Mud & Magnolias February March 2016

February.

October. November March 2016 2013

&Magnolias

Mud

the travel issue

“Mississippi’s Little Grand Canyon”

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Red Bluffs

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18 Days – Deer Park

1 Day – Joyner Area

2 Months – Springlake

2 Months – Lake Circle

2 Months – Meadowlake

5 Days – Lakefield

10 Days – Rogers Acres

28 Days – Winfield

1 Day – North Ridge Crossing

3 Days - Woodland

11 Days – Belmont

18 Days – North Ridge Crossing

6 Days – Esplanade Ridge

4 Days – Old Payne Place

1 Day – Stonehenge

8 Days – North Ridge Crossing

1 Day – Cedar Point

7 Days – Mooreville

6 Days – Mill Village

30 Days – White Oaks

8 Days – Woodland Heights

2 Months – Country Club

21 Days – The Grove

7 Days – Guntown Hills

1 Day – Oak Meadows

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Contents

&Magnolias

Mud

pg. 18

pg. 29

pg. 35

pg. 75

Features Editor’s Letter pg.10 Fast Food pg. 13 Here’s a Valentine’s Day dinner just for two.

Home How-to pg. 25 Next up in our “Home Spotlight” series is a beautiful, calming bathroom in downtown Tupelo.

Fish House Fellowship • pg. 18

Fried fish is a Southern staple and our area has no shortage of fish houses offering the dish.

Sheffield Manor • pg. 29

With every detail attended to, this home marries history with impeccable interior design.

Athens, Georgia • pg. 38

Known for football Saturdays, this town is arguably just as good, if not better, in the off season.

Jeff Weddle • pg. 48

With Mississippi influences, this author strings words together in a way that feels like home.

Hit the Road pg. 35 A few hours down south is a place you would have to see to believe it’s in our state.

Fact Sheet pg. 45 There is more to this young entrepreneur than meets the eye.

In The Know pg. 71 These homemade farm tables make gathering together for dinner even more meaningful.

Potter Yerger Andre • pg. 75

He has mastered the art of pottery, but he’s still trying different things to improve. mudandmag.com

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Editor’s Letter

As I write this, I’m gearing up to go to Chicago for an extended weekend. I follow a certain pattern when preparing for a trip, near or far. It is a balancing act between analyzing my every move on the trip and leaving enough slack so I can adjust when something doesn’t go as originally planned. Since this is our annual travel issue, I’m going to give you advice to go heavy on the latter. The more trips I go on, the more I realize how that slack I try to consider in all plans often makes the trip better than I imagined. I don’t want to preach here, but now that I think of it, this planning practice can apply in the adventures of life, too. Back on the topic of traveling, I love finding small town gems in Mississippi, and Red Bluff is one of them. It’s an attraction you’d expect to see out west, not in Marion County (pg.35). My college roomate and friend Kaitlyn Dubose grew up in Columbia (Marion County and neighbor to Red Bluffs), so I’d say she knows what she is talking about in terms of hot spots to see while there. If you are itching to branch out even further, we have a local’s guide to Athens, Georgia (pg.38). Writer and local Andre Gallant encourages a trip when the SEC football frenzy has died down. And if you’d rather stay here, take a weekend or two to hit the fish houses on page 18. Finally, we couldn’t do a February issue without acknowledging Valentine’s Day. Our dinner for two on page 13 is staff-approved and fairly simple to pull off. Look on our website to find a video outlining the ingredients and steps to make your very own conversation hearts. Though it is a bit more time-consuming than picking up a bag from the store, the reward of writing your own unique message is worth it.

If you have any thoughts about this issue, please email me at editor@mudandmag.com.

The Cover February.

October. November March 2016 2013

Our Website

&Magnolias

Mud

the travel issue

“Mississippi’s Little Grand Canyon”

$3.99

mudandmag.com

Red Bluffs

“Mississippi’s Little Grand Canyon” Athens, GA • Potter Yerger Andre mudandmag.com

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Red Bluff is a hidden treasure in nature and it can be found a few hours south of Tupelo. While we think we did a good job of capturing its beauty, it truly is something you must see for yourself.

Photo by Alex Doleac.

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For extended photo galleries, a digital edition and more, visit mudandmag.com.

@mudandmagnolias

Mud & Magnolias

@mudandmagnolias

THE STAFF’S FAVORITE

MISSISSIPPI DESTINATION

Mud

&Magnolias

1242 S Green St. Tupelo, MS 38804 662.842.2611

Editor-in-Chief Ellie Turner 2

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Creative Director Ignacio Murillo

Associate Editors

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Photos by C. Todd Sherman, Lauren Wood and Thomas Wells 1 • Ellie: If you’ve followed my letters from year to year, you know I have my hometown, Enterprise, at the top of my favorite travel destinations. There is nothing like going home, knowing that as I cross the railroad tracks, the post office will be on my right and past that, a store, formally named K & L, but known to everyone as Billy Little’s (after the owner). If I

Amy Speck Shannon Johnson Missha Rogers Leslie Criss Lauren Wood

Featured Sales Consultants Leigh Knox Bill Spencer June Phillips Kristen Capps Angie Quarles Lexi Parker

don’t grab lunch at A&M Fried Chicken, a gas station that serves the best chicken strip boxes I’ve ever had, I’m eating whatever Daddy is cooking, which is guaranteed to be something he snagged while hunting. It’s my place, y’all, and to be honest, I didn’t appreciate it until I left.

2 • Shannon: I don’t have a favorite destination per say. At this time in my life, it’s finding the small charming things in our state that I’m enjoying, like discovering a small local store or finding a restaurant that has amazing pimento cheese sandwiches.

3 • Amy: Though it sounds quite adventurous to go to Denmark, Mississippi, my favorite Mississippi destination is Oxford.

4 • Leslie: My favorite Mississippi destination is a beautiful, woodsy plot of land just outside Coffeeville in Yalobusha County. There’s a lake for fishing, trails for hiking, and it’s quiet and peaceful. In fact, I plan to build a cabin there where I hope to retire someday.

5 • Missha: Tishomingo State Park has a swinging bridge that is beautiful in the spring and summer. You can hike and picnic in the same area as the bridge and it can be romantic or a good time spent with the entire family.

Contributing Editors Sandra Knispel Kaitlyn Dubose Andre Gallant JB Clark Lena Mitchell David Hitt

Contributing Photographers Ann-Marie Wyatt Adam Robison Thomas Wells Alex Doleac AJ Reynolds

subscriptions@mudandmag.com advertising@mudandmag.com info@mudandmag.com mudandmag.com

6 • Lauren: My favorite Mississippi destination is Natchez. It was actually the first placed I lived when I moved to the South, and the antebellum homes, the bluff overlooking the river and crape myrtle-lined streets will always have a special place in my heart.

This magazine is a bimonthly publication of Journal, Inc.

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Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 baking pan. Mix brown sugar, sugar and butter in the bowl of a standing mixer with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well in between. Add red food coloring and vanilla until the color is mixed in evenly.

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, cocoa and salt. Slowly add this into the mixing bowl. Do not over mix. The batter will be very thick. Remove the bowl and make sure the batter is evenly mixed and the batter is a uniform red color. Pour the batter into the pan and cook for 30-40 minutes. A crust will form on the top layer.

Cool, cut and serve.

STRAWBERRY AND GOAT CHEESE SALAD Ingredients: Spring green mix Balsamic vinegar Strawberries, diced Goat cheese, divided onions, sauteed Directions: Mix ingredients well.

