woosley

Susan Marquez and Susan Schepens

Tina and Ryan Perkins

Richelle Putnam and Michael Farris Smith

Marcia and Alex Blevens

Ronda and Ken Slay with Nancy Kay Wessman

Michael Hicks Thompson and Susan Marquez

Dale Beasley and Ellen Morris Prewitt DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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DELTA SEEN

Bruce Conforth and Roger Stolle

Book signing for Roger Stolle’s Day of Blues at Cat Head Delta Blues and Folk Art on August 10 Photos by Randall Haley

Don Boles and Margie Brown

Ted and Kathy Piel

Adam Gussow and Jay Brakefield

Monica Luzzani and Luca Pellizzoni 182 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

Franguise Seichais (French) and Sandrine Berger

Matt and Trang Buck

Karan Freed and Shane Human

Katherine and Fazenda Young

Emily Marcil and Bruce Conforth

DELTA SEEN

A selection of photos by Delta Magazine readers

Scott Dolich, Eric Meier, Derek Miles, Bill Luckett, Tony Meier and Sykes Sturdivant at the McKenzie River outside of Eugene, Oregon Kelli Carr with authors Sarah Hardy and Shalanda Stanley at the Mississippi Book Festival

Nancy Satterfield with sisters and nieces from Virginia enjoying downtown Cleveland. In front of Rosson’s Nancy Satterfield, Louise Morris, Helen Campbell, Kim Fridley and Robin Morris Austin and Steele Britt

Sara Ghorayeb with grandparents John and Katherine Pearson

Tony Novia and Katie Byrd at the winery Chateau La Conorgue in Bonnieux, France

Georgia and Sherry Henson

Elaine and Ike Sayle celebrating 50 years of marriage

Hank Burdine and Dr. Rob Ragan attending the Cleveland Rotary Club

Mary Catherine Logan, Morgan Wheeler, Mary Beth Smith and Brandyn Skeen in Las Vegas DELTA MAGAZINE 2019

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Thefinalword

i Looking for the Lights

In every community, there are The Lights. It is The Lights, quite literally, that rise above our flat land that symbolize Fridays in the fall. Buzz Bissinger may have been writing about Texas high school football when he coined the phrase “Friday Night Lights,” but he could have been talking about the Mississippi Delta, or really any place in America for that matter. Drive into any Delta community on a Friday evening, and if you can find The Lights, then you will find that week’s main event.

Sure, I guess you could try to follow the cars, 184 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

“Shut up, son,” Dad mumbled as he turned the car around.

We found other lights, and discovered the football field a couple minutes later. But other than this one exception, The Lights have always shown me the way.

The Lights serve as a spotlight not just for that night’s game, but for small children playing their own football games behind the bleachers, for fathers standing on the sidelines “remembering when,” and of course, for mothers staring at an acre of lined turf with a look of both pride and worry.

There might be a game in front of us, but somehow, someway, the Lights can also magically show us games past or even games we never saw. Under The Lights, any young quarterback scrambling for his life calls to mind the skinny redhead from Drew named Archie. Any coach barking orders to his team could be the late great Coach Leland Young from Rosedale, a man who turned the Levee into a training tool to mold boys into champions. Speaking of Rosedale, every time a punt is sent into The Lights, I think of the humid fall Delta night when Cleveland’s Taylor King pinned the mighty Eagles under the shadow of their own goal line to set up the only score in an epic 2-0 upset. I become a young boy again under The Lights. I see the great plays and, of course, I also see the not so great plays. It was under The Lights in Skene that I once saw our team’s kick returner (who shall remain nameless) field a kickoff on our own five-yard line and casually jog into our end zone and take a knee to give our opponent two points. I think of that one play every time that I see a kickoff under The Lights. I could go on and on as the memories flood into my mind’s eye.

It’s that time of year again. Let’s find The Lights. DM

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Well, there’s a feeling in the air/Just like a Friday afternoon.

You can go there if you want/though it fades too soon. – Better Than Ezra, This Time of Year.

but the real giveaway is to find that unmistakable hazy downward glow cutting through the humidity, insect spray, and of course, smoke from the concession stand revealing one-hundred yards of excitement.

In full disclosure, I must admit that sometimes the search for The Lights goes astray. In 1985, my parents and I drove to the annual Winona Shrine Bowl. Honestly, I did not know there was an annual Winona Shrine Bowl then, and I do not know whether this event is still in existence. But on that brisk November evening, we set forth in my father’s small Cadillac toward Winona, to watch the mighty Bayou Academy Colts. (It is important to note at this time that Winona is not technically in the Delta. It is actually at the foot of “the hills.”) As we drove into Montgomery County, I asked Dad if he knew where we were going. Dad looked back at me like I had asked him for some ketchup with an expertly-cooked steak.

“We’re going to Winona, son. Winona, Mississippi,” Dad explained. “We aren’t looking for a field in Atlanta. Look for the lights. It won’t be that hard.” Like most everything Dad said to me throughout my life, it seemed pretty darn logical.

A couple moments later, we entered the city limits of Winona where just to our right–over the hills and through the trees– we were greeted by that unmistakable halo of stadium lighting. Sure enough, just as Dad said, The Lights were there. Visions of the great game ran through my head, and the shining lights ahead guided us to our destination like we were the Magi seeking the Holy manger in Bethlehem. As we topped the hill, we moved to the right lane to see that our guideposts shone brightly down upon the glorious and unmistakable sight of….Walmart.

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John C. Cox is a lifelong son of the Delta who practices law at the firm Cox & Moore, PLLC. A graduate of Delta State University and the University of Mississippi School of Law, he and his wife, Ashley, live in Cleveland, with three boys, John Christopher, Walker, and Quinn. On weekends in the fall, he can usually be found at a football game.

BY JOHN COX

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