Stairways to heaven.
A front porch column so large a man can hide inside to escape capture by an enemy army….A grand double staircase that defies the laws of gravity to float above the floor….A gold-dusted exterior…A pair of fairy tale towers. Delight is in the details, as you will see when you tour any of the remarkable historical residences of the Mississippi Hills.
In Holly Springs, each of the city’s antebellum jewels seems to have its own colorful story, whether it’s of a doomed love affair or a secret passageway. In Aberdeen, cotton and commerce came together at the port on the Tombigbee River, and dueling fortunes sparked a frenzy of palace-building; today the city boasts five separate historical districts, including the famed Silk Stocking Victorian row. Many of the historic homes in Oxford have either been immortalized by Faulkner or lived in by him or members of his family. Columbus was home to another famous writer, Tennessee Williams, whose family lived in a Victorian rectory surrounded by elegant antebellum homes, many that have survived to this day in pristine condition.
Each year, in Aberdeen, Holly Springs and Columbus, hoop skirts and horse-drawn carriage rides punctuate the pilgrimages that have become regional institutions. Yet in these same towns, the architecture also tells of a broader, richer story, a story of more than “silk stocking” luxury. In Columbus, homes like “The Haven,” a two-story residence built in 1843 by “freemen of color,” and the Theodoric James home built in the early 1900s by the city’s first African-American physician, show the little-known side of an African American culture flourishing in spite of tremendous obstacles and oppression. The sanctuary of the oldest African American congregation in northeast Mississippi, the Missionary Union Baptist Church, built in 1871, is also open for tours during Columbus spring pilgrimage.
Sacred architecture of all denominations makes for another inspiring highlight of any architectural tour of the Hills. Within the historic city churches, there are certain echoes—Gothic Revival was a popular style, R.H. Hunt and James B. Cooke were sought-after architects, a few Catholic sanctuaries were built in homage to another beloved church—yet the echoes serve only to deepen the richness of an exploration of these elegant structures. Outside the cities, it’s still possible to see the “vernacular” expression of sacred architecture, the white clapboard structures, pristine in their simplicity, that have sustained generations of Hills residents.
Some of those old country churches have disappeared. It’s a difficult balancing act. But here in the Mississippi Hills, we’re intent on saving as many treasures as we can.
They built. We preserve. Now you must see.