ASPARAGUS: Ingredients: 1 bunch asparagus olive oil salt and pepper Directions: In a cast iron skillet, drizzle oil over asparagus and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss over medium heat until tender.

RECIPES RED VELVET BROWNIES Ingredients: 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 1 1/2 cups brown sugar 4 large eggs, at room temperature 1-2 ounces red food coloring (optional) 4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 1/2 teaspoon salt

SHRIMP PASTA Ingredients: 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined 8 ounces pasta of your choice (we used angel hair) Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper 1 stick unsalted butter, divided 4 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan fresh parsley leaves, chopped Directions: In a large pot, cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain well. Season shrimp with salt and pepper; set aside. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic, oregano and red pepper flakes.

Cook and stir frequently about 1 to 2 minutes. Add shrimp and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2-3 minutes. Melt remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a skillet. Stir in pasta and Parmesan. Cook for 2 minutes before adding shrimp. Garnish with parsley.

Photos by Lauren Wood

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The Waterfront

Fish House Fellowship When Thursday rolls around, residents of many Northeast Mississippi towns can be found huddled around a table laden with steaks and fresh seafood in one of the region’s many, weekend-only community fish and steak houses.

T

By JB Clark

he restaurants attract a fiercely loyal restaurant base from within their small communities, tucked away in small town squares or along lightly traveled highways, as well as out-of-towners from neighboring states and communities who have heard of the restaurants only by word of mouth.

“I know that a lot of our people come because it seems it’s the place to be, and they get to see people in the community they don’t see every day,” said Teresa Montgomery, one of the owners of Seafood Junction in Algoma. “I had a judge tell me this week that he comes for the good

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food but enjoys the fellowship with the community the most.”

Montgomery and her family serve between 1,000 and 1,200 people each week during the 12 hours they’re open, which is quite a feat considering their city is home to just over 600 residents, according to the 2015 Annual Estimate conducted by the United States Census Bureau.

“I think people go to a fish house because they like an atmosphere where they know the owners, and it’s a nice change from your chain restaurants,” said Beverly Bean, who runs The Country Gentleman Fish and Steak House in Fulton with her mother, Myra Pearce. “Each of these restaurants has

their own personality and atmosphere, and people are really loyal to the personalized service.”

Bean’s father, Maurice “Joker” Pearce, died in January but left behind a legacy of high-quality food, community fellowship and incredibly personable service.

“We take a great deal of pride in our responsibility to the community,” Bean said of her family’s role as to not only feed their customers but to nourish the community spirit in Fulton. “We want to put the best quality product on the table and, because of that, we set a higher standard for ourselves and the food we cook. We only want the best for our customers.”

The Waterfront

Friendship House

Country Gentleman Stephanie Fowlkes has been in the fish and steak house business her entire life, working in her parents’ Friendship House restaurant from 1983 until 1997 when she took it over with her husband, Doug.

“Folks who get home from work are too tired to cook and love to have somewhere they can eat — especially if your community is eight or 10 miles out of town,” Fowlkes said of her restaurant which sits between Amory, Aberdeen and Wren in Monroe County. “If your food is good and your service is good, people in your community will support you.”

THE WATERFRONT 4 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Thursday - Saturday 11 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Sunday 635 Joe Wheeler Brown Road Fulton, Mississippi (662) 862-2315 The Waterfront Restaurant is named for it’s scenic view of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, but it’s known for its two decades of consistent high-quality seafood.

“We sell a whole lot of seafood,” said owner Diane Robertson, who ran the restaurant with her husband Jake until he

Friendship House died in 2015. “ The boiled shrimp is very popular, but we also serve frog legs, fresh fried oysters, stuffed crab, flounder, cod, scallops and butterflied shrimp.”

The restaurant is also well known for its well-stocked, fresh salad bar and Sunday lunch buffet.

Robertson’s children, Dana and Matt, help her keep the restaurant running, and the clientele, who come from the surrounding Midway and Fulton communities and as far away as Tupelo and Alabama, fed and happy.

“There is a lot of fellowship here,” Robertson said. “People come in and see everyone they know from the community, which creates a great family atmosphere.”

CENTERVILLE FISH AND STEAK 4:30 p.m. - 9 p.m. Thursday - Saturday 8788 Highway 363 Mantachie, Mississippi (662) 282-7515 Brad Mann and his wife Tana have been known for the steaks they cook at Centerville Fish and Steak since they took over the restaurant almost 14 years ago.

“I think I have the best steak in North

Mississippi, but that’s just my opinion,” said Brad Mann. “It’s the best quality meat you can buy, Stockyard Angus, and then my own blend of seasonings made from an old family recipe.”

“Old family recipe,” is a label Mann uses to describe a lot of the food he serves.

While the Manns have owned the restaurant for 14 years, it has been a staple of the Monroeville, Eggville and Centerville communities for more than 35 years.

“It’s good for the community to have somewhere to go,” he said. “You can come here and see people in the community you haven’t seen all week and sit and talk. It’s a great gathering place to catch up. It’s good friends and fellowship — plus you get a good meal.”

FRIENDSHIP HOUSE 5 p.m. - 9 p.m. Tuesday - Saturday 20037 Doss Drive Aberdeen, Mississippi (662) 257-2211 The Friendship House has been a family tradition for more than three decades.

Stephanie Fowlkes grew up working in her parents’ restaurants and then bought The mudandmag.com

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Friendship House with her husband, Doug, in 1997 when her parents were ready to retire.

Not only has the restaurant been handed down to the next generation, but the Fowlkes purchase the restaurant’s catfish from Miles Catfish, the Mississippi Delta, farm-raised catfish her father owned and passed on to her brother.

“We keep it in the family,” she said.

The restaurant is known far and wide for its fried and cornmeal-baked catfish, the latter with a recipe perfected by Fowlkes’ mother, Willie Lois Miles, and their cook Joyce Householder.

The restaurant has played host to celebrities such as Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash, but Fowlkes said every customer is treated special.

“We have an awesome platter called the scrap plate, and no, it’s not the leftovers,” she explained. “One night a customer came in and wanted a little bit of everything, so mom cooked a few steak chunks, some fried oysters, boiled and fried shrimp, fish fillet, chicken, slaw, hushpuppies and potatoes and served him. Word soon got around to ask for the scrap plate, and it became a menu item.”

COUNTRY GENTLEMAN 4 p.m. - “Until people quit coming” Thursday - Saturday 10302 Highway 25 S Fulton, MS When Maurice Pearce began talking about building a cabin where he could gather his friends and cook fish, word got around he was going to open a restaurant.

While that was never his intention, he left the 36-years-and-counting legacy of the Country Gentleman.

“My dad was the ultimate country gentleman,” said Pearce’s daughter, Beverly Bean, of her father who passed away in January. “He would go table to table and make an effort to speak to everyone in the restaurant and make them feel welcome.

We’re going to miss him a lot around the restaurant — that aspect of him in particular.”

Bean and her mother Myra run the restaurant in Pearce’s absence, keeping his spirit alive in the fish and the quality of service.

The staff takes pride in their homemade Thousand Island and Ranch dressings as well as the homemade hushpuppies, but they’re known for their fresh Mississippi farm-raised catfish and prime rib.

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Country Gentleman

“People drive from near and far to eat our prime rib and homemade au jus,” Bean said.

