Hagy's Catfish Hotel in Shiloh, TN (Stantonville)

Many of you still enjoy a somewhat long drive to get the catfish and atmosphere at the Catfish Hotel. I have been a guest of theirs for many years, also, and since it is close by now, take an ocassional trip there.



The restaurant in the 30s or 40s. Lady pictured is not known.

On this spot in 1825, Henry Hagy and his wife Polly docked their flat boat, laid claim to several acres of bottom land, and began to build a farm and family. Later their son John built a rough log shack next to the river to store items that were to be shipped by steamboats. The shack was occupied by Union soldiers during the Battle of Shiloh.

The shack earned the name "Catfish Hotel" during the early thirties when Norvin Hagy entertained friends at cookouts. He became well known for the delicious catfish, hushpuppies, and hospitality he served up. Guests who had arrived by river were often forced to spend the night after becoming engrossed in yarns spun and darkness made it unsafe to travel the river, thus the nickname Catfish Hotel.

Yum, yum. Ya'll come!

The river view is from the parking lot looking North at Diamond Island.

Okeelala Festival 2010

Well, it's about that time again! The Baldwyn Okeelala Festival will be held on 2 October (Saturday) and you are invited to attend and meet and greet old friends again. We have been having a good attendance of old Bearcats the last few years, and it seems more are able to come each time.

There are at least two get acquainted events to plan for this year. The 1940-60 (or so) BHS alumni will meet at Agnew's Restaurant at Pratts at 9AM for breakfast, coffee and greetings. Afterward, a former student, Dr. Robert Hamblin will give a reading from his new book Crossroads: Poems of a Mississippi Childhood, published recently. Robert lived across the road from Brice's Crossroads battlefield site and heard many tales from the local loafers that sat around the porch of his family's general store. He has written from those accounts.

Another breakfast for 1960s and up BHS grads will be held the same morning at The Country Inn in Baldwyn. Info for that event will be forthcoming from Phil Cooper and Don McKibben. I will post it to this when complete arrangements are sent to me.

Please try to be there if you can!!!

First TVA City

Remember this old sign as you came into Tupelo from the North on old US45? It greeted us for many years, and I think it may still be there in the area of Main Street and Gloster.

Tupelo was the first city to become a T.V.A. power purchaser. In those days you were required to join as a member to get a reduced rate on your power bill.

The structure in the background is over the railroad tracks and held the traffic lights for the Crosstown intersection as well as for the trains' signals.

Liddon Lake

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Here are a couple of old photos of Liddon Lake swimming pool area in Corinth in the 1950s or early 60s. It was the place to go for a swim in the hot Summertime. There were games, food (5 cent slugburgers and 10 cent hot dogs) and lots of places to sit with your main squeeze after swimming. The lake out front (not shown) had rental boats- with oars- that you could get to take a little "cruise".

Bad thing about it was that your parents loved to come there, too, so they usually told you that they would be there. Then you had to be on your toes and watch your behavior.

The facility has been closed for years and sadly, the structures are still there but in decay. This was reportedly the largest concrete pool in Mississippi and the entire South for many years. When Booneville got a pool, it took some of the load off of Corinth and Tupelo pools.
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Thanks to "anonymous" for emailing these photos.

Kids Photos from Yesterday 2

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A couple of photos from 1957 (top) showing some of the group from that time. Notice a fad that was popular then; Lanny has a watch chain and possibly Jim does, too. We wore them although some had a pocket watch and others kept their keys on the pocket end.

Wrist watches were getting cheap in those days and most people were getting them from Popeye's for under 20 dollars.

Can you recall the girls in the lower photo? The year is unknown. The faces are familiar still but names are beyond my recollection.
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Submitted by Jim Greene.

Baldwyn R&R Club

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Carolyn McCarley and Harriet Franklin seem eager to welcome you to the "opening dance". Anyone recall what this was about? A social event, I feel sure.

Anyhow, dances at homes and pavilions were a great thing in this time era. The larger commercial dance halls were expensive and far away from Baldwyn.

Booneville, Rienzi, Fulton, and New Albany had nice teen dance functions. Can you remember others?
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Submitted by Jim Greene.

Kid's Photos from Yesterday 1

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Do you remember these guys and gals? Hint: they lived on N. Second Street and nearby.

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Thanks to Jim Greene.

Official Patrol Car

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Photo of Billy Greene and his Ford F-1 pickup truck. Notice the logo on the door is his initials in Old English (top) and "Bat Patrol BSA" (lower).

The old truck is probably 6-7 years old - the F-1 was introduced in 1948 - so this photo is probably from 1955 or later.

The Boy Scout troop in Baldwyn (Troop 33 at the time I was a member) was made up of groups of boys called patrols. I was in the Wolf Patrol and remember that there was a Badger Patrol, a Hawk Patrol, and others that escape me. Each Patrol had its' own unique flag, badge, call, and cry in order to gather and stay together by sound other than voice commands.

Evidently there was a Bat Patrol that Billy belonged to, and he was probably a leader and had transportation for his group to go on outings. There were many fun outings, marches, overnight camping and cookout trips. We would walk to an encampment at Blue Mars in Prather Bottoms, swim, cook, camp overnight and return the next day (sometime raw with poison ivy and chiggers) but had a dickens of a good time. The cold artesian water was better that we had to drink in town!
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Photo courtesy of Jim Greene.

