Mississippi Trivia & Tidbits - Page 3

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

—The last black U.S. veteran of World War I is believed to be Moses Hardy of Aberdeen (pop. 6,415), who died at age 113 in December 2006. Census records show that Hardy’s father was born in the 1830s and that both of his parents were slaves.

first appeared: 2/24/2008

—In 2004, the state’s largest airport, in Jackson, was renamed the Jackson-Evers International Airport to honor assassinated NAACP leader Medgar Evers.

first appeared: 2/10/2008

—Diners at Lusco’s Restaurant in Greenwood (pop. 18,425) sit in booths concealed behind curtains. The arrangement is a holdover from Prohibition days when diners could eat and enjoy some homebrew in privacy. Lusco’s opened in 1921 as a grocery store, and began serving food in the 1930s.

first appeared: 1/27/2008

—One of the largest buffalo herds east of the Mississippi River roams at the Tupelo Buffalo Park and Zoo in Tupelo (pop. 34,211) and includes a rare white buffalo.

first appeared: 1/13/2008

—In 1974, the state designated the wood duck as the official waterfowl and the white-tailed deer as the state land mammal.

first appeared: 12/30/2007

—Charley Patton’s gravesite in Holly Ridge and Muddy Waters’ cabin site in Clarksdale (pop. 20,645) are some of the sites that have been marked along the Mississippi Blues Trail. When the trail is completed, more than 100 historical markers and interpretive sites will be located throughout the state.

first appeared: 12/2/2007

—Deep-fried pickles are served throughout the South, but the Hollywood Cafe in Tunica (pop. 1,132) claims to have invented them.

first appeared: 11/18/2007

—The Blue Front Cafe, a 1940s juke joint in Bentonia (pop. 500), keeps alive the “Bentonia Blues,” a style of Delta blues developed in the town. Cafe owner Jimmy “Duck” Holmes has been called the last practitioner of the musical style, marked by its special guitar tuning, which creates a haunting sound.

first appeared: 11/4/2007

—In 2007, Vicksburg (pop. 26,407) celebrates its 50th year of being host to the Miss Mississippi pageant, whose winner competes for the title of Miss America. Before 1957, the pageant was held in different cities throughout the state.

first appeared: 10/21/2007

—Sam Thompson, 26, of Vicksburg (pop. 26,407) ran 51 marathons in 50 days in 50 states and Washington, D.C., last year to raise awareness and money for Hurricane Katrina victims.

first appeared: 10/7/2007

––Grammy Award-winning singer LeAnn Rimes, born in 1982 in Jackson, was only 13 when she became an instant star with “Blue,” a ballad written for Patsy Cline, who died and never recorded the song.

first appeared: 9/30/2007

—Born in Starkville (pop. 21,869) in 1962 and raised in Crawford (pop. 655), Jerry Rice is considered one of football’s greatest receivers. When he retired after 20 seasons, mostly with the San Francisco 49ers, he held 38 NFL records. Rice attended Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena (pop. 2,208).

first appeared: 9/9/2007

––Robert L. Johnson founded Black Entertainment Television (BET) in 1980, the first cable television network aimed at a black audience. Johnson was born in 1946 in Hickory (pop. 499).

first appeared: 8/26/2007

—Born in 1908 on a plantation near Natchez (pop. 18,464), Richard Wright became one of the first black writers to achieve literary fame and fortune. His novel, Native Son, published in 1940, and his 1945 autobiography, Black Boy, both were bestsellers.

first appeared: 8/12/2007

—A common bald cypress in Holmes County (pop. 21,609) that stands 82 feet tall and measures 55 feet in circumference was named last year to American Forests’ National Register of Big Trees. The cypress, which is so large that 30 people standing shoulder-to-shoulder can lean against it, shares the honor of being the nation’s largest tree of its species with a similar-sized bald cypress on Cat Island in Louisiana.

first appeared: 7/29/2007

—Every Friday night, several hundred people make their way to Sparta, a small community in Chickasaw County (pop. 19,440), for the Sparta Opry. The event, which features fiddle music, catfish, chicken and biscuits, and visits with neighbors, raises money for residents in need.

first appeared: 7/15/2007

—Opened in 1924, the Coliseum in Corinth (pop. 14,045) served as a vaudeville and movie theater and today is the Coliseum Civic Center. A winding marble staircase and ornate plaster moldings adorn the elegant building.

first appeared: 7/1/2007

—Born Roberta Streeter in 1944 in Chickasaw County (pop. 19,440), singer Bobbie Gentry scored a No. 1 hit on the pop charts in 1967 with “Ode to Billie Joe.” The song’s mysterious lyrics about Billie Joe and his girlfriend throwing “somethin’ off the Tallahatchie Bridge” struck a chord with listeners.

first appeared: 6/17/2007

—In 1898, Edward Charles Edmond Barq began bottling and selling different flavors of soft drinks in Biloxi (pop. 50,644), including the popular Barq’s Root Beer. The Biloxi Barq’s Co. was sold to Coca-Cola in 1995.

first appeared: 6/3/2007

—Penny Sanford Fikes, 44, is the sixth generation of her family to farm the 1,424-acre Hamer Hills Farm near Kilmichael (pop. 830). To keep the farm afloat, Fikes designs porcelain figurines, an art inspired by the beauty of the land worked by her ancestors since 1837.

first appeared: 5/28/2007

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