“Our hushpuppies are pretty famous, too.

Everyone who comes in gets hushpuppies as an appetizer.”

Bean said she and her family are honored to be able to feed the community each week and take it as their responsibility to bring the best quality food they can while keeping prices affordable.

SEAFOOD JUNCTION 5 p.m. - 9 p.m. Thursday - Saturday 101 Front Street Algoma, Mississippi (662) 489-8946 Mike and Teresa Montgomery went into business with their daughter Jill Foster and her husband, Scott, five years ago, taking over ownership of Seafood Junction, an Algoma community staple.

“God has blessed us with a lot of good people who come and eat with us — some two or three times a weekend when we’re only open Thursday, Friday and Saturday,” Teresa Montgomery said. “We can seat 300 people, and I’m not sure the population of

Algoma is much more than 600.”

Scott Foster’s first job was busing tables for Seafood Junction, and the family has patronized the restaurant for the 27 years it’s been open, long before they were ever officially tied to it.

“The buffet features 31 items ranging from shrimp to catfish and oysters, quail and stuffed crab, gumbo, grilled fish, steamed vegetables and salads and desserts.

For those who don’t want an all-you-can-eat experience, Seafood Junction also serves a full menu that features the Gulf Coast seafood available on the buffet as well as steaks, hamburgers, sandwiches and chicken.

“We’ve got something for everyone,” Montgomery said. “We believe if we give good service, and our food is consistently good, people will come back to see us. We also know God has blessed us with this business and community, and we’re thankful for that.” M Photos by Lauren Wood

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How-To Home

HOME SPOTLIGHT: BATHROOM

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TUPELO, MISSISSIPPI Clean and airy, this bathroom is the answer to a call for relaxation.

MEET THE OWNERS: NELDA AND CLAUDE CLAYTON Did you design the bathroom from the start?

Claude and I had a clear vision of what we wanted in our bathroom. We made sketches and Dusty Parker, an architect from Pontotoc, put our sketches into a working design.

Where did you look for design and decor ideas?

I watched HGTV, used the Houzz website, looked at magazines and asked several professionals for their ideas and help.

Photos by Lauren Wood

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What is your favorite part of the bathroom?

My favorite part is the oversized tub and Claude’s favorite part is the shower.

Is there anything you would have done differently?

Yes, nothing major but I would have configured the cabinets differently. I wish we had more cabinet space including a concealed area for our electrical gadgets.

What advice would you give to someone building or redoing a bathroom?

My advise would be to search magazines

and websites to find the look and feel you want for your bathroom. Once you have an idea of what you want, don’t hesitate to ask professionals for their help with design, colors and materials.

Describe your very first bathroom.

Oh, my goodness! The bathroom in the first house I owned was tiny!! You could stand in one spot and flush the toilet and turn on the faucets in the sink and in the bathtub! There was no storage other than a towel bar, no shower and a tiny window with frosted glass! I thought I was in “high cotton!” I was grateful for that little bathroom and I am very grateful for this new bathroom, too. M

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SHEFFIELD MANOR Over several years Kevin Knight visited the old Sheffield home in downtown Fulton, never knowing what called to him about the old farmhouse.

By Lena Mitchell mudandmag.com

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ot until the Tupelo real estate agent purchased the home less than six months ago did he learn that a family connection existed between him and the first owner who built the house.

“I found out that my great-greatgrandmother was Isaac Sheffield’s sister,” Knight said. “The house has come full circle; it was my great-great-uncle’s house.”

Since purchasing the 3,800-square-foot home in August 2015, Knight has turned it

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into a showplace he plans to share with the rest of the Fulton community.

He already has bookings for weddings, professional photographers have used the rural setting in the heart of the city for photo shoots, and he will schedule other entertainment events for the property.

“This property combines everything about how I love to live,” said the young entrepreneur.

Knight only recently sold the “rustic retreat” he purchased just about a year ago, a two-bedroom cabin on three acres east

of Fulton. Before that he lived in a a threebedroom, two-bath new suburban home, having moved from a downtown studio loft apartment in Tupelo.

As a Tommy Morgan, Inc. Realtors associate, Knight shows a multitude of home styles.

“I love different styles and feels,” he said. “Living downtown was great, but I grew up in Itawamba County and I have a special attachment to Fulton. Before going into real estate, I owned the old Fulton Drug Store for three years and had a gift

shop and florist there.”

In talking with his contemporaries, Knight found many of them, even those with families, wanted a downtown lifestyle rather than a suburban one. He also has flipped several houses and saw good potential in real estate.

“I began real estate in the fall of 2012 and found what I really love,” he said.

The home he has come to love and has named Sheffield Manor, was built in 1912 by Isaac Lewis Sheffield, a prominent Fulton attorney, and his wife Anna Rogers Walker, daughter of Fulton physician Dr. James Walker.

Dr. James Walker gave the couple property to build a home when they married, and they built it in a modest farmhouse style.

The 14-acre property, with the house, a workshop building that included living space, and a barn – all of which had fallen into serious disrepair and were hidden by dense tree and vegetation growth – stayed in the Sheffield family until it was bought at auction in 2005 by Beth and Kelly Martin, who had plans for extensive renovations.

The Martins completed a renovation of the workshop living space to occupy while working on the main house. They finished making the house structurally sound before beginning renovations, but sold it after two years before much of the aesthetic work was done.

“Isaac and Anna Rogers Sheffield had six children, two sons and four daughters,” Knight said. “In his will he required that the boys live in the home and take care of their mother, which they did and never married. I think later on there was some kind of disagreement between the brothers – Ike and Buddy – and Buddy moved out of the main house and built the workshop, where he lived. Ike died in 1987 and Buddy in 1989” In 2007, an Atlanta physician, whose wife’s family lived in Fulton, purchased the property and continued the renovations, finishing out the interior work.

That physician then sold the property in 2012 to T.J. And Becky Adams, who renovated the kitchen and master bath, extended the wraparound porch from the side to the back of the house, added a laundry room, office and storage room and a two-car garage.

“We had the house as a listing and I bought it from them,” Knight said. “I had visited the home before, T.J. and I went

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to school together, and I attended a gala held here last year when the (Mississippi) Department of Archives and History was here to place historical markers. In real estate, people have bought on a gut instinct, and I decided to purchase it last May, after I had just bought my rustic retreat.”

On the first floor, the house includes a foyer, living room, dining room and kitchen with breakfast area, as well as the master bedroom suite. Off the kitchen is a butler’s pantry, laundry room, office, storeroom and access to the two-car garage.

The upstairs started out as simply attic space, but now has a spacious landing with seating, a sitting room, bedroom and bath.

“I think the room that is the dining room was originally a bedroom,” Knight said. Even since moving in last August, Knight has reconfigured several rooms and moved walls so the floor plan is different than even the previous residents had.

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However, four original fireplaces grace the living room, dining room, master bedroom and master bath.

Wood from pine trees cut down on the property was used to replace wood floors throughout, although wood flooring in the kitchen eating area is original, as are many of the doors throughout the house.

Knight’s decorating style is understated rustic pieces and muted tones, but the door upstairs to the sitting room is a fire engine red roundtop door.

“I understand the physician who owned the house bought it in New York, and it came from an antique store in England,” Knight said. “This is something eyecatching that people talk about.”

Much of the work inside was already done when Knight bought the property, but he has completed several transformations outside.

