Monday, December 2, 2013

Country store, Canada Cross Road, Edwards, Mississippi

Country stores in Edwards, Mississippi.  Map drawn with ESRI ArcMap software.
Regular readers may remember when I wrote about the now-closed Newman Plantation store, at the corner of Newman and Canada Cross Roads, in Edwards, Mississippi.
Newman Plantation store, Canada Cross Road, Edwards. Photograph processed with PhotoNinja software.
Here is another view of the Newman store, with its deep overhang to protect motorists in the old days when they were having their cars fueled or serviced (remember when attendants in pressed uniforms filled the gasoline, washed windows, and checked oil?). A friend from Utica remembered that the store was open in the early 1970s.
Abandoned store or farm shop, Canada cross Road, Edwards, Mississippi
Just to the west on Canada Cross Road is another abandoned store or farm supply warehouse. My friend remembers his grandmother telling him that this was the original Newman store, while the white building on the corner was the new store (new meaning from the 1930s). The mailbox shows 1940, but that applies to the house across the street.
In the woods behind are some old farm sheds.  They were once next to to cleared fields, but the trees have been growing here for decades. Over time, many farms in Mississippi have been abandoned, and the land is returning to timber.
Some farm implements are lying in the leaves - isn't the equipment worth repairing or selling for scrap?
My favorite subject matter: old junk in sheds or buildings. Compared to film, digital cameras are so easy to use in low-light conditions, and there is minimal color shift with long exposures. But always use a tripod.

This area once had many small country stores.  The Betigheimer store is now gone.  The Yates store is still standing, but unused. A former store in Farnham, Virginia, is now privately owned.  Click the names for the links to the articles.

Photographs taken with a Fujifilm X-E1 digital camera with the 27mm lens.  I rented it for a weekend and was very impressed with the resolution and color quality. All photographs tripod-mounted.

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