Queen Ann Melons
The Little Store Gets Fancy: A Memoir of Jitney 14
Many thanks to neighbor Susan McNease for passing along this October 2, 1988 article from The Clarion-Ledger by Leslie Myers about the extensive remodeling of the old Jitney 14. Given the recent changes to the store, it makes for a timely read, and many neighbors past and present are mentioned. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I have.
The Little Store Gets Fancy: But loyal Jitney 14 customers hope the neighborhood personality remains cozy
Jitney-Jungle 14 has recovered from its face lift and the surrounding Belhaven neighborhood is abuzz with the news. For reasons nobody can quite explain, Jitney’s store No. 14 has never been a typical grocery store. Since its 1929 opening at Fortification and Jefferson Streets, it has been a friendly meeting place, a lifeline for its loyal customers. Regulars say they keep in touch with their neighbors there, renew old acquaintances and even get an emotional lift from a Jitney trip. The dress code is: come as you are. For some, that means pajamas. It’s homey. Shoppers plan to keep it that way.
“I’ve always loved the Jitney,” said writer Eudora Welty. Welty, who grew up to become the store’s most famous customer, said its magic began on Day 1—as Jackson’s first self-service grocery store.
“I’ve been shopping there since it opened,” Welty, 79, said. “Then it was like a maze. That was part of the charm—that was the jungle part, turning corners all the time. Then they had bottled milk with cream on top in the refrigerator box—not homogenized. Real milk. You bought the one with the highest cream on top.”
Throngs of such loyal customers, along with past and present employees, will gather Monday morning at 8 to celebrate Jitney 14’s “Grand Reopening” (although it never has closed). Jackson Mayor Dale Danks will cut a ceremonial ribbon. This year-long renovation is the store’s first face lift since 1941. It includes a 10,000-square-foot expansion. Many culinary delights and services have also been added to its former meat-and-potatoes fare. Now there’s a fresh seafood counter with live lobsters instead of a freezer with fish sticks. Anchovy paste and fancy pasta? No problem.
For many customers, the change is a source of both joy and angst. Shoppers have been anxious for the store to stock some non-traditional foods . . . but they wonder if it really was necessary to level out the crooked floors and paint the walls.
“Professionally I’ve been going to the Jitney for 22 or 23 years,” said Cleta Ellington, a school teacher. “However, my grandmother used to shop there, so I would go with her, which puts it up to about 40 years. What I liked about the old Jitney was it was not all slicked up. That’s one of the dangers of the Jitney 14 getting all slicked up—its personality. It’s like when you have a friend that’s gray-headed and kind of fat and she loses weight and dyes her hair. You’re not sure you know her anymore.”
“I’m not sure about this new place,” Ellington, 44, said, the reconsidered. “Well, there is a man there who will decorate a cake for you on the spot if you’re desperate. It’s the new Jitney 14 that has this instant cake decorator. That’s a plus.”
Jackson City Councilman (sic) Margaret Barrett, a Jitney 14 shopper since childhood, said she already misses the sagging floors.
“Now, when you let go of your buggy, it doesn’t roll down three aisles,” Barrett, 43, said. “Before, down by the ice cream case, if you ever let go of your buggy it would never stop rolling—just like in the parking lot.
“When you go to the Jitney, you find out what’s happening with your friends,” Barrett said. It’s the community meeting place. If you’re ever feeling out of touch, you only need to go for one shopping trip.”
She is pleased that the Old English style and décor of the original store has been retained. “I know it was a decision that Jitney-Jungle made, to try to preserve the English village style,” she said. “I know that was costly for them. But I think that’s very much appreciated by people in the neighborhood. The Jitney has been a good neighbor.”
“It’s just real personal,” said florist Susan Milan, a 13-year customer. “Frankly I like all the people who work there, the bag boys and all the people at the checkout. You can go in and, if you need time and the lines are real long, you can tell them, ‘I’ll bring the money tomorrow.’ They trust their clientele, when they finally know you real well.”
But she worries about the ritzy signs on the new shelves. “When CANNED SOUP is written in Old English, it makes me nervous,” she said. “Maybe it’s getting too fancy. But well, now it’s cleaner.”
At least two other sleepers are wiping the sleep from their eyes.
Pat Cothren, a florist, and Patti Carr Black, Mississippi State Historical Museum director, have gone to the Jitney in their pajamas. Both have had Jitney as a “second home” for 20 years.
