The Old Country Store of Lorman, Mississippi - in Business

Old Country store, April 29, 2019 (Moto G5 digital file)

In the previous article, I posted pictures from the 1980s and 1990s of the Old Country Store in Lorman, Mississippi. Fast forward many years to 2019, and the Old Country Store Restaurant serves southern cuisine. My friends and I ate there on a Thursday in May of 2019 and had an excellent luncheon (big BBQ ribs!!). I did not try the famous fried chicken, but my friends attested to its culinary qualities and kilocalories.

These black and white frames are from Kodak Panatomic-X film exposed with the 50mm Distagon lens on my Hasselblad 501CM camera. The 50mm lens on the square format gives a similar view as a 27mm lens on 35mm, so in effect a wide-angle view. Click any frame to expand the view. I braced the camera body on a ladder or shelves and took long exposures.

The old adding machines and cash registers are gone, but I was surprised to see the remnants of an IBM punch card machine in the room with the faded business cards stapled to the wall. Some of you old-timers may recall when 80-character punch cards were used to submit programs and data to mainframe computers. When I learned FORTRAN programming in the 1970s, I used punch cards.

Currently unused church, McDonald Road, Lorman, Mississippi

There is not much left to the community of Lorman, My friend, Martha, told me that early in the 20th century, there were stores, a post office, and a rail junction. Her uncle used oxen to bring timber to the junction. Now it is all gone. But the Old Country Store is the spot of good news. This is a success story, a part of our cultural heritage still in use. Try the lunch there! And take a camera.