Willis Store, Middle Road, Edwards, Mississippi

In the last article, we looked at an abandoned store at the junction of Newman and Canada Cross Roads. Proceed east a few miles on Canada Cross Road and you get to the intersection with Middle Road.  This is the site of the Willis Store.

Country stores in Edwards, Mississippi

Willis Store, corner of Canada Cross and Middle Roads, Edwards, Mississippi.

The building is in reasonably good condition and has modern lighting. But the price in the gasoline pump shows an older era.

This gasoline pump was last used when gasoline was $1.249/gallon, even though the "1" in the leftmost window is no longer visible.  If it was 24 cents/gallon, that would date this pump to the mid-1960s, a couple decades too old.  My friend remembered the business as active in the early 1980s.  Also, he told me that there was another old store in the woods south of the intersection, but the woods were thick, and I saw no remnants.

Jax Beer was brewed by the Jackson Brewery of New Orleans. Prior to 1956, it was brewed by the Jax Brewing Company of Jacksonville, Florida.

Historic home on Bill Strong Road, Edwards.

If you continue east, the road becomes Bill Strong Road.  About a mile east is a handsome historic house with six pillars.  The house may be unoccupied, but a cat crossed the porch, and just to the right, and couple of curious cows watched me.

The first three photographs were taken with a Fuji X-E1 digital camera and the 27 mm f/2.8 lens.  The old house was with a Panasonic G3 camera and 20 mm f/1.7 lens.  The black and white frames were reprocessed with PhotoNinja software.

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.

Ongoing Decay: Tallulah, Louisiana

Tallulah is the parish seat of Madison Parish, in northwest Louisiana. It is about 20 minutes west of the Mississippi River via Interstate 20.  Like many agricultural towns in this part of the country, it must have been active and prosperous up through the 1950s or 1960s.  The downtown had a business district along Depot Street, and the courthouse was set on a broad lawn with stores lining the surrounding streets. Nice houses lined Walnut Bayou.

Today, Tallulah is a sad shell of its former self, with closed stores, a crumbling downtown, seedy houses, and a general air of despondence. Farm communities in the northern Great Plains have experienced a land and farm commodities boom in the last decade (especially for corn), but this prosperity looks like it totally bypassed Tallulah.

East Green Street - U.S. 80 - view west

Before Interstate 20 was built south of town, Highway US 80 was the main east-west thoroughfare through northern Louisiana.  It passed through town on Green Street.

Today, many of the businesses on East Green Street look semi-derelict.  Fast food restaurants are the only thriving businesses.

Garage on East Green Street, Tallulah

This is the remains of a garage on East Green Street.  Part of the business may still be operating.

Depot street parallels the railroad tracks, which are active with Kansas City Southern freight through-trains. But the stores have little prosperity now.

These abandoned shops are on North Chestnut, facing the courthouse.

Every year in October, Tallulah hosts a Teddy Bearfest.  The 2013 event, centered at the Madison Parish Courthouse was crowded, and people seemed to be in a good mood.  At the BBQ stand, they even called me "Sir."  About the same time of the year, Rolling Fork, Mississippi, has its own Bear Affair, but I think these two fests are only related in name.

Proceed west out of town along West Green street, and the scene gets worse.  You see closed beer joints and abandoned youth clubs.

Go further west, and you arrive at the Steve Hoyle Rehabilitation Center.  Prisons are a big business in northeast Louisiana.  The cottage and little shotgun shacks were across the street.

Approaching thunderstorm, West Green Street, Tallulah

For a previous post on Tallulah, click the link for Scott Field, where Delta Airlines is reputed to have started service.

All photographs taken with a Panasonic G3 digital camera, nos. 2, 3, and 4 with an Olympus OM Zuiko Shift 35mm f/2.8 lens, the rest with the Lumix 20mm f/1.7 lens.  RAW files were processed with PhotoNinja software and converted to black and white with DXO Filmpack 3.  For most, I used the Tri-X film emulation.  It is not the same as real Tri-X, which makes me think I should go back to using film and a hand-held light meter.  I will need to have my Leica camera cleaned and adjusted.