“One morning,” Cothren, 41 recalled, “I had nothing for breakfast to feed my family. So I ran to the Jitney in a night shirt. The Jitney is the Jitney,” she said, defending her attire. “It didn’t bother me, so I figured it wouldn’t bother them . . . it was a pretty decent night shirt. But I don’t know if I’d do it now, now that the Jitney is so fancy.”
Black emphasized with Cothren’s rush-hour plight. “I have been to Jitney a few times in my nightgown, with a long coat over it, early in the mornings,” Black, 54, said. “that was the way we used to go to breakfast at the ‘W,’” said the Mississippi University for Women alumna.
“The Jitney’s plurality is what makes it nice,” Ellington said. “There’s just all kinds of people in there. It cuts along class (and fashion) lines.”
Barrett said, “The employees also are people you know very well by first name. You’re very interested in their lives, and they’re very interested in yours.”
Two favorite employees mentioned repeatedly by Jitney 14 fans were store manager Sam Holley and veteran cashier Johanna Wade. Wade said she will never forget some of the customers.
“Three or four years ago, I was going to Holland to see my parents,” Wade, 53, recalled. “Margaret Barret, Karen Gilfoy, Cleta Ellington, Penny Hutcherson, Sis Hicks, Pat Cothren, Susan Milam and some others came up in here one afternoon. They gave me an envelope with all this money in it—almost $400—and said, “Go to Holland, spent it and have a good time.’”
“Karen (a judge) had some kind of declaration make up saying I could come back into the country as a joke. I had no idea they would do that,” Wade said. “I was shocked. It was so sweet, what they’d done. It’s just something we’ve got here in this store,” she said. “We’re close. It’s always been that way here.” Holley said the real magic of Jitney 14 mystified him, too.
Ellington said that the Jitney feeling probably is best described by Charlotte Capers, a seasoned shopper who likes to say, “I belong to the Episcopal Church and the Jitney 14.”
History of Belhaven Heights – Part 4, the Future
We have examined the origins and development of the Jackson Belhaven Heights neighborhood in previous sections of this history. It is a historic neighborhood entering the city in 1840, only 18 years after Jackson’s founding. We have seen the rich heritage of the famous Boyd Home (Oaks), Colonel Hamilton’s introduction of the first Belhaven College, the notable distinction of Judges Hill and another structure that you might say was “under the hill”. We have visited the past in Greenwood Cemetery, the final resting place of many of the city’s early builders and now it’s time to take a look at the future.
You may have noticed a renaissance in housing along the 800 block of Jefferson and on Harding, Spengler and Lorraine Streets. Much of this can be attributed to Jennifer Welch and her company Belhaven Residential. In an interview with MS Welch, she told how this came about.
“I decided after completing my first year in college that I was not interested in medical school though my father wanted me to become a doctor. He encouraged me to intern with various companies to find an interest, so one day I walked into Waddell Nejam’s office and asked if he would let me work for free for a few weeks. I was soon offered a part- time job which I did while an undergraduate at Millsaps College. Following college, Mr. Nejam offered me a full-time position and I worked for him until 2005. The following year I began to manage property in Greater Belhaven for my family while attending the Millsaps MBA program. Two years later I earned my real estate broker’s license and began to do third party management. I also bought my first apartments at 917 Harding Street.”
“In 2007, my father and I decided to renovate the property just south of the Oaks House Museum. The City of Jackson Historic Preservation Commission presented me with an Award of Merit for the restoration. That same year, I renovated the space at 730 North Jefferson which is now my office.
“In March 2017, I renovated an eight unit complex at 1107 Bellevue Place and in September 2017, purchased 790 Lorraine and we are currently working on 927 and 935 Harding Street. My current plans are to renovate 814 and 836 Jefferson Street.” Jennifer also donated land for the small park called the Entergy Station adjacent to the entrance to the Museum Trail at the intersection of Greymont and Moody Streets.
Jennifer and her oldest brother are now owners of the old railroad beanery at 1032 Spengler St. and financed its restoration into a duplex. The downstairs still has its original tin tile. The renovation followed MDAH recommendations and guidelines and the project received Historic Tax Credits. She currently serves on the board of the Oaks House Museum and the Belhaven Heights Community Association and is president and board member of the Mississippi Apartment Association. She lives at the old Lyell home at 935 Bellevue and loves the Belhaven Heights neighborhood. “I have made a conscious decision to live among my tenants. My leasing office screens our prospects before accepting them and I am proud of my staff, my properties and my renters. My level of commitment and service to the neighborhood has made a noticeable improvement to certain streets. I also encourage our tenants to take part in neighborhood activities and get to know one another. My job is not only to provide housing, but to provide community.”
