The Mississippi Delta 31: the Onward Country Store, Onward

Onward Country Store, September 1996 (4×5" Tri-X film, Tachihara camera, 75mm ƒ/8.0 Super-Angulon lens)

Onward is an unincorporated community in Sharkey County, Mississippi. The modest country store at the corner of US 61 (the Blues Highway) and Mississippi Highway 1 has been a fixture of the community since 1913. In its time, it sold various goods to farmers and travelers, provided quick lunches, and housed a post office. I previously wrote about the flooding in the area during the great flood of 2019.

Interior of Onward Store, September 1996 (75mm ƒ/8.0 Super-Angulon lens)

Mechanical bears, Onward Store, September 1996

I visited the store in 1996, and the proprietor generously let me take some 4×5" Tri-X frames with my wood field camera. The two mechanical bears would move on their pedestal. Some time after that, the store was burglarized and the antique electric bears stolen. It is amazing how low some people are. The bears commemorated the legend of the Teddy Bear, which was created by The Ideal Novelty and Toy Co. based on Teddy Roosevelt refusing to shoot a tied-up baby bear during a November, 1902, hunting trip.

Steiff Teddy Bear, approx. 1953 or 1954 vintage (Polaroid Sepia film, Tachihara 4×5" camera, 180mm Caltar IIN lens)

This is my Steiff bear. He traveled from Greece to Burma to Ceylon and destinations in between, ending up in Vicksburg. Oddly, no one in the family told me the story about Teddy Roosevelt.

Onward Store, October 2002 (Kodachrome 25 slide, Nikon F3, 35mm ƒ/2.8 PC-Nikkor lens)

Onward Store, October 2002 (Kodachrome 25)

It was difficult to photograph the store because an ugly modern canopy over the gasoline pumps obscured the front unless you were way off to the side. The two Kodachrome color photographs above are from 2002. It was not possible then to take a straight-on view

Onward Store front porch, March 2019

Onward Store, March 29, 2019 (Fuji Acros 100 film, Voigtländer Vito BL camera, 50mm ƒ/3.5 Color-Skopar lens, 1 sec. exposure)

Onward Store, March 29, 2019

I checked in at the Onward Store in March of 2019 when I was exploring the flood in the southern Delta. The ugly steel canopy was gone, cleaning up the appearance of the front. The store had been largely converted into a restaurant, and it looked like business was brisk. I chatted with some British tourists who were on a Blues exploration. I took two pictures inside.

My friends and I ate at the Onward Store on April 11. The catfish was excellent. Then in about a week, an announcement on Facebook stated that the Onward Store had closed. I do not know the story. We must have been among the last customers. I hope someone can purchase the old store and continue the tradition of southern cuisine.

Farm house, Onward (Fuji Acros 100 film, Voigtländer Vito BL camera, 50mm ƒ/3.5 Color-Skopar lens)

There are not many houses near the store. This cottage on the east side of US 61 was closed and unoccupied. The vines and jungle are taking over.

Country Stores 17: The Tomato Place, Vicksburg, Mississippi

The Tomato Place, at 3229 Highway 61 S, is a combination restaurant, fruit stand, local products place (such as honey), and just plain fun spot to visit. I took these pictures in winter, so there was not much local produce available.

Many of these family-owned stores in Mississippi have folk art, hand-painted signs, and souvenirs  for your viewing pleasure. European travelers love these American local institutions.

Mallory (who is my neighbor) generously let me take pictures inside. This was a 1-sec exposure.

The honey is local - use it to develop resistance to pollen. The bread and cookies are excellent. My recommendation: visit and sit awhile. Patronize these local vendors.

Photographs taken on Kodak Tri-X 400 film with a 1971-vintage Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic camera and 35mm ƒ/3.5 Super-Takumar lens (a superb little optic). I developed the film in Kodak HC-110 developer. This 35mm lens flares at the bare light bulbs, but I rather like the effect. A thin emulsion film may exhibit less of this flare. I scanned the negatives with a Plustek 7600Ai film scanner operated by Silverfast Ai software.

Country Stores 16: Windham's Gro., Caile, Mississippi

In April of 2017, I was driving south on Mississippi highway 49W, and about half way between Indianola and Belzoni came across this little country store. The store looked unused, but a car to the left indicated that the house behind was occupied.

The faded sign said, "Sid Winham's Gro., Caile, Miss". Possibly a reader can tell us about Sid Windham or when the store was last open.

Photographs taken with a Rolleiflex 3.5E with 75mm ƒ/3.5 Schneider Xenotar lens using Kodak Panatomic-X film. I scanned the negatives with a Minolta Scan Multi medium format film scanner using Silverfast Ai software.

Country Stores 15: Poboy Don's, Tallulah, Louisiana

Just east of Tallulah, Louisiana, LA route 602 takes a wide swing through the farm country south of Interstate 20. An old country store sits at the corner of Montrose Road and 602. It was an active little shop and snack bar in 1989 when I took some photographs on 4×5" Fujichrome 50 film. I do not know when the store closed, but my Tallulah friend said he remembered eating there about 20 years ago.

In recent years, my friends and I have been biking on 602 because it passes by ponds with plenty of birds and alligators. But the old store has been closed at least since 2015.

