Cille McHenry (now Litchfield) played trombone in the Ole Miss Pride of the South band from 1973-1977. Did you know her grandfather also played the trombone in the Ole Miss orchestra in 1909-1910? Floyd W. McHenry, is pictured in the orchestra photo from the 1909-1910 Ole Miss annual. His trombone is still in the family (but is not the one Cille played at Ole Miss!).
Another find in the USM McCain Library digital archives. This photo is undated but based on the look of the trucks and cars in the photos, it could be the 1940s. What do you know about this?
Source: http://digilib.usm.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/manu/id/12465/rec/34
Found this photo when surfing through the digital archives at USM. The associated data indicates this was when the Wiggins Kiwanis Club received their charter. I think I recognize Dr. Prevost (front row, second from left). Do you recognized others?
Source: http://digilib.usm.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/waller/id/1438/rec/33
Growing up in Stone County, you probably learned to swim in one of two places – the Perk pool (at then Perkinston Junior College) or in Red Creek. The latter was more likely the case. Chances are that your “spot” of choice was either at City Bridge or at the Highway 49 Bridge just north of the Perk turn-off. The clear waters with their reddish tint provided must relief on many a hot afternoon as well as provided lots of food for the table.
Today Red Creek is, in part, protected and promoted by The Land Trust of the Mississippi Coastal Plain. The Red Creek Blueway is a public waterway from Highway 26 west of Wiggins to its joining with Black Creek and has been designated one of Mississippi’s Scenic Streams.
The easternmost segment of the Blueway begins at Cable Bridge and ends at Highway 15. Along this segment, you will see the natural springs that feed the creek close to the historic site of the historic Ramsey Springs Hotel.
As reported in the Stone County Enterprise, Wiggins High School would open for grades 9-12 on September 1, 1957. This original wing is part of the Stone High Complex today.
Source: http://stc.stparchive.com/Archive/STC/STC08291957P01.php
Another timber related industry important to Stone County was the Newton Naval Stores. Naval stores is all products derived from pine sap, which are used to manufacture soap, paint, varnish, shoe polish, lubricants, linoleum, and roofing materials. For many years, Newton Naval Stores was a vital part of the Stone County industrial base and the Newton family a part of the community and social structure. Did you know that Senator John C. Stennis visited the Newton Naval Stores on November 22, 1955. J.B. Newton, Dad to current local residents Benny Newton and Joy Newton Jennings and to Dover, Deleware, resident Carol Newton, Burcham, is pictured in this photo that is part of the John C. Stennis Collection at Mississippi State University.
Source: http://digital.library.msstate.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/jcs1/id/576/rec/16
Saturday morning, April 13, the Old Firehouse Museum will welcome the Wiggins High School Alumni from Classes of 1958, ’59, and ’60. The students returning home for their Classes’ Reunion are invited to visit the Museum from 9:30 until 11:00 to see the photos and artifacts of our town and county… some from their days at Wiggins High.
Deanash Campus of the Mississippi Baptist Children’s Village (MBCV) is the former home in the Bond Community of Dizzy Dean and his wife, Patricia Nash Dean. The Deans moved here following Dizzy’s retirement as a sportscaster in the late 1960s. Bond was the hometown of Patricia Nash Dean. The property was an estate donation to the MBCV. Both Dizzy and Pat Dean are buried in the Bond Cemetery.
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bond,_Mississippi, http://www.baptistchildrensvillage.com/campus_detail.asp?cid=11, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=14395959
The Bank of Wiggins, opened in 1916, was originally located on First Street in the building that the Stone County Enterprise now occupies. Today the Bank has three branches in Stone County.
Across this spot in 1849 lines were strung on pines for Washington-Cincinnatti-Montgomery-Mobile-New Orleans telegraph. Line was discontinued in 1870 upon building of coastal railway. Latitude & Longitude: 30° 46′ 57.1728″, -89° 8′ 13.7184″.
Soource: http://www.stoppingpoints.com/mississippi/Stone/Old+Wire+Road.html
The Old Firehouse Museum 