In May 2018 a mural was unveiled on the north face of the Belhaven Residential building at Jefferson and Harding Streets. The mural depicts a sense of unity though the diversity of ideas and education. The Belhaven Heights mural is the result of a partnership between the Mississippi Heritage Trust, the Oaks House Museum and Belhaven Residential to create a landmark of interest in the neighborhood it symbolizes and the theme of preservation. The commissioned artist is Jackson native Douglas Panzone. Jennifer hopes that the completion of this mural will encourage the upcoming Museum Trail participants to visit the Oaks Museum and other attractions coming to the area.
The Belhaven Heights neighborhood is filled with talented and accomplished individuals and families. One of these is Cal and Laura Christel Horlings, their two children and several cats who live on Madison Street. The Horlings have lived in the Heights since 2006 and Cal has served in several capacities, including vice president, of the Belhaven Heights Community Association. 
Cal is the Director of Customer Support at the Bomgar Corporation in Ridgeland and Laura Christel works with Wycliffe Bible Translators for the translation project of the Choctaw people of Mississippi. She has had various roles including administrative, linguistic and ethno musicological. Their interests and avocations are both diverse and productive in support of their community. Both Horlings are musicians. Cal has played trumpet with the Mississippi Community Symphonic Band and the Mississippi Swing. He also plays djembe (African drums) and enjoys running in the Mississippi Blues Marathon. Laura Christel has degrees in piano performance, linguistics and exegesis, plays the viola and is a member of the National Arbor Foundation.
“My interests in Belhaven Heights are heightened by the creativity of its people,” says Mrs. Horlings. “I love animals, enjoy gardening and the diversity both in people and architecture as well as the variety of activities available. Cal is pleased to be in this part of the story of Belhaven Heights- an exciting period of growth and revitalization while building on the cultural heritage of those who have come before. “I particularly look forward to the Museum Trail and development of the Belhaven Heights Park on Madison Street,” Cal said. “This neighborhood has great potential for families and a vibrant history to build on.”
The Horlings have a prime interest in the Wycliffe organization with Laura Christel taking an active role. Wycliffe began in 1942 as Wycliffe Bible Translators headed by William Cameron Townsend, a missionary to the Cakchiquel Indians in Guatemala. Wycliffe Associates, a support arm of this organization, was organized in 1967 by Friends of Bible Translators, a ministry which accelerates the work of Bible translation worldwide. This is accomplished by empowering people to provide a translation of the Good News in every language needing one through their time, talents and treasures.
According to literature provided by Mrs. Horlings, “Today more than 1,600 languages are still waiting for a Bible translation to begin, and Wycliffe is working faster than ever to reach those languages as soon as possible.” Laura Christel began her work with Wycliffe in 2008. Her work today is with the Choctaw people in Mississippi. What sets the Horlings family apart from the hundreds of other citizens in their neighborhood? Not a lot really. Belhaven Heights is filled with tradition, a rich history and a challenging future that is both bright and rewarding.
Over the years Belhaven Heights, through its various associations, has been vigilant in protecting its residents’ investment in a historic neighborhood. Working with the city of Jackson, these associations have crafted zoning ordinances conducive to preserving the integrity of residential living. Excessive commercial development can take away from the beauty of an area. Such commercial enterprises need to be a good fit.
A good fit for the Heights and for Greater Belhaven is the Old House Depot on Monroe Street owned by Jim Kopernak and his family composed of wife Ann Hendrick and their famous cat “Mo”. “Mo” is a native of Moselle, Mississippi, where he was discovered by his adoptive family in 2011. Jim and his wife once lived in Belhaven and avoided the Heights because of its less than stellar reputation. One factor in moving from Belhaven to the Heights was Jim’s piano which would not fit into Ann’s former residence and Ann’s exception to Jim’s tiny bathroom. Waddell Nejam, Jennifer Welch and other conscientious real estate developers set about changing the area for the better and Jim is proud to have his business and home in Belhaven Heights today.
Jim is proud of his home at the northwest corner of Bellevue Place and Madison Street. Built in 1924, the single story house is a classic Overstreet architectural model, with stucco and a red tile roof. In the ‘70’s, former owner Dr. Tommy Reuff set out to transform it into “the ultimate bachelor pad.” The plan failed halfway through when he married Ann Reuff, but the transformation project continued. The attic was finished out with staircase, guest bedroom and bath as well as major changes throughout. The kitchen is a real showplace. It sits in stately repose on Jackson’s highest hill.