BHS Spotlight, 1957 featuring "Snooper"

Thanks to Nancy Faye Goodson Bruce

Smoking is Bad For Young'uns

Mrs. Martin: Grover, you shouldn't smoke in bed! To be perfectly clear, you shouldn't smoke at all! They cost 20 cents a pack and aren't good for your lungs...
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From Ellis Christian (circa 1957 on the senior trip). Click on photo to enlarge.

Small Towns are Preferred

Some thoughts about the future from Barbara Bryson. As with half-century old clippings some of the text has been damaged, but you can get the entire meaning with just a little imagination.
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Submitted by Nancy Goodson Bruce

3 Ways to Decorate a Christmas Tree

From Nancy Goodson Bruce

Achievers

From Nancy Goodson Bruce

More Spotlights From 1957

From Nancy Goodson Bruce

The Bludworth Family and Others.

Mr. and Mrs. Bludworth, Miss Hortense Latimer on right, Billy Bludworth (left) and Mrs. Stanley McKay. Not at all sure of the year, but probably mid 1960s.
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Submitted by Jim Miller.

Remember your first Phone Number?

Sometime in the late 40s we got our first phone. Our number in Baldwyn was 3332. The only places that were a local call was the community near Baldwyn and Tupelo. Elsewhere was long distance and needed an operator to assist with the call and record charges according to the amount of time you talked.

We had at least one technician stationed in Baldwyn to maintain the service, I believe his name was Jack Farmer. I still see his name on a mailbox south of Guntown on old US45.

How many of you can recall your phone number at that time? Later, exchange numbers had to be used; FOrest 5 for Baldwyn and VInewood 2 and others for Tupelo.
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Thanks to Milton Copeland for the old rental bill.

Dudie's Diner and Festival

I'll bet many of you have eaten at this little diner! It was a favorite of folks from all over the county.

UPPER PHOTO (1957): In 1947, Truman "Dudie" Christian bought a decommissioned Memphis streetcar, brought to Tupelo and turned the barely six foot wide streetcar into Dudie’s Diner. Dudie’s Diner and the burger soon became a local favorite in downtown Tupelo.

Christian learned to make the burgers (a mix of meat, flour, oatmeal, and water) when meat and staples were rationed during World War II. But neither the burger's appeal nor the charm of the diner's converted Memphis streetcar could compete with fast-food chains. The diner closed in 1986, and the streetcar ended up at Tupelo's Oren Dunn Museum, where the town's beloved dough burger is celebrated with a festival each year on the first Saturday in May.

The namesake of the festival is the Dudie Dough Burger. At one time you could get ten for a dollar.

LOWER PHOTO: Today the diner is on display at the Oren Dunn Museum in Tupelo where, incidentally, the Lee County Bookmobile is also on exhibit.

Alec the Crow

When we were young, we had a variety of pets. Not only dogs and cats were found around the house, but also were turtles, rabbits, 'coons, and other animals. The following stories from Don and Gerald McKibben struck my funny bone and I thought I would post it here for others to chuckle about. It is from a couple of emails, but putting it here will preserve it for a laugh later...


Don writes:

I do believe he was capable of performing almost any task that would irritate our mother....she took great pride in her Spring flowers, her favorites were the beautiful and very sweet smelling Hyacinth....she always had several colors....blue, pink, purple and other pastel colors that bloomed in early Spring.

When the Hyacinths were in full bloom, Alec would pull each individual bloom from the plant.....mother would come out to check on her plants, see how he had pulled all the blooms off, and after she "lit in on him", scolding him, threatening to catch him and put him under a wash tub(that was the punishment he most-hated and mother's favorite) and let him stay there all day.

When he heard her scolding him, he would go directly to the Hyacinth blooms he had pulled off, pick them up individually and with his beak, force each one in the ground.....he seemed to take great pride in his placement of each bloom in the dirt with just a small amount of the bloom left in view.....after he finished sticking all of the blooms in the dirt, he seemed to be proud of his accomplishment.

Gerald mentioned about his ability to talk.....the funniest part about his episodes with Mother was after she would pause from threatening and scolding him for something he had done, he would get a safe distance away from her AND SCOLD HER.....that would go on for a while, back and forth until Mother finally gave up and went back in the house. Many days when we returned home from school, we found Alec under a wash tub......after we rescued him, he was on his best behavior the rest of the day, sitting on our shoulder, gently rubbing his head against our face.

There are many stories about him....seeing the episode you sent, Carl, brought back many memories....maybe Gerald will add more stories......stealing clothes pins off the clothes line.....letting the freshly-washed clothes fall to the ground, then hiding the clothes pins.....in holes in fence posts....we found hidden clothes pins in strange places long after he was gone. He also knew who liked him and who didn't.....our Aunt Lillian Hopkins....school/music teacher....disliked him and he knew it and could pick her out in a crowd of relatives....sneak up behind her and almost take a plug out of her leg or behind, then fly up in a nearby tree and boast about it !

I'll hush about Alec.....I agree with Gerald, he (really) could talk !

From Gerald:
The attached picture is not a good one but is the only one I have.

Don talked about him burying things. Once Mother was setting out onion plants in the garden. When she got to the end of the row she turned and saw that Alec had quietly gone behind her and pulled up every single onion plant. To his credit he had poked them into the ground again, but not where Mother wanted them.

Another Senior Class Photo

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From Nancy Goodson Bruce
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Two More "Spotlights"

Thanks to Nancy Goodson Bruce