June 11, 2022 Update: While biking on 602, I saw two fellows repairing the siding. They said they will convert it into a hunting camp. One of them said his grandmother built the store in the early 1950s.

Vermilion flycatcher, an occasional and rare winter visitor, LA route 602 near Mound

Smooth bike riding on LA 602 and very little traffic.

Summer wildflowers on LA 602.

I took the 1989 frames with my Tachihara 4×5" camera and 180mm Caltar IIN lens on Fujichrome 50. A generous friend gave me an Epson 3600 Photo scanner, which has a light cover large enough for 4×5, so I am slowly scanning old transparencies and black and white negatives. The 2017 black and white frames are from a medium format Hasselblad with Tri-X professional 320 film.

Country Stores 14: Wagner Grocery, Church Hill, Mississippi, in the heat with Ektar 25 film

This is a continuation of my irregular series on country stores and no. 02 in my irregular series on Abandoned Films ("Films from the Dead?). 

It was almost 95° F. one typical day last summer; I had received my Rolleiflex camera back from repair and wanted to test it. Where to go? Well, Church Hill, on Rte. 533 south of Alcorn State University, had an old country store, so off I went. It was also a good opportunity check some long-expired Kodak Ektar 25 film. This was one of the finest-resolution color print films ever made, and I still had 5 rolls in the freezer.

By the time I reached Church Hill, the temperature was converging on 100° (37° C.) and the light was harsh and glarey. OK, typical Mississippi August day. Just be careful to not drip sweat into your viewfinder. There is an old wood grocery store on Rte. 533 a bit north of Church Hill. There was no name on the building. It was secure, so not a derelict.

Just to the south, the elegant stone Gothic Revival Church is on a knoll at the road junction. Dating to 1857-1858, it is said to be the oldest Episcopal Church in Mississippi.

Right across the street from the Episcopal Church is the historic Wagner grocery. The building is reasonably sound and may be under renovation.

This is a crop from the full-size TIFF file showing the Coca-Cola sign on the building facade. Notice the amazing detail recorded on the Ektar 25 film and this 1950s lens.

Like many rural stores in the old days, this one served as the local post office for the town of Church Hill.

The detail and texture from this 1950s 5-element 75mm ƒ/3.5 Schneider Xenotar lens and the Ektar 25 film is quite amazing. I have no complaints. A modern medium format digital camera might show more detail, but this looks different than digital. Note that scanned at 48-bit full color and at 2820 dpi, the 54×54 mm Rolleiflex negative results in a 218 mbyte uncompressed TIFF file. This film likely contains even more detail, but I do not have a higher-resolution scanner. I tripod-mounted the Rolleiflex camera for all frames.

The Mississippi Delta 17: Country stores in Louise and Holly Bluff

After a long break, let us return to the Mississippi Delta, which is full of interesting little towns and remnants of an older era. Routes 149 and 16 take you through the southern Delta, past small towns, catfish ponds, and the Delta National Forest, ending in Rolling Fork (which will be the subject of a future article).

The town of Louise is pretty quiet but looks reasonably prosperous. There is a silo and an auto body shop on the main road.

South of Louise on Rte. 16, at the corner of Nixon Road, is a an old store. It was locked up, but the material (stuff) inside looked reasonably fresh, so maybe someone is using it as a storage building.

The Miller Mart Store at Tom Miller Road offers Budweiser.

Further south, another farm store at Bayland Road was closed. Notice the square front or facade.

Hwy 16 makes a right angle bend to the west as it enters Holly Bluff, with Sally's Ole Lake Gro at the bend. The Royal Crown Cola cooler was empty, so I suspect Sally has moved on.

Railroad Ave. crosses Rte 16, with this Hegman Farm, Inc., store at the corner.

Across the street was a traditional square brick store, unused now.

We will continue our tour of the Delta in future posts. Some of the photographs above were taken with Kodak BW400CN film in a Leica rangefinder camera  and 35mm f/2.0 Summicron lens (click the photos to enlarge and check if there is grain). The others were from a Fuji X-E1 digital camera with RAW files converted to monochrome using PhotoNinja software.

The Old Store of Bovina, Mississippi

This is a continuation of our series on rural country stores in Mississippi.

The appropriately-named Old Store is at 6216 Warriors Trail in Bovina. I visited a few weeks ago to look for a mortise lock, and the proprietors generously let me take photographs.

Just walking up to the front door, and you know this place will be fun.

My hosts told me that the building originally opened as a store in 1915, but only operated until 1919. Thereafter, for most of the 20th century, it served as a storage building.

Fortunately, some of the original furniture survived. These nice old cabinets and storage bins are original, but all the merchandise is new-old stuff.  The day I visited was cold (freezing), but a cheerful wood stove was blazing and taking some of the chill off the air.

If you need old hardware or other fittings, make a trip to the Old Store. It is nice to see this place in business. The phone is 601 636 3630; the owners are really friendly.

Exterior photographs taken with a Fuji X-E1 digital camera, tripod-mounted. (You know what I have written before: use a tripod for architecture. Your subject is not going to run away from you.) Interior photographs taken with a Panasonic G3 camera with Olympus 9-18 lens, files processed with Photo Ninja software.