Jim was introduced to the salvage business while working on his current dwelling and opened the Old House Depot in 2006. Many locals have met Jim and his co-owner “Mo”, a seven-year-old tabby cat whose birthday is celebrated at the business the day after Thanksgiving each year complete with cake and a band. Both Jim and “Mo” are happy to sponsor this occasion as well as greet customers on business days at the Depot.
Along with other neighborhood leaders Jim and Ann are interested in Belhaven Heights City Park. According to Jim, “Until recent times the city didn’t realize the park existed. Ann approached then Mayor Harvey Johnson concerning getting help in developing the green space. The city began putting in benches, mowing the grass and improved the street. Currently the Belhaven Heights Community Association is developing a pedestrian friendly remake of the park to complement the new bike and walking trail soon to be constructed.
Belhaven Heights has remained viable through the years thanks to the leadership of its various community organizations which began in 1981 with the formation of the Belhaven Heights Residential Association, Margaret Moize, president. This later became the Belhaven Heights Improvement Association (1985) and ultimately the Belhaven Heights Community Association (BHCA) in the mid-1990’s. There were other neighborhood organizations formed for specific purposes dedicated to preserving the interests of area residents.
A harbinger of the BHCA was the Belhaven Heights Neighborhood Plan published in December 1995. The plan was a joint effort by the City of Jackson and the Belhaven Heights Improvement Association. . Advisory committee members from the neighborhood were Keith Conner, Linell Corban, Meta Hogue, Michael Leo, Kaalon Mann, Margaret Moize, Annette Pressley, Poly Shank and Dr. Sara Weisenberger. Today’s Belhaven Heights Community Association grew out of the culmination of the various organizations previously mentioned. Based on information contained in the Association’s December 1996 newsletter, the Heights, BHCA began in late 1996 in the homes of some of its resident leaders. Its first board consisted of Dr. Sara Weisenberger, president; Gary Hall, vice-president; Lynne Crater, secretary; Jim McCraw, treasurer and Anne Pressley, member at large.
Other early neighborhood leaders through the years include David Uecker, Shelia Massimino, Cindy Yancy, Danny Cupit, Bridget White, Cmdr. John Tisdale, Waddell Nejam, Charlie Smith, Billy Robbins, Landon Huey, Alex McCord, George McAdory, Mark Aderhold, Peter Hilton, Kacy Hellings, Stephanie Moore, Steve Funderburg, Michael True and Nana Kratochvil. There have been many others who have served their neighborhood and its Association over the years, but these were the pioneers.
McCord is the current president of BHCA heading a board made up of Jennifer Welch, Sam Begley, Quint Hunt and Laura Neill. The secretary is Kate Dutro. The mission of the Association remains as it has over its history addressing property issues, cleanup and zoning. Alex McCord and the BHCA have provided valuable information toward this article. A Heights resident since 1998, Alex is familiar with the needs of his area. He is an architect and has been instrumental in long range planning for his neighborhood. In addition he has designed a concept for Belhaven Heights Park which now awaits funding to be developed and built. He sees traffic calming, preservation of historic residences and practical zoning ordinances as keys to an optimum future for the Heights. He supports the construction of the Museum Trail and adjacent park and is working with the city planning department on future development in these areas.
McCord spoke to the purpose of the Belhaven Heights Community Association and its place in the Greater Belhaven Historic District matrix. “The BHCA is not unique from most neighborhood associations of its kind. Our primary function is to provide an active and alert organization that can be counted upon to address issues facing the neighborhood, whether good or ill. We pride ourselves on being a ‘community’ association open to all residents – not just homeowners.”
The Association president went on to say, however, “We would be shortsighted to not appreciate that we ultimately must work to promote and protect our neighborhood for the good of those who have invested in it, namely our home and business owners. At the same time, we want to know all our neighbors as they too have an investment in a solid neighborhood and may also one day have a stake in it. We sponsor social as well as service events and foster committees for any project deemed worthy of effort by us or by residents at large.”
The Belhaven Heights Community Association, like the Belhaven Improvement Association and the Greater Belhaven Security Association, is represented on the board of the Greater Belhaven Foundation and as such serves to bind together the interests of all representatives of Greater Belhaven. The Belhaven Heights renaissance is palatable with a future as bright as its history is rich. It is a neighborhood of achievement and a deserved pride that stands on the threshold of exciting days ahead. Like all successful entities that success is built on the strength of its people. Belhaven Heights is a true example of what unity can accomplish through the diversity of ideas.
