Mississippi Trivia & Tidbits - Page 14

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

The Father Ryan House Bed & Breakfast Inn, built in Biloxi about 1841, is one of the oldest remaining structures on the Gulf Coast. It was home to Father Abram Ryan, poet laureate of the Confederacy.

first appeared: 3/10/2002

Neilson’s Department Store in Oxford (pop. 11,756) is the oldest department store in the South and the 16th oldest in the nation. Originally a log cabin trading post, the store was built in 1839 by W.S. Neilson.

first appeared: 3/3/2002

Crystal Springs (pop. 5,873), once known as the “Tomatopolis of the World,” was a major supplier of produce, particularly tomatoes, during the mid-1800s. Citizens moved the town several miles in 1858 to be closer to the railroad and enable easier produce shipping.

first appeared: 2/24/2002

The 1718 Old Spanish Fort in Pascagoula (pop. 26,200) is the oldest standing structure in the Mississippi Valley.

first appeared: 2/17/2002

The Dentzel Carousel in Meridian, produced by the 1867 Dentzel Carousel Co., is the world’s only existing two-row stationary Dentzel menagerie. The wooden animals on the 1890s carousel are meticulously hand-carved.

first appeared: 2/10/2002

The Old Capitol Museum in Jackson exhibits a Sherman’s Necktie, an iron railroad tie that had been heated and twisted around a tree. It is said this was one of Gen. William T. Sherman’s favorite methods of rendering southern railroads useless during the Civil War.

first appeared: 2/3/2002

Built in 1890, the Caragen House in Starkville (pop. 21,869) is the only house of steamboat Gothic design in Mississippi. Its two-story, wraparound porches resemble a steamboat.

first appeared: 1/27/2002

At just 806 feet above sea level, Woodall Mountain near Iuka (pop. 3,059) is the state’s highest point.

first appeared: 1/20/2002

The Friendship Oak in Long Beach (pop. 15,804) has a plaque dating to 1487, which reads: “Those who enter my shadow will remain friends through all their lifetime.”

first appeared: 1/13/2002

Fred Haise, born in Biloxi on Nov. 14, 1933, was the lunar module pilot on the ill-fated 1970 Apollo 13 lunar mission dramatized in the movie Apollo 13.

first appeared: 1/6/2002

Actress and talk show host Oprah Winfrey was born in Kosciusko (pop. 7,372) in 1954. Oprah Winfrey Road passes Winfrey’s first church and her birthplace.

first appeared: 12/30/2001

During Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s campaign on Vicksburg (pop. 26,407), a horse was taken from the plantation of Joe Davis, Confederate President Jefferson Davis’ brother. Grant named the horse Jeff Davis.

first appeared: 12/23/2001

Balfour House in Vicksburg (pop. 26,407) was the setting for an 1862 Confederate Christmas Ball, which was interrupted when a courier burst in with news of Union gunboats approaching on the river. The ball is re-enacted each year, complete with the interruption.

first appeared: 12/16/2001

The community of Hot Coffee in Covington County got its start in the 1800s, when it was the only stop on the way to Hattiesburg. A general store with a coffeepot-shaped sign outside eventually earned the town its name.

first appeared: 12/9/2001

James Earl Jones, famous for his resonating voice, was born in Arkabutla in Tate County on January 17, 1931. His film credits include Field of Dreams and Star Wars, but he also is heard daily reminding viewers that “This is CNN.”

first appeared: 12/2/2001

Rowan Oak in Oxford (pop. 11,756) was the home of author William Faulkner, awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949. Faulkner wrote many works there, including The Sound and the Fury.

first appeared: 11/25/2001

The Woodville Republican in Woodville (pop. 1,192), established in 1823, is the oldest newspaper and business institution in continuous operation in Mississippi.

first appeared: 11/18/2001

Belzoni (pop. 2,663), called the “Catfish Capital of the World,” has a catfish sculpture, King Cat, which measures 40 feet from whiskers to tail and weighs over half a ton. It also includes a miniature catfish pond.

first appeared: 11/11/2001

The Battle of Champion Hill in Hinds County was one of the most decisive engagements of the Civil War. Fought May 16, 1863, the Union victory led to the fall of Vicksburg, which ultimately cost the Confederacy the war.

first appeared: 11/4/2001

Nanih Waiya State Park in Winston County is the legendary birthplace of the Choctaw Indian Nation and the site of their sacred mound, Nanih Waiya. The mound, built more than 1,500 years ago, took two to three generations to complete.

first appeared: 10/28/2001

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