He has used original brick to enclose crawlspaces around the house, to construct entry steps and to add emphasis

to a concrete entry walkway that he has extended about 40 feet.

“Trees at one time had overtaken the property, so many of them had been removed, but there was still a circular drive and the front lawn area was about half of what it is now,” Knight said. “I plan to create another circular drive from the driveway that is out front now.”

Knight has transformed the living space in the workshop outbuilding into his “mancave” of sorts, a sitting room with leather-covered couches and seating, largescreen television, full size refrigerator, sink and countertops.

“I’ll have the barn, which is in dilapidated condition, disassembled and use the reclaimed wood to finish the interior of the shop,” he said. “There’s still lots I plan to do, and once it’s finished, I don’t know what’s next.” M Photos by Lauren Wood

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Hit The Road

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Red Bluff

OLUMBIA,MS

M

ain Street in downtown Columbia today looks much like it did when the town was founded in 1819. The buildings are, for the most part, original, and the courthouse, which sits at the end of the street, harkens back to a time when things were a little grander. That grandness could be attributed to the brief time

“The City of Charm on the River Pearl”

By Kaitlyn Dubose

—1821 to 1822—when Columbia was the capitol of Mississippi. The splendid little town on the Pearl River named after Columbia, South Carolina, from which many of the first settlers came, seems untouched by the passing of time.

“That’s the most interesting part of Columbia to me,” said Chris Watts, curator for the Marion County Museum

and Archives. “Its history. It was one of the 14 original counties and is the fourth oldest town in Mississippi.”

The town’s museum is located in an original 1907 railroad depot and has displays ranging from Native Americans to modern-day Columbia.

The museum’s exhibitions about the timber and sawmill industries, which were the main trades of the town in the mudandmag.com

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courthouse

Sweet Flour Bake Shoppe

Marion Twin Cinemas early years, are visitors’ favorites. Watts also said the Civil War library is ever expanding, as more content is being collected, catalogued and archived.

Just down the road from the museum is Corner Oaks Bed & Breakfast, another Columbia landmark, which opened in 2000 but feels much older.

“It’s a comfy type of place,” said Brenda Pounds, who owns and operates Corner Oaks with her husband, Paul. “You do feel like you’re going back in time. It makes you think of how things used to be.”

The couple moved to Columbia from New Orleans and previously hosted visitors during Jazzfest and Mardi Gras when all the mainstream hotels were booked. When the two moved to Mississippi, they decided to open their

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Second Street Bean home again. This time around, they are hosting more pastors for revivals than jazz enthusiasts.

The town of about 7,000 has almost as many restaurant options as residents. While the typical fast food abounds, the real gems are less obvious.

With unassuming catfish houses like Stogner’s Fish Camp and Kane’s Catfish, Seafood and Steakhouse, small burger joints like Jack’s and The Deck, and the newly opened Magnolia Grill, you will not go hungry in Columbia.

Around the corner from Corner Oaks is an eatery that brings a little something new to the historic town.

Second Street Bean opened its doors in 2009 and has thrived. Owned and run by Josh Drummond and Paris Schepemaker, Second Street is a family

affair with Schepemaker’s parents and sister helping out.

Initially meant to be a coffee shop with food, the lunch crowd has enabled Second Street Bean to expand the menu. Local favorites are the cranberry pecan chicken salad, turkey pepper jack panini with pepper jelly and pasta salad.

But, there’s more to this coffee shop than coffee and great food. It is conveniently located in the same building as a local project to share the artistic side of Columbia. Artwistic Revolution Art Gallery is a cooperative gallery owned and run by local artists.

“There are artists always there working on something cool,” said Schepemaker. “Being surrounded by so many talented people has been a real inspiration.”

downtown Columbia

Mainstreet Gifts and More There is no lack of inspiration in Columbia. Savannah Parker chose to follow that inspiration and Sweet Flour Bake Shoppe was born. After studying at Culinard, the Culinary Institute of Virginia College in Birmingham, Alabama, and completing an externship with the renowned pastry chef Tarq Hannah of Sucre in New Orleans, Parker moved home to Columbia to open her shop. Just outside of town, the shop specializes in cakes, cupcakes and more.

“I never even considered opening anywhere other than Columbia,” Parker said. “This is my home and we didn’t have a bakery here at the time and we definitely needed one. Most of all, I needed my family, my friends, my town.”

Across town from Sweet Flour Bake Shoppe is an outing that is not to be missed: Red Bluff, or “Mississippi’s Little Grand Canyon,” is the perfect ending to a trip to Columbia. The bluff is not likely to show up in a travel guide and is hidden a few miles outside of town, but is well worth the drive.

The bluff, formed by years of natural erosion, creates a colorful panorama with sand, gravel and clay. The bluff descends more than 200 feet and empties into a creek, which eventually leads back to the Pearl River.

“If you’re visiting Columbia, I would recommend checking out Red Bluff; it’s a beautiful hike, a nice way to spend some time with your family and connect to nature,” Schepemaker said, echoing the sentiment of many native

Columbians.

With locally owned shops, restaurants and entertainment, “The City of Charm on the River Pearl” certainly lives up to its name. The town runs on Southern charm and hospitality. While Columbia has a creative and determined group of young people opening businesses, restaurants and continually working to improve the town, it still very much has an old-time appeal. As Pounds described it, “It’s like time stops here.”

Columbia may be a town time forgot, but between you and me, let’s hope it stays that way. M Photos by Alex Doleac

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A

THENS, GEORGIA

Here’s a pro tip about Athens, Georgia: Unless college football tugs strongly at your soul, stay out of town on fall Saturdays. Six to eight weekends a season, throngs of Bulldog faithful fill Athens up, making a seat at one of Athens’ notable restaurants hard to secure. Hotel rates soar as well, if you’re lucky enough to score one. Instead, visit in the off season: Try summer or the week after Christmas; or make sure the University of Georgia Bulldogs are playing one of their many Southeastern Conference opponents on an away field. Find a quiet couple of days, and Athens is as good as yours.

By Andre Gallant

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Athens-Clarke County City Hall

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On weekends, Athenians are found outdoors. Cyclists fly through our streets in large packs, headed for country roads just outside of town.

Runners and walkers convene at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia (2450 S. Milledge Ave.), where marked trails skirt the Oconee River, climb hills, and cut through Georgia’s horticultural jewel. Before heading back to town for a late breakfast, stroll through the conservatory to inspect the collection of tropical flowers.

Grab coffee, a scone, or a sourdough boule at Independent Baking Company (1625 Lumpkin St.) on your way back into town. A few spots are worth stopping for breakfast — Little City Diner (135 Cherokee Rd.) or Ideal Bagel Company (815 W. Broad St.) are two examples — but saving room for lunch and dinner is a smart move.

Outdoor markets are the two busiest spots in Athens on Saturdays.

At the Athens Farmers Market (Bishop Park, 705 Sunset Drive.), organic produce, grass-fed proteins, and community attract many. What seems like the whole town mills about drinking coffee from our beloved 1000 Faces and ordering sausage biscuits from Farm Cart. The market runs from 8 a.m. until noon. On Wednesdays, a slightly scaled-down market pops up at Create Comforts (271 W. Hancock Ave.), Athens newest craft brewery, for a stretch from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. A tour of the brewery pairs well with one of Farm Cart’s delicious burgers.