This concludes the four part series of articles on Jackson’s Belhaven Heights neighborhood. It has been a pleasant and educational privilege for these writers to have met and shared ideas with a variety of interesting and accomplished people. Our thanks go out to those mentioned in these articles and to Jackson’s early developers who had the vision to build something to last beyond their lifetime. We stand in humble appreciation of these efforts.
Bill and Nan Harvey
July 2018
Acknowledgements and sources of this material include the current BHCA board of directors, Jim Kopernak, Cal and Laura Cristil Horlings, Jennifer Welch, the Belhaven Heights Neighborhood Plan, Heights newsletters 1996 – April/May 2001, the Belhaven Heights subject file at the MDAH and the Greater Belhaven Foundation.
July Produce Stand
The Man That Painted Banner Red
It was in the spring of the year in the dear long ago. There had been a long dry spell and the farmers were well up with their work, but, complaining as to the weather quite a number were gathered in town. A dark heavy cloud was seen rising in the west and about noon a nice refreshing shower fell to bless and benefit these sons of toil.
In the afternoon the village of Banner was filled with happy farmers. The postmaster, Esq. Brower, and myself were sitting in the post office looking at the throng around Frank Brantley’s grocery. The dingy old gallon pot was sitting on a stump in front of the grocery, well filled with red liquor and surrounded by a happy crowd, all in a merry mood and still partaking rather freely.
All at once a young man stepped into the post office and asked if there was any mail for John Martin. He was rather small, with light hair and a few strangling red hairs on his upper lip and chin. Brower, after a careful look, told him there was no mail for John Martin. He said then, “I am a stranger here. This is the first time I was ever in Banner. I am Fighting John Martin from Butta Hatchie creek; I am a fighter from the east. I have often heard of Banner and I have come over to-day to clean her up and paint Banner red. I understand you have some fighters here and I would like to meet them. I tell you I am a fighter.”
He pulled from his ponderous pocket an old-style, iron-barrel pistol, with tube and hammer on the top and said, “You see this. I am going to have some fun this evening. The first man that bristles up to me, I’m going to down him.”
He walked nimbly across the muddy street to the stump and gallon pot, introduced himself to the crowd and took a drink of the liquor. A dispute between the Van Winkles and the Hardins soon resulted in a general fight. The men were all in their shirt sleeves and most of the young men and boys were barefooted. The men engaged in the fighting were old Carter Van Winkle who had a small lumber stick in his hand and he knocking the Hardins right and left, when he was modestly confronted by John Martin who asked, “Who are you and which side are you fighting? I am Fighting John Martin from Butta Hatchie. Did you ever see me turn loose in Banner? If not, look out!”
He thrust his old pistol into Van Winkle’s face and pulled the trigger, but the pistol snapped and Van Winkle struck him over the head with his stick and brought him to his knees. Martin galloped across the muddy street on his all-fours with Van Winkle striking him with the lumber stick first on the right and then on the left side as he crawled across with his pistol in one hand and his hat in the other.
Just as he crossed the street Van Winkle left him and returned to the general fight. Martin dragged himself into the post office all covered with blood, handed his pistol and hat to Brower and called for a doctor. The little Banner doctor examined him and found that he had received a downward lick on the side of his head that pealed the scalp his forehead back beyond his ear.
“Fix it quick doctor I want to get away from here.” The doctor took two or stitches, brought the edges of the wound up together, tied a few bands across. Brower handed him his hat and pistol; remarking as he did so, “This is hell turned loose in Banner, is it not?”
“No,” said the little doctor, “he is the man that painted Banner red.”
“Let me out of here,” said Martin and he slipped out, took through the woods to the south of Banner and that was the last seen of Martin, the Fighter from Butta Hatchie that painted Banner red.
(Signed, The Rambler, The Calhoun Monitor, Pittsboro, MS, Aug. 18, 1904)
Lower Jefferson Utility Boxes
Chilton County Peaches
History of Belhaven Heights – Part 3: Greenwood Cemetery
Greenwood Cemetery is not within the confines of Belhaven Heights but many of the Heights former residents are now within the confines of Greenwood Cemetery. Early Jackson Mayor James Boyd is buried there as well as Miss Eudora Welty. They are not alone in their repose. They are surrounded by six Confederate generals, seven Mississippi governors, 14 Jackson mayors, six Supreme Court justices, 27 clergymen, and about 600 Confederate soldiers, most of who have been identified. In its earliest days it was known simply as “the burial ground.”
