Lots of long faces for fans of Mississippi’s college football programs – but maybe a round-up with good preservation news will help offset the disappointing results of Saturday’s games.

Going to start out up in the Northeast part of the state, where I caught a story out of Tupelo related to the Spain House. The article itself is for a newly created preservation non-profit in the city that will help with fundraising to offset some of the renovation costs for the Spain House (and presumably other historic properties in the city later). While that’s a great idea – and I hope some of our Miss Pressers up that way will consider helping the new group – what struck me is that the moving of the Spain House seems to have begun! The house is in kind of a “storage” mode right now until the final foundation work is completed on the new site – but I think we’re all really starting to see that the efforts of the HPC and their supporters is paying off!

In Columbus, the local paper had a nice write up about the grand re-opening of Poindexter Hall on the MUW campus. This building just underwent a 3 year, $9.5 million renovation that balanced the needs of the college, ADA requirements and retaining its history integrity. From the article, it sounds like locals think that Poindexter is once again the “crown jewel” of the MUW campus.

Sounds like Oxford is planning renovation work for their City Hall soon which will take existing unused space on the 3rd floor to help alleviate cramped offices on the other floors of the building. The article indicates that the City is just starting to look at what all would need to be done (and the costs) so they can then start figuring out how to do it without raising taxes. Should be an interesting story to follow.

Some events that have been making the news:

Natchez: There was a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Natchez Trace Parkway last weekend. If any of our readers in the area attending any of the events – let us know how they went!

In Pass Christian, middle school students were involved in re-telling stories from the community’s history as part of an event at Live Oak Cemetery. Pascagoula had a similar event in Krebs Cemetery. Most people seem to love some of the spookier stories this time of year and I’m glad both communities are turning that into an opportunity to share some local history with folks too.

In Biloxi, news is that Beauvoir is being prepared for the Christmas season with lights in the trees and “Father Christmas” helping to greet visitors starting this week.

Categories: Biloxi, Columbus, Historic Preservation, Natchez, Oxford, Pass Christian, Tupelo