Across town, the J&J Flea Market (11661 Commerce Rd.), the region’s biggest outdoor flea market, bustles as hundreds peddle antiques, oddities, and trinkets. Filing through the market’s many rows and warehouses takes time, so rest up by stopping for lunch at Mi Tierra, an authentic and ridiculously amazing taqueria housed in one of the market’s covered bazaars.

Northeast Georgia is home to some of the best Mexican food in the state, 40

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thanks to the influx of Mexican and Central American immigrants to the area. Locals have their favorites staked out, and mine inside the city limits is Tlaloc (1225 N. Chase St.). A hand-painted character on the window

urges, “Let’s Get Drunk!” But don’t.

Not yet. Fill up on carnitas, pupusas, and a sope.

The Five Points neighborhood offers a quiet afternoon of strolling and shopping. Condor Chocolates

Independent Bakery

State Botanical Garden of Georgia (1658 S. Lumpkin St.) is the cacao passion project of chef and Athens native Peter Dale. Specializing in bean-to-bar chocolate sourced directly from Ecuador, Condor is a favorite spot for an afternoon pick-me-up. Try a sipping chocolate or an affogato, a scoop of house-made gelato bathing in a shot of fresh-pulled espresso.

Armed with a sugar buzz, Five Points housewares and antique shops await.

Try Archipelago Antiques (1676 S. Lumpkin St.) and BMA at Home (1662 S. Lumpkin St.).

Normaltown, a small commercial hub on the outskirts of downtown, is increasingly the nightlife

destination for locals. Bound by historic neighborhoods on each side, Athenians opt to walk to Normaltown’s relatively new establishments for cocktails and bar food, rather than braving the undergraduate hubbub of downtown.

Hi-Lo Lounge (1354 Prince Ave.) is a go-to for fans of sports, craft beer, and comfort food. Taps change frequently here, and the bottle selection revolves just as quickly, often focusing on complex stouts and funky flavors. The kitchen pumps out baskets of french fries, fish and chips, reubens, and deliciously topped hot dogs. With a handful of TVs tuned to football or

baseball to entertain, while away the afternoon here.

Just a few doors down is the Old Pal (1320 Prince Ave.), as new to the neighborhood as Hi-Lo. Cocktails are the specialty at Old Pal, so try the spot’s namesake cocktail, a boozy stirred drink of rye, campari, and dry vermouth, or let the bartenders recommend a bourbon. Exposed brick walls and dimmed lights make the Old Pal just right for quiet conversation.

Hugh Acheson’s flagship restaurant 5&10 piles up the press clippings, but the National (232 W. Hancock Ave.), run by protege Peter Dale, is a real jewel in Acheson’s growing mudandmag.com

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Georgia Museum of Art

Georgia Museum of Art

The National and Ciné restaurant menagerie. Dale’s focus is the Mediterranean, incorporating flavors of North Africa, Greece, and Spain with Southern ingredients. Skip a table and sit at the bar, where you can sip vermouth and order patatas bravas and for a moment believe you’re in Barcelona. After dinner, a movie awaits. Cine (234 W. Hancock Ave.) is just next door with the latest art house films.

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University of Georgia If there’s any energy left in you, the Georgia Theater (215 N. Lumpkin St.), rebuilt to new glory after a gutting 2009 fire, beckons you with amplification. Most nights of the week, it’s likely a national, regional, or top local talent has been booked.

Try to accomplish all this in one trip to Athens. Then imagine what it’s like to live here.

Where to stay: Try Hotel Indigo

(500 College Ave.) or Graduate Athens (295 E. Dougherty St.). A number of AirBnBs are worth exploring. Set your browser to www.visitathensga.com for a complete list of hotels. M Photos by AJ Reynolds

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Q & A

DALTON HEALY

“Some people may find out there’s more to me than meets the eye. At 25, I suppose I’m what you would consider an “old soul.” Not only was I a retailer in the cigar industry in my young 20s, but I grew up on James Taylor, the Rolling Stones, and the Beatles while watching movies such as Robin Hood (with Kevin Costner) and old films like Jeremiah Johnson. Ipods? I listen to vinyl on a record player every day. I hope if you met me in an elevator that I would do so with a gentle smile on my face and that I’d try my best to be seen as a lover and follower of Jesus.” mudandmag.com l 45

Why did owning a cigar shop appeal to you?

Owning a cigar shop appealed to me at a very young age, at age 20 in fact. Of course, no high schooler or college student dreams of becoming a cigar man, but after working a college gig at the local store in Starkville, Mississippi, I felt a desire to seek out entrepreneurship and give being my own boss a try with one of my best friends, Auston Nolan. In March of 2012, we created “Cigar Lounge of Starkville” in Starkville. Two years ago I sought to expand and grow into another town and demographic so I drove to Tupelo, found one of the most unique buildings around, and founded “Spring Street Cigars.”

What are your plans for the shop?

On April 21, we will be launching a cigar called the Eiroa “TCB” lancero- TCB for “Taking Care of Business” coined in honor of Elvis Presley’s band, Tupelo, and our roots here. We will launch an updated SSC website allowing patrons to shop with us any where in the world. We were able, over the past year, to create the largest walk-in humidor in the state of Mississippi and it’s right here in Tupelo! One project we are in the middle of is installing a gas fireplace in our member’s room. We also plan to begin to rent out and host more birthday, wedding, and business functions as well as actually cater to more weddings. We decided to go ahead and build the Beer Garden on our half in what we call “The Alley” in October with plans to really see it flourish in the spring. Beer Gardens are still a concept growing around the U.S., but the purpose of beer gardens, and what we envision for the SSC Beer Garden, is to be the perfect before or after dinner spot.

What book has left the biggest mark on your life?

Right now a book I recently read is “Ragamuffin Gospel” by Brennan Manning. It is an amazing writing that awakens your soul and allows you to be encouraged to work on your fears with God and allowed me to learn more about accepting grace. It’s impacted my life individually and hopefully will transfer over to being a young entrepreneur with long hours, demanding responsibilities, and allow me to apply my faith to the store and my business practices.

What is your favorite childhood movie/tv show?

It breaks my heart he’s no longer around, but Robin Williams in “Patch Adams” is a movie that I could not get enough of, even at my age in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. It just really had it all, the comedy and the ending of the movie... I think it would get anyone.

RIP Robin Williams.

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Are Cuban cigars deserving of their reputation?

Of course, this is one of the most discussed, complex, and debated topics in the cigar industry. Firstly, no they are not legal here in the United States. Yes, there are quite a few Cuban cigar smokers out there who love the country’s product but the beauty of cigars, is it is truly an industry that is “to each, his own” since we are all designed with different palates, being attracted to different taste profiles in different cigars. My personal most used analogy is Major League Baseball being created in the 1800’s. The U.S. started the game and helped the sport become a worldwide sensation played in almost every country in the world. Arguably, Americans are not the “best” at the game anymore. Some would say multiple Central American countries produce the best baseball players, that countries such as Nicaragua are where the “prodigies” are located, mostly because it is the country’s “national game.” This is also the case for Cuban cigars.

What does it take to be a local business owner?

I’ll say, it takes a lot, and it takes being open-minded. They don’t teach you all of the things that goes into running a local business in high school or college. No one really lets you know what 70+ hours a week and little pay looks like. There isn’t a book that lets you read how to handle a difficult situation with a customer or what kind of endurance it takes in hard times. What does it take in my true opinion, though? Humility.

You can’t teach these things, not truthfully and fully at least. Some say business can be a “science” but adapting and understanding “I don’t have all of the answers” is character, not science. The store has changed its look, some business models, and ideas several times. Could I have done this all on my own?