The cemetery is part of a federal land grant which also established the city of Jackson as the official site of the Capital of Mississippi on November 21, 1821. It was formally designated by the state legislature effective January 1, 1823. The original six acres were known simply as “the graveyard” and later as the City Cemetery. It was officially designated Greenwood Cemetery in 1899. An early map (1822) showed the area of what is now West Street as vacant land indicating that the cemetery was not yet within the city limits which ended at High street. Over time the six acres was extended northward from George to Davis Street, delineated on the west by Lamar and on the east by West Street.
Interviews with Cecile Wardlaw, president of the Greenwood Cemetery Association, and Peter Miazza in 2013 provided a wealth of information on the early days and development of the cemetery. “There are 330 unmarked graves at the original south end of the cemetery,” Mrs. Wardlaw related, “with the estimated number of all graves today being 5,000.” The oldest known surviving marker with a date is Governor Abram Marshall Scott who died June 12, 1833. There are an estimated 2,200 monuments posted on the Find a Grave website.
Mrs. Wardlaw told of how the roses came to be along the roads and walkways. “Local horticulturalist Felder Rushing donated the roses you see along the paths which he obtained from the Antique Rose Emporium in Texas. He did some work for that establishment and instead of getting a fee; he came back with a truck and trailer load of roses. He will not tell us the names of the cuttings but only to say ‘they are there for people to enjoy’.”
The city of Jackson owns the cemetery but much of the maintenance is done by the Cemetery Association which also raises funds to repair and perform landscaping work. Various volunteer groups including local Boy Scouts, AmeriCorps, the Phi Theta Kappa honorary fraternity at Mississippi College and various neighborhood groups have donated time to keeping up the facility. The Brookhaven Monument Company is the primary source of stone repairs.
A number of Jackson’s first families have been interred in the cemetery. Marian Dunbar, first pastor of Mt. Helm Baptist Church is there. It was named Helm because Thomas Helm contributed the lot for the church and gave the church money to help with construction. According to its website, Mt. Helm, Jackson’s oldest African American church began in 1835 with several enslaved African Americans who worshiped in the basement of the First Baptist Church. It became a separate body in 1867, the year the 13th Amendment was ratified. A modern version of the structure may be seen today at 300 E. Church Street near the west side of the cemetery.
In addition to Miss Welty and Mayor Boyd, other Jacksonians of note interred in Greenwood Cemetery include Millsaps College founders Colonel William Nugent, Bishop Charles Betts Galloway, and Dr. William Belton Murrah, who served as the college’s first president; Dr. Lewis Fitzhugh, first president of Belhaven College; founders of the Baptist Hospital Harley R. Shands, M.D. and John Farrar Hunter, M.D., Reverend John Hunter, pastor of First Presbyterian Church (1858) and R.H. Henry, founder of the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. Monuments are plentiful for many early Jackson families including the Yergers, Spenglers, Greens, Poindexters, Lemons, Virdens, and Miazzas.
Monuments range from barely noticeable to imposing. In the circle by the cemetery’s summer house, is the monument of Rev. Amos Clever, an Episcopal priest, who died in October 1853 from yellow fever. Five years after his death some women took up money for this monument. The exact location of his grave is unknown so his marker was placed where it is today. The widow Clever had a girl’s school in a frame building where St. Andrews Episcopal Church stands today at S. West and E. Capitol Streets. In 1854, she sold the school to the state for its first school for the deaf. There is also the “Weeping Lady” (Sarah Ann and George Lemon plot), the Hilzheim lot framing structure, which looks like a church, and the “Angel Tombstone” in the Poindexter lot.
The most interesting monuments have stories associated with their namesakes.
The Saunders Stone
Lawrence Saunders was a professor at the deaf school which was then across the street from his mother’s house near Barksdale and North State Streets. On Christmas night in 1895, he dressed as Mrs. Santa Claus to entertain the students. Saunders was on his way to the school and stopped by his mother’s home to show her his costume but the front door was locked. He let himself in through the back gallery. The only person home was his nephew who awoke to discover a strange presence. He shouted “stop or I’ll shoot.” Unfortunately, Lawrence, being deaf, did not hear the warning and was killed by his own kinsman. It is never a good idea to shoot Santa Claus.
