Mayor Darrell Johnson of Mound Bayou points the way to the Isaiah T. Montgomery House.

As you all know, the Mississippi Heritage Trust announced the list of the 10 Most Endangered Historic Places in Mississippi for 2013 last week. I encourage you to visit www.ms10most.com to learn about the threats facing these special historic places. While you can learn a lot from words and pictures, there is nothing quite like boots on the ground, which is why MHT has set up a program through www.waymarking.com for a statewide pilgrimage to visit these places and connect with history.

Elaine Barenblat got hooked on geocaching (a program similar to waymarking) when an uncle took her during a family vacation to Bandera, Texas a few years ago. “While some geocaches are placed just for the sake of finding them, many are placed in order to bring you to a cool location, to learn something new, or to challenge you either physically, by having you climb, jump, or dive for them, or intellectually, by setting up puzzles that need to be solved-these are my favorites.” When Elaine heard that the Mississippi Heritage Trust wanted to use waymarking as a way to get folks out to explore historic places, she was excited to help. “I think you will encourage a new generation of tech-savvy people to use their skills to connect to the past. Through initiatives like the Mississippi Heritage Trust 10 Most Endangered Historic Places waymarking program, people will see not only how these sites are still relevant, but also how they can make a difference and help these places not only survive but thrive.” Well, that is the goal. Thank you Elaine for helping MHT bring waymarking to Mississippi preservationists.

So, are you ready to get started? Well, first you have to set up an account at http://www.waymarking.com. After that, just follow these simple instructions to find the waymarking program for the Ten Most Endangered Historic Places in Mississippi for 2013-2014.

On the right side of the home page, click “Find A Waymark”.
Under “Search the Following Types of Waymarks”, click “Waymarks Posted By” and enter “MS Heritage Trust.” All ten sites should pop right up.

(Or if you prefer the destination more than the journey, click this link: http://www.waymarking.com/wm/search.aspx?f=0&wo=True&wft=2&uid=e48e9990-59d3-4cbf-b430-228e8bb2afce&st=2)

Then, get out there and find some history!

I am excited to see how many intrepid preservationists visit all ten sites. Who knows? There might even be prizes involved…

Categories: Historic Preservation