Absolutely not. It took friends my age and friends twice my number.

There’s always someone wiser, but can I accept their counsel? It took taking advice and accepting hard criticism. It took my pride being stepped on, but with the store’s future in mind. In this town, it’s honestly about reaching out and receiving. I could not have done what I’ve done without the people in this town and the help from even customers who have become friends and family.

When you aren’t at the cigar shop, what are you doing?

You should know, some, if not most, business owners do not have a surplus of this myth they call “free” time. Time outside of the cigar shop will usually be consumed by reading a book, playing guitar or sitting behind the drum set, or catching local music at one of the best venues in Mississippi, Blue Canoe. If miracles happen and there is a full weekend off, my customers know I might drive straight to Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the weekend or I’ll be in the yard at the house with the dogs and church on Sunday.

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JEFF WEDDLE

While a book by any other name may be just as readable, it just doesn’t smell as sweet.

By David Hitt 48

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eff Weddle’s career, as a librarian, college professor, and author—with a newly published collection of short stories—may be diverse, but it all centers around one thing, a love of “the book.”

“Books have always been a love of mine my whole life,” he said. “They’ve always been the common denominator in what I do.”

As an associate professor of library and information studies, Weddle, of course, keeps up with all the changing forms volumes of information take, in this age when a “book” can just as easily be a collection of electrons on your telephone.

But there’s a special place in his heart for what’s technically known as “the codex” – ink letters printed onto folded tree-pulp pages bound into a volume.

“The codex is only a fraction of what

the book has been,” he said, noting that just as electronic book readers are a more recent innovation, there were scrolls before bound books. “So there’s a certain chauvinism to saying only a codex is a book. But for me, that’s what a book is. That’s a limitation of mine; I can acknowledge that I’m an old fogey.

“Digital books almost feel ‘throw-away,’ except there’s nothing to throw away.”

That love affair with books is reflected in Weddle’s oeuvre as an author. His first book, “Bohemian New Orleans,” chronicles the growth of French Quarter publishing house Loujon Press. Published by the University Press of Mississippi, the book won the UPM and Mississippi University for Women’s Welty Prize.

His second, a poetry collection titled “Betray the Invisible,” was published

by Mary Ann Sampson, a former UA

Book Arts student who founded her own imprint. Sampson approached Weddle about printing the collection in a small run similar to the hand-crafting techniques described in “Bohemian New Orleans.”

“It’s really the result of everything I ever wanted,” he said of the collection.

“It’s a coincidence that I happened to be in a place where it could happen, but it really was the perfect progression.

“But it wasn’t anything I did, because I didn’t think I was good enough.”

His third book, “The Librarian’s Guide to Negotiation,” was co-authored with his wife, Jill E. Grogg, and Beth Ashmore.

His newest book, a short story collection named “When Giraffes Flew,” is a long-gestating labor of love for Weddle.

“The stories were written over a long

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period of time,” he said. “There are stories here that I wrote when I was at Ole Miss, 20 years ago.”

Weddle began his career in his native Kentucky and currently teaches at the University of Alabama, but among the detours wedged between those two were multiple stays over many years in Mississippi, including time as a student at Ole Miss, a library director in the heart of the Delta, and an instructor at The W. The influence of time in the Magnolia State can be seen throughout “When Giraffes Flew,” a collection of dark Southern gothic vignettes.

“Oxford is a presence in the book, sort of a shadow,” Weddle said. Erstwhile Oxford pub Ireland’s is namechecked more than once, and the story “Faulkner and Pete” begins at Faulkner’s grave.

In addition to the town’s cameos in 50

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the book, the flavor of the stories was also influenced by the writers he met there, including Larry Brown and Pulitzer nominee Barry Hannah, under whom Weddle studied at Ole Miss.

“I’ve known I wanted to be a writer since I was a little boy, and most of my life I wasn’t very good at it,” he said.

Taking Barry Hannah’s classes at Ole Miss changed that. “That’s where I learned to write. He taught me how to write a story.”

“There’s a story in there, ‘Bonnie and Clyde,’ that was the first story that I wrote for Barry Hannah. I got an A on it.”

Another story in the book, ‘Ditto’ has a unique claim to fame. “Barry Hannah wrote the last line of that story,” he said.

It was another story written for class.

Hannah gave it good marks, but scrawled one last line at the end of it. Weddle, of

course, decided to keep it. “People buy this book, they get Barry Hannah’s last unpublished sentence.”

“When Giraffes Flew” also reflects Weddle’s stint as the manager of the library system in Sunflower County.

“It was a different world from Oxford,” he said. “Oxford is rich and beautiful, and the Delta is poor and beautiful.”

Though he now lives in Alabama, Weddle said he has fond feelings for the state where he met his wife and the oldest of his two children was born.

“I moved to Mississippi three times, and each time it was the right move. I loved Mississippi; I love Mississippi now.”

Photos by Lauren Wood

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Shop Baldwyn BALDWYN HISTORIC DISTRICT

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photography by Ann-Marie Wyatt of Taylor Square Photography // hair and makeup by Shear Envy in Tupelo // model: Candace Dell

blue jean baby Photos by Ann-Marie Wyatt of Taylor Square Photography True Blue in Pontotoc: tunic and skinny jeans, prices upon request

Southern Cloth in Tupelo: cotton long sleeve $34.95, booties $46.95, jeans $62.50 chambray cardigan and long necklace, prices upon request

Sparrows on Main in Tupelo: shear blouse $100, open-toe mules $135, jeans and cami, prices upon request // Opposite page: Denver’s Closet in Okolona: distressed denim jean $96, red crochet vest $36.99, white chambray shirt $89, red tassel necklace $58

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Opposite Page: Halle Jo’s in New Albany and Tupelo: faux suede and fringe cardigan $69.99, jeans $48.50, fitted long sleeve tee $20.99, poncho booties $129.99, leather and hoop necklace $20, pearl necklace $20 // Bliss J Boutique West in Fulton: blouse in Fulton and $29.95, lacedenim vest $25.95; men’s Tupelo: tunic $31.95, plaid shirt $89.95 chestnut leggings $84.95, booties $24.95, long necklaces, $20 each

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Reed’s in Tupelo // socks $17

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mudandmag.com Reed’s in Tupelo // bow ties $45-50

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ACKERMAN Frankie’s Pawnshop 9206 MS Highway 15 Ackerman, MS 39735 (662) 285-6006 AMORY Walton’s Greenhouse 1234 Hwy 278 E Amory, MS 38821 (662) 231-7616 BATESVILLE Garden Gin of Batesville 452 Hwy 51 N Batesville, MS 38606 (662) 701-8156 BELMONT Southside Auto Sales Inc 350 Hwy 366 Belmont, MS 38827 662-454-9789 Fax 454-3757 BRUCE Snelling Service Station 129 Hwy 32 East Bruce, MS 38915 (662) 983-4492 COLUMBUS A1 Buildings 4714 Hwy 45 N Columbus, MS 39705 662-295-3561 Fax: 798-0187

NEW ALBANY Walton's Greenhouse 690 West Bankhead St New Albany, Ms. 38652 662-534-5525 OKOLONA Becker’s Portable Buildings 483 CR 149 Okolona, MS 38860 (662) 447-3779 OXFORD Garden Gin 492 Hwy 6 w Oxford, MS 38655 (662) 701-8156 PONTOTOC Rogers Furniture 7540 Veterans Hwy W Pontotoc, MS 38863 (662) 489-1176

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RIPLEY Mike’s Sales & Pawn 10050 Hwy 15 S Ripley, MS 38663 (662) 832-1001

FULTON Walton’s Greenhouse 202 James St Fulton, MS 38843 (662) 862-3399

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LOUISVILLE Nabers Companies 22791 HWY 14 E Louisville, MS 39339 662-773-5080 Fax: 773-5408

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15% OFF TUPELO PLASTIC SURGERY CLINIC ROBERT C. BUCKLEY MD

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Appointments Preferred • Walk-Ins Welcome

MONDAY - FRIDAY 8:30 AM - 5:30 PM

MISSISSIPPI FARM TABLES

A

close encounter with a table saw has left a visible reminder on one of Mark Perrott’s fingernails, but even the most experienced of woodworkers seldom leaves work without a scratch, splinter or souvenir of some kind. And Perrott wouldn’t have it any other way, despite being 4,000 miles away from his birthplace in Limerick, Ireland.