The Little Dog Tombstone
An unnamed small girl lived in Jackson during the mid 1880’s. Her family moved from the capitol city to Oxford where the child died. She was buried in the Simms plot which may be seen north of the summer house to the right of the circle. It is said her small grief-stricken dog would not leave her grave and died at its foot a short time later. His likeness remains to guard his mistress through the portals of eternity – faithful to the end.
The Good Samaritan Monument
Dr. Samuel Cartwright was well known for his work and writings to control the great yellow fever and cholera epidemics. During the Civil War, he was charged with getting rid of dysentery in the Confederate military camps but he contacted dysentery himself and died in 1863. The carving of “the Good Samaritan” on his tombstone attests to his sacrifice and may be seen on his marker today.
My Dog Skip
A movie scene filmed in Greenwood Cemetery was based on Willie Morris’ 2000 novel My Dog Skip, and represents the witch’s tomb in the Yazoo City Cemetery which depicted one of the characters going out among the tombstones to sit down and drink booze. Also, a replica of the Helm mausoleum was constructed for the movie in which the bootleggers stored their moonshine. There is no written record, however, of these spirits raising other sprirts or sharing their company for the evening.
Lorian Hemingway’s Ghosts
The granddaughter of the novelist Ernest Hemingway came to Jackson in 1999 to write an article on the 1966 Candlestick Park tornado. While here she participated in a ghost tour in Greenwood cemetery, which was conducted and scripted by Jo Barksdale, much to the delight of a number of children.
The Tallest Monument
The most imposing monument in the cemetery looks eastward toward the rising sun. Edmund Richardson was fabulously wealthy, controlling more cotton land than anyone outside the country of Egypt. He died in New Orleans in an area made famous by Josh White’s folk ballad “House of the Rising Sun”. No one knows exactly to what extent the sun rose on that occasion, but it does make for fascinating speculation. Following his death his wife donated $5,000 to the church in his name. Perhaps this was a wise investment.
They are all here, diverse in their lifetime but equal in the eyes of God. Within the 22 acres of monuments and memories lie those who preceded this day and share its common ground. There are the wealthy and the pauper, the slave and his master, the business owner and his clerk, the patriarch and his child. There are the physicians the barristers, the judges, the politicians, the writers and artists, the entrepreneurs and the indigents. There are the prominent with their success and their secrets. There are the unnamed and the unknown. There are the wretched and the rascals and the Good Samaritan and the faithful dog. There is Everyman. As Albert Einstein once said, “Before God we are equally wise and equally foolish.”
As you walk the paths of Greenwood cemetery, contemplate the rose shaded spirits around you. Feel their presence. You, like them, are part of our neighborhood’s heritage and its destiny. While our own lives are but a flash of light in the darkness of creation, the deeds of those who sleep around us endure forever. It is one final reminder that beauty is at our fingertips and that we are not alone.
Thanks go to Cecile Wardlaw, president of the greenwood Cemetery Association and board member Peter Miazza for providing the material for this article. Copyright Bill and Nan Harvey, April, 2018
A History of Belhaven Heights – Part 2
The Railroad and a Ghost
Railroads have always had an element of romance as they snaked across America beginning in 1827. They brought with them cheap travel, commerce, new lands, pioneer families, train robbers and the ever-present element of excitement. Steel rails linked our oceans, joined the great lakes with the Gulf and over time reached out to help unite our people into a great nation.
Formerly the Gulf, Mobile & Northern (GM&N) Railroad, the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio (GM&O) began its journey in Mobile about 1940 and traveled northward to Jackson, TN. Old maps show a corollary loop of track that began in New Orleans, ran through Jackson, MS and joined the main line at Meridian. 
The passenger train that passed through Jackson was named the ‘Rebel’ which may still be remembered by older Jacksonians as the sleek red and silver locomotive which daily pulled into the passenger depot under the old Pearl Street Bridge. The freight depot was located in the structure which houses Hal and Mal’s Restaurant today. Both were built by the GM&N in 1927.
The GM&O and its rolling stock was an early exponent of the modern age. It had the distinction of having one of the first diesel locomotives in the country and I can still remember its whistle and roar from my open bedroom window on Manship Street when I was a boy.
There was a reason that musicians like Jimmie Rodgers and Arlo Guthrie sang of the dynamism of the rails, why Mark Twain and Thomas Wolfe wrote of them, Rob Harkins and Norman Rockwell painted them and Americans for more than 190 years have ridden them to their destiny wherever that might be.
All cities had their trains and Belhaven Heights had its railroad in the GM&O which until recent times formed the eastern border of this neighborhood. The rails are gone now, given way to progress and its bed is destined to become a bike and walking trail. Yet a landmark remains and if you will climb aboard with me, I’ll tell you about it.
