The Mississippi Delta 32: Satartia

Lift bridge, Yazoo River, Satartia Road (photograph taken from levee)

Satartia is a charming little town (village) on the east bank of the Yazoo City in Yazoo County, about 32 miles north of Vicksburg. According to Wikipedia, "It is Mississippi's smallest incorporated municipality by population. Located on the east bank of the Yazoo River, Satartia was once a thriving river port, and is one of the oldest non-Native settlements in Yazoo County." Although the 2017 population was only about 54, the village has a number of well-preserved historical cottages and homes.

Satartia Grocery, 304 Plum St., Satartia (Ektar 25 film, 35mm Super-Takumar lens)

Satartia Grocery (35mm Super-Takumar lens). The Fordice sticker on the door refers to the former governor, whose administration was marked by racial discord, scandal, corruption, and drinking.

Satartia Grocery photographed through glass (Fuji X-E1 digital file)

Shed behind Satartia Grocery

Not too hot - yet (digital file)

The Satartia Grocery must have once provided supplies and food staples to the town's residents. I could not tell how long it has been closed. I assume residents now must drive to Yazoo City or Vicksburg to buy groceries.

Some of the houses in town are occupied; others are empty but not abandoned. This part of the town is east of the Yazoo River levee and is therefore out of the flood zone.

On Old Hickory Street, not far from the junction with Rte 3, I saw this old Sears Roebuck trailer.

Former grist mill (Ektar 25 film, 35mm ƒ/3.5 Super-Takumar lens)

West of the levee, the land drops and was pretty wet as of May 27, 2019. This shed's contents (if any) likely stayed dry this year. A gent from a house nearby said this was once the grist mill.

I crossed the lift bridge and headed west on Satartia Road but could only drive a couple of miles before the road dropped under the water. If the road were open, it would take you to Holly Bluff, another small agricultural Mississippi Delta town which I photographed in 2016 (click the link).

This ends out short visit to Satartia. Most of the photographs are from long-expired Kodak Ektar 25 film, taken with a Pentax Spotmatic camera and various Pentax Takumar lenses. The Ektar 25 had odd color shifts, but I was able to partly correct them with the automatic color function in Photoshop CS3.

Update March 2021: A friend sent me some 120 size Ektar 25, which I used in and around Vicksburg (please click the link)

Burks Grocery, Cook Road, Edwards, Mississippi

On our continuing tour of country stores, here is one more: Burks Grocery on Cook Road, Edwards. 

The modest wood building is south of Highway 27, set among small homes and trailers.

Burks Grocery, Cook Road

The store also sold gasoline.  The sales were recent enough to be in the unleaded era (post-1970s).

On a quiet afternoon, sit on the porch and chat with your neighbors. We have lost a lot in our society with the transition to giant supermarkets and Super WalMarts. Who sits outside the Kroger and chats with his neighbors?

Photographs taken with a Panasonic G3 or Fuji X-E1 digital cameras, tripod-mounted. On the G3, I used a manual-focus Olympus OM 50mm f/3.5 macro lens.

More Views of Margaret's Grocery, N. Washington Street, Vicksburg

I found some more old photographs of Margaret's Grocery at 4535 North Washington Street that I wanted to share with you readers. The first is another April 1996 view of the north end of the complex. Notice the bus is already in place. I had not noticed it before and am not sure when this acquisition was added to the collection.

Here is the bus in March 2002, with its checkerboard paint motif. I took this late in the day, when the light was fading. This is a Kodachrome slide taken with a Leica rangefinder camera and a 20 mm Russar lens.

Finally, here is the unique doorway with newspaper clippings from around the country describing the Gro. It was an amazing place and I wish I had taken more photographs back in its prime.