“I’m doing what I love to do,” he said, leaning back in one of the hand-crafted chairs he designed and built. Perrott and his wife, Helen, own Mississippi Farm Tables, an Aberdeen-based business that got its start about 18 months ago.

How Mark and Helen met is its own

By Dennis Seid story. Beginning with a summer romance in 1978, when they were 17. Mark had traveled with his father, who was invited as a guest pastor at First Baptist Church in Tupelo.

It was love at first sight for Helen and Mark. But after summer ended, Mark went back to Ireland, promising to come back to the U.S. However, it wasn’t until more than 30 years later that they reconnected, on Facebook.

He later proposed to her at the Eiffel Tower, they married in Europe and the couple returned to Northeast Mississippi. Helen was a nurse, and Mark knew how to build furniture. Mississippi Farm Tables was born. As its name implies, the business specializes in farm tables – the large tables where families

traditionally come together for meals, meetings and other gatherings.

The tables are generational pieces of furniture – they’re meant to be passed down from one family member to the next. Not that physically passing one down is easy – a table can weigh hundreds of pounds and take a half-dozen people to move.

“Everything we make is of solid wood,” Mark explained. “There’s none of that pressed wood. We only use hardwoods, like ash, walnut, oak.”

While the farm tables are the company’s claim to fame and are best sellers, Mark also builds chairs, benches, hutches, buffets, beds, sideboards, coffee tables and other custom-designed pieces of furniture. mudandmag.com

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“It’s old-style, simple-designed, all hand-made,” he said. The chairs are a particular point of pride for him. It’s not unusual to find other handmade tables accompanied by imported chairs. That simply is unacceptable for Mark, who’s been working with wood for more than 20 years. He’s made furniture in England, Scotland and France; he’s cut, shaped, sanded, built and polished European hardwoods that include oak, ash, walnut and beech.

“We like to build our own chairs,” he said, “using mortice and tenon jointing.

We love the variety that we can build.”

The majority of the company’s customers come looking to put hand-built furniture in their new homes, and Mark is happy to accommodate them. “We’re getting more folks, whilst they’re coming to talk about a table, then they want a home office desk or some other bespoke product,” he said.

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Quality Counts

Customers sometimes bring in their own wood, but Mark prefers to buy his own.

“It’s a nice idea and it’s quite possible – we’ve done a nice sinker cypress table which a logger brought up from the south of the state,” he said. “But it’s got to be properly dried. If it’s reclaimed lumber, there’s a danger of nails and screws and so forth in it.”

He added that bringing in your own wood doesn’t guarantee the finished piece will be less expensive. “Bringing your own lumber often means more labor for us,” he said.

Getting the moisture content right is key to building furniture, and working with a “new” piece of wood is easier and faster. Still, if there’s an heirloom piece a customer wants him to design from a piece of wood, Mark will do his best

to accommodate their request. Along those lines, Mark said more customers who are designing their own homes also are budgeting for custom-made furniture.

“We’re not the cheapest, but neither are we the most expensive,” Mark added. A bespoke – or custom-made – farm table, for example, will easily cost four figures. But what’s that saying?

You get what you pay for. And building a piece of furniture might take weeks, perhaps a few months, from start to finish. A table takes about four weeks; a table with a set of chairs takes six to eight weeks.

“It also depends on the season,” Helen said. “For Thanksgiving and Christmas, business really picks up and it makes the turnout time a bit longer.”

Mark’s choice of wood is alder, a softer hardwood member of the birch family, well-liked by woodworkers be-

cause it yields nicely to curves.

“It’s less expensive, easy to work with and finishes well,” he said. “We also work with red oak, white oak, maple, ash ... I haven’t worked with pecan or hickory yet.”

With nearly 5,000 followers on Facebook, the company is attracting a variety of customers, many of whom are willing to wait for their order. They’ve ordered from Florida to Washington, California to New York. Slowly but surely, the quality of the craftsmanship is getting attention. The owner of an antebellum home in Vicksburg, for example, contacted MFT to build a high-end showpiece home office desk.

“A process like that, we’ll email back and forth, he’ll visit me, we’ll have a plan, we’ll talk ... a detailed, particular piece like that from start to finish could take three to six months,” Mark said.

Everything’s Unique

No two pieces of furniture are alike at Mississippi Farm Tables. Customers typically bring in a design or an idea for one, and Mark gets to work. A key part of the process – which take quite a bit of time – is sanding all the wood once a piece has been put together, getting it as smooth as possible. On a black walnut coffee table he recently built, a coat of sanding sealer went on first, followed by a rubdown with 320 sponge paper. Finally, a topcoat of a clear lacquer is put on it. This process took several days.

“For some woods in particular, it’s almost a shame to put a stain on them, like cherry, walnut or mahogany,” he said. “It’s almost like, ‘why would you do that?’ But if that’s what they want to do, we’ll do it.”

And Helen usually adds a personal

touch to a piece of furniture, handpainting a shamrock on the underside of a table. Or perhaps on a drawer she’ll paint the Irish blessing: “May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, and rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand.”

It’s the perfect, personal touch they like to give their customers, and it’s also symbolic of Mark and Helen’s relationship. For Mark it’s also a reminder of where he’s from and where he’s going. “I’m very much Irish, but I also feel part Mississippian,” he said with a smile. “I’m content.” M Photos by Lauren Wood

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The Journal’s expertise.

Off the page, on the go.

Listen free on iTunes, podcast apps and memo.djournal.com

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POTTER YERGER ANDRE

Master potter Yerger André is obsessed. He’s tinkering with the cooling temperatures of the kiln to get his crystalline glazes just right. If the surfaces of his ceramics end up looking like scattered soap bubbles with subtle rings around them, are covered in halos, floating galaxies, or spotty snow flakes, he’s happy.

By Sandra Knispel mudandmag.com

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Yerger and family in Ngorongoro Crater in the Great Rift Valley, Tanzania, 2013

A

computer, programmed

by André, controls the kiln’s cool-down phase. It’s a precise art: Crystals form between 1,850 to 2,050 degrees Fahrenheit.

Because crystalline glazes are viscous and easily slide off the pottery, André first builds a pedestal and glues it to each of his pieces before firing, with a catch basin for the runoff. Afterwards, it takes a blow torch to cut the ceramics off the pedestal.