There was a beanery in Belhaven Heights. It was the only early industry in the neighborhood and over a lifespan of 80 plus years hosted wayfarers, roustabouts, a Rebel….and a ghost.
The term ‘beanery’ dates from the year 1887 in England and was loosely thought of as an inn for travelers. It had nothing to do with coffee or tea or a vegetable. In America, a beanery became the name of a hotel for railroad men; a place to rest, to eat, to sport or reflect on their way to further destinations. The term beanery came to mean “let’s go eat” and breakfast, the primary meal for freshly awakened sojourners, was served by “beanery queens” – waitresses, some left over from the night before.
Our beanery stands at the curved intersection of Madison and Spengler Streets. Built in 1927 as a two story craftsman residence, it resembles a fugitive image from the old west with a downstairs porch and upper balcony that could have welcomed the likes of Jesse James or Doc Holladay.
According to former owner Jackson photographer Steve Colston, the structure was purchased from Mrs. Louise Middleton by J.W. Miller in 1930 and was called Miller’s Café, with Humphries Barber Shop on the eastern corner. It was subsequently named Miller’s Place and remained so for a number of years. According to Colston, back in the day you could get an upstairs bed for thirty-five cents a night and for an additional dime, access to a shower. Plate lunches were available downstairs where the special was a large bowl of soup for a quarter.
Over the years the building passed through several hands. Mrs. Louis Miller ran the restaurant in the 1940’s, while J.W. took care of upstairs. From Herbert Stair’s restaurant in 1950, it became the GM&O Beanery restaurant in 1954, Hugh Tullos’ restaurant a year later and the Spengler Street Café in the early 1960’s. It was vacant for several years before housing the Central Systems Company in1973. It was bought by Colston in 1976 where it served as his photography studio for 35 years.
My own familiarity with the beanery was as a teenager in the 1950’s. Several neighbor children along Madison and Harding streets would visit the establishment for soft drinks and to take in the atmosphere. There was a bar and a jukebox and railroad men who played and bet on pinball. We weren’t allowed to share in this entertainment, much less a beer, and if we had bothered to sneak upstairs would doubtless have grown up far quicker than we could imagine.
No old haunt worth its copper plumbing would be complete without a ghost. Of course our beanery had one and not only that – it’s been documented.
In a feature article in the Times-Picayune’s Dixie Magazine dated October 28, 1978, Maybelle Gorringe interviewed owner Steve Colston who confirmed the existence of the specter. In the article Steve tells of his grandmother hearing footsteps, of curtains moving, of doorknobs turning, voices in the night, tinkling bells, light fixtures falling from the ceiling and a blowing wind along the stairs.
Neighbors told of two men who met mysterious deaths; one stomped to death in an upstairs bedroom, the other fatally shot on the stairs. Colston said railroaders told him stories of police raids and chases. One said he saw police back a paddywagon up to the door and load it full of people arrested for gambling. On another occasion police chased a man from one of the upstairs rooms to the nearby rail yard and shot up three train cars getting him out and into custody.
Other strange events have taken place in the old structure over the years. The 1979 flood covered the first floor and when workmen replaced it they discovered human bones and a boot. Could this have been the unfortunate soul killed on the stairs? Could all the strange happenings been his ghost?
Was there a ghost? Could it be that Colston, being a professional photographer has a specter silhouetted on a lost negative in a forgotten drawer? Were there footsteps in the hallway? Did the bells ring? Did the doorknob turn and voices mumble in the night? Or was it just the wind?
After 90 years, our beanery stands today as a modern duplex, renovated and modernized and chic in its new design. Yet if you look closely at the upstairs window on the east side of the balcony, you might imagine Maybelle’s ghost, watching and listening for the thunder and rumble of the Rebel, the clash of switching boxcars and the mournful whistle of an early diesel heading north to the river trestle that still stands behind Laurel Street Park, pulling behind it a time forever gone but being replaced by an innovative neighborhood reinventing itself.
What happened to the ghost? It most likely left on the same train on which it came to join the workers and vagrants and ladies from the second floor streaming to the thousand destinations of their lives to begin again the process of creating the folklore of America.
And speaking of ghosts, our next installment will be on Greenwood Cemetery.
The source of this segment is from the article A beanery in Belhaven by Bill and Nan Harvey, 2012; 2015. Copyright Bill and Nan Harvey, April, 2018
World Famous Bar and Grill
