D'Lo
D'Lo is a small town in Central Mississippi a half hour south of Jackson off the Simpson Highway 149. The town is mostly known for the D'Lo Water Park, which is on the Strong River. The family and I tried the water park once, but the river was low and it was not very interesting. The town was prosperous and busy early in the 20th century, when Finkbine Lumber Company operated a large sawmill. Many (most?) of the stores in the former commercial strip date to before the mid-1930s, when the sawmill closed.
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2201 Simpson Hwy (Rte 149), May 5, 2021 (4×5" Tri-X Prof. film, Tachihara camera, 90mm ƒ/6.8 Angulon lens) |
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| 2201 Simpson Hwy (Rte 149) |
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Corner Grocery, E 4th Street (Panatomic-X film, Fuji GW690II camera, 90mm ƒ/3.5 Fujinon lens) |
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Store, corner of S. Poplar and E. 4th Streets (Panatomic-X film, Fuji GW690II camera, 90mm ƒ/3.5 Fujinon lens) |
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| Stores, E. 4th Street (Panatomic-X film, Fuji GW690II, 90mm ƒ/3.5 Fujinon lens) |
Florence
Most people rush through Florence on US 49 as they travel between Jackson and Hattiesburg. Much of the architecture along the road is modern strip mall or industrial. I saw one interesting cluster of older stores.
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| 3009 Hwy US 49, Florence |
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| 3011 Hwy US 49, Florence |
Harrisville
Harrisville is a small unincorporated community in Simpson County about 25miles south of Jackson. I drove through the community on MS 469 after leaving D'Lo.
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Former gas station, Simpson Hwy (Rte 469) (4×5" Tri-X Prof. film, Tachihara camera, 135mm ƒ/5.6 Caltar S-II lens) |
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| Ready to roll, logging truck, Mulligan Road |
Hopewell
Hopewell is another unincorporated community, this time in Covington County.
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Ready to roll, Old River Road (Panatomic-X film, Fuji GW690II, 90mm ƒ/3.5 Fujinon lens) |
Polkville
Polkville is a town in Smith County.
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| On patrol, MS Hwy 13, June 23, 2021 |
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Townsend Road west of Polkville (Kodak Super-XX film, Tachihara camera, 240mm ƒ/9 G-Claron lens, yellow filter) |
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No shopping here, Polkville (Kodak Royal Gold 25 film converted to B&W, Leica M2 camera, 50mm ƒ/2 Summicron-DR lens) |
This ends a very quick run through small rural communities in south central Mississippi south of Jackson. I took these pictures in mid-2021, during the pandemic. Traveling by car solo around rural Mississippi was a nice way to get out and about. Fortunately, we were not confined to our homes.
I used Kodak Panatomic-X film in my Fuji GW690II camera (the "Texas Leica") and Tri-X Professional in my 4×5" Tachihara wood field camera. I really need to use it more often.