He’ll try a new glaze or shape for a week or two. Left to his own devices, the 51-year-old would keep going in the same vein. Sometimes his wife, Laura 76

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Johnson, 47, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Mississippi, needs to remind him to stop.

But tinkering is what makes him good, really good. A regular at Oxford’s Southside Gallery on the Square and featured in the book “A Pottery Tour of Kentucky” by Joe Molinaro, the Jackson-native has won numerous prizes for his work, including the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi’s Heritage Award for excellence in craft in 2009.

His work has been exhibited in the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion, and the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson. Add to that numerous

out-of-state galleries like the Artists on Santa Fe in Denver, Colorado, and the Kentucky Art and Craft Foundation in Louisville.

But the route to pottery proved circuitous. First a physics major at Sewanee, he quit after two years. “We had to wear coat and tie to class,” says André, whose look is decidedly more tree hugger than banker. Next came classes at Millsaps College and Mississippi State before he arrived in Oxford to study philosophy at Ole Miss. Art was not even on the horizon.

His younger sister made him take an elective in pottery “because she thought I’d love it,” André says remembering.

She was right.

After a philosophy degree (and a minor in art) from Ole Miss in 1987, André apprenticed for two years with master potter Emmett Collier in Brandon and won scholarships for ceramics classes at the Penland School of Crafts, in North Carolina.

“The moment I got to Penland, I knew this is where I belonged,” André says.

Married for 22 1/2 years, he says his wife influences his work.

“Who else would talk to me year after year about my pottery?” André muses.

“It would be awful if I could not talk things through with her.”

Says Johnson, “We all [the family] have an intimate relationship with his pottery. And we cry over lost pots.”

The two are a team not just when it comes to his work. When Johnson won a Fulbright fellowship to Uganda in 2001, André turned project manager for his wife, entering data and managing research assistants and taking care of baby Augustus.

It was not the first time the couple had lived abroad. “I always wanted to

travel, I really wanted adventure,” says André. “I wanted to go to the most remote place I could.” That’s why André and Johnson applied to the Peace Corps. In 1993, they were posted for two years to Ubaigubi, a tiny village in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. “I felt like I had won the lottery,” André says.

They lived in a bamboo building in a two-house hamlet up in the mountains, a 45-minute hike from the actual village.

It couldn’t get much more remote than that. Before their posting, they received intensive training of the language spoken by the educated few, Melanesian Pidgin, a hotchpotch of Dutch, English, German and several local languages.

Once on the ground, the female villagers asked the couple to teach them to read and write the pidgin.

Today, the couple still resorts to Melanesian Pidgin if they need to discuss things in private. The need for privacy arises in part from the family’s unconventional living quarters: The couple and their two children, Elsie 11, and Augustus, 15, share a one-room, 1,440-foot metal structure. Situated on about 40

acres of wooded land in rural Abbeville, the building was originally meant to house André’s pottery studio, custom built with large windows. A wood-stove provides heating, while “rooms” are divvied off with curtains, room dividers and cupboards. It’s not always an easy arrangement with a teenager and a pre-teen, the couple admits. The home has a distinctly relaxed, happy vibe, and is adorned with hand-crafted mementos from the family’s extended stays in Uganda, Johnson’s second Fulbright in Tanzania in 2013, and the two Peace Corps years in Papua New Guinea.

The outhouse, while heated and with music piped in from the main building, is reached by traversing André’s covered outdoor studio. Its walls painted a vibrant blue, the bathroom’s shelves are filled with more pottery, André’s seconds – work with small blemishes.

Look inside any of his vessels and you’ll find his signature symbol — a spiral that emerges from the center, an homage to the pottery wheel from whence it all sprang. His pottery style is organic. “It took me twenty years before I could feel that I had my own mudandmag.com

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bowl [shape] and that I wasn’t just putting together pieces of my teachers and what they had taught me.”

With a smile he adds, “I have three lifetimes of pottery to make inside me. I can’t get it all out.”

I ask if his pottery pays the bills. “No,” he says. “But I can’t stop. Isn’t it obvious? I am obsessed.” M Photos by Lauren Wood

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M&M

Dining Guide Home of the Doughburger

RUSH HOUR

SENIOR SATURDAYS

20% OFF

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M - F 4 pm - 6 pm

106 Main Street • New Albany

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dessert with purchase of a daily combination plate

EXPIRES 3/31/16. LIMIT 1 PER VISIT.

LATHAM’S HAMBURGER INN

FREE

kids meal w/ purchase of a daily combination plate

EXPIRES 3/31/16. LIMIT 1 PER VISIT.

“The Oldest Restaurant in New Albany”

daily combination plate w/ purchase of a daily combination plate

EXPIRES 3/31/16. LIMIT 1 PER VISIT.

FREE

55 & Older

1155 South Gloster Street Tupelo, MS • 662.840.1919 Mon. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Hibachi Grill, Sushi Bar, Full Bar & To-Go Orders With a Family Friendly Atmosphere

If it swims in the water.. we’ll take your order!

5 lbs.

Buy of ANY Shrimp

1 OFF

$ 00

GET 1 LB. FREE EXPIRES 8/31/16

per lb.

ANY Fish Selection EXPIRES 8/31/16

620 N. Gloster St. • Tupelo • (662) 844-FISH (3474) oceanfreshfishtupelo.com

$5 OFF 80

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• 2 Soups • 2 Hibachi Chicken with Veggies • 2 Fried Rice

Dine-In Only. Not Valid with any other offers. Coupon must be presented. Expires 3/31/16

5 OFF 30

$ 00

Purchase of

$

00

or more

Dine-In Only. Coupon is valid for a purchase of $30 or more before tax and gratuity. Excludes Alcoholic Beverage, Early Bird Special, or any other special. Not Valid with any other offers.

Coupon must be presented. Expires 3/31/16

1044 COMMONWEALTH BLVD • TUPELO

(662) 620-8157

NEAR BEST BUY ON NORTH GLOSTER STREET

A $25 PURCHASE Expires 3/15/16

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Pickup atCAKES the PLATE LUNCHES | CATERING | WEDDING CAKES | BIRTHDAY Daily Journal

1242 2135 McCULLOUGH office: BLVD S. Green St.,

Tupelo TUPELO | 38801 | 662.680.3332

M&M

Dining Guide COME WARM UP WITH US!

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Hwy 145 N. • Booneville 662-728-1460 Mon.-Thurs 11-9 • Fri 11-10 Now Open on Saturdays 4-9:30

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EXPIRES 3/31/2016

STEAKS • BURGERS SALADS • SANDWICHES AND MORE!

Historic Downtown New Albany • 106 W. Bankhead • 662.539.7005

• Large Specialty Pizza • 8” Cheese Stick • 2 Liter Coke

• 20 Wings (bone-in or bone-out) • Large Cheese Stick • 2 Liter Coke

20

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NOW SERVING LASAGNA EVERYDAY!

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Hometown Pizza

1159 N Frontage, Baldwyn

(662) 365-2822

exp. 3/30/16

24

$

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Hometown Pizza

1159 N Frontage, Baldwyn

(662) 365-2822

exp. 3/30/16

Chicken Alfredo

Lasagna

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Mini Pizza

Smokestack

709 South 4th St. • Baldwyn, MS

365-7059

pizzafactoryms.com mudandmag.com

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HOMEMADE CONVERSATION HEARTS see our video at mudandmag.com for recipe.

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628 S. Gloster St. | Tupelo | 662-842-4162 | dossettbig4.com

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