Tidbits

Mississippi Trivia & Tidbits

Looking for Mississippi trivia? Try our list Mississippi little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

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Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi (pop. 50,644) will be home to the Air Force's new Undergraduate Cyberspace Training Unit, a program that will teach students how to protect communications networks. The program is scheduled to begin next year with about 615 students.
The top poultry-producing region in the United States stretches from Woodville (pop. 1,192) to Starkville (pop. 21,869) and generated $1.78 billion in poultry and egg sales in 2007.
Buddy's Jeans, made in New Hebron (pop. 447), were designed and originally manufactured by Buddy Steverson, a rancher and rodeo cowboy who wanted jeans that were as dependable as his horse and sold in odd sizes. Buddy's Jeans are made from long-lasting 14-ounce blue denim.
Ship Island, one of the barrier islands off the coast of Mississippi and part of the Gulf Island National Seashore, is considered the "Plymouth Rock of the Gulf Coast" because many colonists took their first steps in America on the island.
In 1942, the entire town of Coldwater (pop. 1,674) was moved about one mile to alleviate flooding and to make way for the Arkabutla Dam on the Coldwater River.
Frederick W. Smith, born in 1944 in Marks (pop. 1,551), in 1971 founded Federal Express, the world's largest express transportation company with delivery in the United States and more than 220 other countries and territories. FedEx, as the company now is called, is based in Memphis, Tenn.
Wood sculptor Marlin Miller has donated his time and talent to carve large standing dead oak trees, killed by Hurricane Katrina, into sculptures along U.S. Highway 90 on the Gulf Coast. Miller, who lives in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. (pop. 19,973), began the sculpture project in 2007.
—The first person who indisputably reached the North Pole by surface travel was Ralph Plaisted (1927-2008), an insurance salesman turned explorer, who led the successful expedition by snowmobile in 1968. Plaisted was born in Bruno (pop. 102).
—The state's tallest building is the 32-story Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi. Opened in 1999, the resort was damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, rebuilt and reopened in 2006.
—According to local lore, Jackson originally was known as LeFleur's Bluff, named after the French-Canadian explorer who established the trading post on the banks of the Pearl River in the late 1700s.
—Jackson County is famous for its development of nine successful varieties of papershell pecans: Stuart, Success, Schley, Alley, Delmas, Papst, Russell, Hall and Lewis.
—Errick Smith, of Ocean Springs (pop. 17,225), celebrated his 16th birthday last July by becoming the youngest person to solo fly both an airplane and a helicopter on the same day. To add to the feat, Smith flew two helicopters that day.
—The Mississippi Farmers Market in Jackson bills itself as the state's largest farmers market. It has 32 stalls with roll-up doors and covers 18,000 square feet.
—The McCormick Book Inn in Greenville (pop. 41,633) is billed as the state's oldest independent bookseller. Opened by the McCormick family in 1965, the bookstore spotlights local and regional writers and books.
–Completed in 1841, the Amite County Courthouse in Liberty (pop. 633) is one of the state's oldest operating courthouses.
—Established in 1807, Wintergreen Cemetery in Port Gibson (pop. 1,840) is among the state's oldest cemeteries and is the final resting place for most Confederate soldiers killed in the Battle of Port Gibson.
—Artist Sharon McConnell, who is blind, spent eight years making masks of almost 60 legendary bluesmen. The masks are displayed at Delta State University and the Charles W. Capps Jr. Archives and Museum in Cleveland (pop. 13,841).
—Built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps from hand-hewn logs, Legion Lodge in Louisville (pop. 7,006) remains unchanged and is the centerpiece of Legion State Park in the red hill country.
—Built in the early 1920s, the Lil’ Red Rosenwald Schoolhouse in Drew (pop. 2,434) served African-American children before desegregation and is one of a handful of surviving Rosenwald schools established through the efforts of Booker T. Washington, founder of Tuskegee Institute, and Julius Rosenwald, then president of Sears, Roebuck and Co.
—Established in 1889, the Neshoba County Fair near Philadelphia (pop. 7,303) bills itself as the state’s “Giant House Party” because of its family-reunion atmosphere when fairgoers return each summer to stay in more than 600 individually owned and coveted cabins, plus an RV campground.
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