Author Archives

Hotel manager in Washington, D.C.

• From the Age of Hi-Fi to Wi-Fi…the Rex Plaza in Tupelo

  By Tom Barnes on October 30, 2014 • ( 4 )

  

  Those passing Gloster Square at 619 North Gloster Street in Tupelo might easily miss the significance of the place.  The low-slung buildings hardly suggest the sleek modern look that once heralded a new age of travel in Mississippi.  Builder Cy… Read More ›

• Of Lawns and Pleasure Piers…The Great Southern Hotel in Gulfport

  By Tom Barnes on July 24, 2013 • ( 8 )

  

  Entrepreneur and Civil War veteran Joseph T. Jones swept into the Mississippi coast like a fury in the late 1890s, buying up great tracts of pinelands to ship north as pulp or other finished products.  In order to better serve… Read More ›

• The Possibilities Abound…The Robert E. Lee Hotel in Jackson

  By Tom Barnes on January 4, 2012 • ( 22 )

  

  With all of the hype and hoopla over the summertime smash hit the Help, the many references to the old Robert E. Lee Hotel might set people to wondering about the place.  Visitors to downtown Jackson might be forgiven for the… Read More ›

• Turning On the Lights…Woodville’s Town Square Comes To Life With the Woodville Lofts

  By Tom Barnes on October 4, 2011 • ( 2 )

  

  When New Orleans attorney James G. Derbes and his wife Jan Katz first saw the listing for the building in the newspaper they knew that they had to have the property. A short while later in April 2006, Ernesto Caldeira… Read More ›

• Lost Mississippi: Jacksonian Highway Hotel/Lefleurs Restaurant

  By Tom Barnes on May 27, 2011 • ( 26 )

  

  The Jacksonian Highway Hotel was built at 4800 Highway 51 North (later Interstate 55 North), in an area only just beginning to blossom with commercial development. Construction was begun in April 1955. George Wilkinson and his partners at Crestline Development (later known as the Athens Investment Company) set out to build something more than just another motel.

• Blink Twice and Arlington Might Vanish…

  By Tom Barnes on January 19, 2011 • ( 41 )

  

  A disastrous fire swept through the attic story of Arlington on September 17th, 2002. The roof was repaired the following year and it was thought that the eventual restoration of the house would follow, if not immediately, then within a… Read More ›

• MiMo No Mo? The Sun-n-Sand in Downtown Jackson Needs Our Help

  By Tom Barnes on December 16, 2010 • ( 10 )

  

  When R.E. “Dumas” Milner opened the Sun-n-Sand in downtown Jackson in October 1960 the age of the shiny new “motor hotel” was in full swing. In spite of major renovations at Milner’s King Edward on West Capitol Street, Milner sensed… Read More ›

• The White House Waits to Bloom Again in Biloxi

  By Tom Barnes on October 20, 2010 • ( 20 )

  

  It may not be a surprise to anyone in a town so battered by hurricanes that only one grand hotel would remain after a litany of horrific storms and the vicissitudes of rampant development. In spite of Camille and even… Read More ›

• Unsheathing the Past…The Checkered History of the Walthall Hotel

  By Tom Barnes on July 12, 2010 • ( 11 )

  

  Jackson’s Walthall Hotel opened its doors in the spring of 1929. Named for Confederate General Edward Cary Walthall, the hotel opened as an eight story building on Jackson’s bustling Capitol Street, just a few steps away from the Governor’s Mansion…. Read More ›

• Pleasure Domes Past…Biloxi’s Broadwater Beach

  By Tom Barnes on May 19, 2010 • ( 143 )

  

  Only the tattered remains of an elaborate marina today mark the site of one of Biloxi’s largest and most famous resort complexes. The Broadwater Beach holds a firm place in the memory of many a resident of the area, but… Read More ›

• Paved, Not Saved…Biloxi’s Buena Vista Hotel

  By Tom Barnes on April 19, 2010 • ( 35 )

  

  The Buena Vista threw open its doors on July 4th, 1924 to an admiring crowd of eager spectators.   Built on a larger scale than the Tivoli, yet not matching the sweeping grandeur of the Edgewater Gulf, the Buena Vista would… Read More ›

• Gulfport’s Markham Hotel, Threatened Pillar of Main Street

  By Tom Barnes on April 5, 2010 • ( 34 )

  

  The recent discussion in the Sun Herald about the Markham Hotel warrants a rejoinder. That a Main Street program which receives federal and state funds for preservation would even be considering demolition for an important downtown landmark is unthinkable.  Alas,… Read More ›

• Reflections On A Success Story

  By Tom Barnes on February 19, 2010 • ( 0 )

  

  As I swung open the doors at 235 West Capitol Street on the 4th of January, 2010, I could barely contain myself. The once rotten shell of the King Edward had become a shining beacon of light and warmth. As… Read More ›

• Pigeons to Pearls…The King Edward Flies Again

  By Tom Barnes on February 18, 2010 • ( 9 )

  

  Thursday, the 17th of December, 2009, was an important day for downtown Jackson. Developer David Watkins snipped a scarlet ribbon and the King Edward was back in business after forty-three years of solitude. Arduous as the task was, Watkins and… Read More ›

• The Edgewater Gulf Hotel, Queen of the Coast

  By Tom Barnes on November 19, 2009 • ( 59 )

  

  If one hotel alone were to capture the spirit and grandeur of the faded elegance of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the Edgewater Gulf would likely be the candidate for the honor. On February 26, 1926, ground was broken for the… Read More ›

• Rosemont Plantation

  By Tom Barnes on October 29, 2009 • ( 8 )

  

  According to the National Register nomination, prepared in 1974, Rosemont Plantation was built ca. 1810 by Samuel and Jane Davis when they moved from Fairview, Kentucky to Wilkinson County, Mississippi with a two year old Jefferson Davis. The house is… Read More ›

• Woodville…A Stroll Around Town

  By Tom Barnes on October 28, 2009 • ( 0 )

  

  Woodville’s considerable charms extend well beyond the square. Walk one block east on Bank Street to Church Street to find the essence of Southern-ness. Having lived in the rectory of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church for many years myself, I can… Read More ›

• Woodville…A Town Out of Time

  By Tom Barnes on October 27, 2009 • ( 6 )

  

  Tucked away in the southwestern corner of Mississippi below Natchez lies Woodville, a relatively undiscovered town of considerable charm. Woodville is the county seat and traditional market town of Wilkinson County. While the county was founded in 1802, the town wasn’t… Read More ›

• The Tivoli Hotel in Biloxi….The One That Got Away….

  By Tom Barnes on October 14, 2009 • ( 17 )

  

  Of all the jarring and tragic images which poured forth in a torrent in the aftermath of Katrina, among the most poignant were those of the ruins of the Tivoli Hotel. The gaping holes in the building immediately told a… Read More ›

• The Gavel Pounds for the Eola

  By Tom Barnes on September 29, 2009 • ( 7 )

  

  The Eola Hotel in downtown Natchez is heading for the auction block in November (“Eola Hotel on Auction Block,” Natchez Democrat, Sept. 25, 2009).  While this may appear to be cause for alarm, it may well be cause for celebration… Read More ›

• Remembering the Heidelberg

  By Tom Barnes on September 17, 2009 • ( 67 )

  

  Mississippi State University Digital Archive CHARM Collection. Rand Clayton Papers. Photographer unknown. Taken 1963- date of subject is likely earlier. The image has been colorized. B/W original The Hotel Heidelberg was a fixture on Capitol Street for fifty five  years.  The … Read More ›