Those of you who have visited the Mississippi State Fair might have noticed an exotic brick building with gothic arches off to the side near High Street in Jackson. This is the old Hinds County Armory, built in 1927 and… Read More ›
Cool Old Places
Pics of Goff’s Gryder House in Ocean Springs
Last week when looking around for a picture of the Gryder House in Ocean Springs to put in “Notes on SESAH Keynote” I realized I didn’t have any myself, and I just didn’t feel that those on the internet showed… Read More ›
Who are these people and why are they staring at me??
Last week when SESAH was meeting in the War Memorial auditorium, a lady asked me if I knew who the faces were that formed the capitals of the four columns in front. I had to admit that in fact I… Read More ›
SESAH’s Bus Tour: Beyond Greek Revival
Ok, I promised to post a few pictures from SESAH’s Saturday bus tour of Jackson, called “Beyond Greek Revival.” The weather did a wonderful about-face overnight from the rainy dreariness of Friday to a brilliant sunshiny Saturday, and it was… Read More ›
Woodville…A Stroll Around Town
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
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 ›
Modern Banking in Downtown Jackson
I found this to-die-for postcard showing Jackson’s Trustmark Bank (formerly First National Bank) building a few weeks ago and was surprised to win it on eBay. Opened in 1956, the building was designed by two Jackson architectural firms, James T. Canizaro and Overstreet, Ware & Ware… Read More ›
Acona Church and School, Holmes County
I saw so much last Saturday when I went up to the Carrollton Pilgrimage, I’m still sorting through all the pictures I took. Whenever I drive up to Carrollton, I like to swing off of I-55 and hit Hwy 17… Read More ›
Asia Missionary Baptist Church, Lexington
A while back I did a post on some of the excessively cool historic churches in Lexington and I bemoaned my stupidity and laziness in not taking a picture of one of my favorite churches in town, Asia Missionary Baptist… Read More ›
A Pilgrimage to Carrollton’s Churches
Strangely enough, while James Clark Harris did alot of design and construction work in Carrollton, it doesn’t appear that he was the architect or builder for any of the historic churches in town. He did design the Teoc Presbyterian Church,… Read More ›
Carrollton Pilgrimage Report
After letting its pilgrimage lie fallow for a decade or two, Carrollton decided it was time to open back up last weekend and see who came. I was one of probably 500 or so visitors trying to find a place… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 10-2-2009
Fall is in the air, and today’s News Roundup Theme Song is “Time to Say Goodbye.” I didn’t find much actual newspaper news this week, so our roundup will be a little more prosey. There was a nice pro-preservation article… Read More ›
Bynum School: The Last One-Classroom Rosenwald in MS?
Whenever I go up toward Oxford, I like to check in on the Bynum School off the beaten track in Panola County. I’ve been around to lots of places that used to have Rosenwald schools, and as far as I… Read More ›
Vacation Pics–Sunset in Old Biloxi
MissPres is on vacation this week, a vacation back in time down to the old Mississippi Coast.
A Celebration and a Vacation
To celebrate passing the milestone of 10,000 views on the blog, which happened around 3 PM last Thursday (did anyone but me notice?), MissPres is taking a little vacation this week. Everybody deserves a little time off, right? And just in case… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 9-18-2009
This week’s News Roundup theme song is “Gulf Coast Highway.” If you’re the kind of person who sits around thinking, “I wonder what in the world is going on in the world of old historical buildings in Mississippi,” then stick… Read More ›
King Edward Update
And now, what you’ve all been waiting for . . . As mentioned several times in the last week, one of the prime attractions at this year’s 10 Most Endangered List Unveiling was a chance to peak inside the King… Read More ›
Katrina Survivors: Regular People Saving Their History
We’ve spent the last two weeks looking at lost landmarks and restored landmarks on the Coast after Katrina, but I wanted to end this series by recognizing that the vast majority of preservation work on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast since 2005… Read More ›
Katrina Survivors: Charnley House(s), Ocean Springs
Those of us who had the opportunity to see the Charnley house and its small guest house next door with the Southeastern Society of Architectural Historians (SESAH) tour in 2003 were fortunate to walk through this amazing “beach house” and… Read More ›
Katrina Survivors: Randolph School, Pass Christian
Randolph School (1928), Pass Christian, photo courtesy Fisk University Rosenwald Fund Card File Database Across the Coast, the railroad tracks formed a levee that protected the neighborhoods to the north from the massive storm surge of Hurricane Katrina. Waveland and… Read More ›
Katrina Survivors: Beauvoir
After last week’s long trail of lost landmarks, I thought we should brighten up the mood a little with a few survivor stories that show that all was not lost. There are still historic places on the Coast (and inland)… Read More ›
Lost to Katrina: Pass Christian Town Library (c.1853-2005)
From “Project Description, Pass Christian Town Library & School,” by the Pass Christian Historical Society, 2003: ‘Mrs. Roosevelt was so much impressed with your library she made me go around to see it myself. You are doing just the kind… Read More ›
Lost to Katrina: Elmwood Manor, Bay St. Louis (1812-2005)
From the National Register summary (1986) One of the earliest, extant buildings in Bay St. Louis, Elmwood Manor is a significant example of the French Colonial style of architecture in the community. No other buildings remaining from the early 19th… Read More ›
Abandoned Mississippi: Yazoo County Agricultural High School
In 1912 the Yazoo County Agricultural High School was located at Benton, and it is one of the largest and best of its kind in the state. [A] few years later a Consolidated High School was located here, graveled roads… Read More ›
Oh yeah? Well our Capitol has electric lights!
I saw this postcard on eBay (which I usually try to avoid in order to flee temptation) and had to buy it because it seemed a little spooky (it’s actually a little darker in real life). When I got the… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 8-14-09
Well, what’s been going on this week around our fair state? Before we begin, let me just put this fact out there: August is my least favorite month, so I’m liable to be especially cranky and hard-to-please, so bear with… Read More ›
The International Style: Regularity, not Symmetry
Since I spend a good part of my life writing and reading descriptions of buildings, I naturally love symmetrical buildings. It’s so easy and simple to describe, say a Georgian Revival building, even a big building: center entrance with transom… Read More ›
Preservation in Mississippi 