Rolling Fork, the county seat of Sharkey County, is a city in the southern Mississippi Delta north of Vicksburg. On March 24, 2023, a deadly EF4 tornado struck the city and flattened a strip through the community. The tornado killed 17 people in Rolling Fork and in nearby Midnight and Silver City. In March, my wife and I donated bottled water to the relief effort (photographs in my May 13 post).
While sorting through folders of negatives and slides, I found some early 2000s digital and film photographs from Rolling Fork. Here is a quick look when the was semi-intact. The town had been poor and struggling economically for decades, so much of the downtown was in poor condition even 20+ years ago.
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| Bear Affair, 2008 |
Rolling Fork celebrates the Great Delta Bear Affair most years. The photograph above was from a cheerful 2008 Affair. The fest celebrates the time that president Teddy Roosevelt refused to shoot a baby bear that had been tied to a tree for him. A toy company saw the marketing potential, and the Teddy Bear has become a beloved children's toy. Despite the tornado damage, Bear Affair returned to Rolling Fork on October 27 and 28. I was out of state, but I read that Elvis showed up. Darn, missed the good stuff again.
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| Former Courtney's Store (hardware and garden supplies). |
Courtney's Store was a long-time hardware and garden supply vendor on Walnut Street. A friend and I explored many years ago and saw vacuum tubes and other goodies in the back. Mrs. Courtney's son, Willard, was our hairdresser in Vicksburg for some years. He was murdered during a drug deal in Rolling Fork sometime after 2010.
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| McKenzie's store, also on Walnut, was mostly demolished by the tornado. |
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| Sharecropper cottage south of town near the former Red Barn |
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| The former Red Barn, built in 1918, collapsed on April 30, 2011. All wood has been removed, but the two silos still stand. |
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| Mont Helena mansion north of town. |
Mont Helena is a remarkable colonial revival mansion built by Helen Johnstone and George Harris in 1896. Fire destroyed the first mansion, and I do not know if the one you see today is from 1896 or slightly later. In the late-1980s, the house was vandalized and a wreck, but various owners lovingly restored it. Somewhere, I have some slides of the house in its ruined condition.
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| 53 East China Street, March 2003 (Olympus OM2s camera, 35mm ƒ/2.8 Zuiko Shift lens, Fuji Superior 200 film) |
China Street, once a busy commercial hub, was lined with abandoned stores. I do not know their condition now.
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| 24 East China Street, the former Danzig's Furniture store |
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| Barnes' Grocery 614 Chestnut Street) and an asphalt-sided shotgun house (612 Chestnut). |
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| Blue Front Cafe, Chestnut Street (50mm ƒ/3.5 Zuiko Auto-Macro lens) |
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| Grace United Methodist Church, 6260 Grace Road, Grace, Mississippi (35mm Shift Zuiko lens) |
The residents of Rolling Fork are a tough bunch and are in the process of rebuilding. Good for them.
I took the 2003 photographs with an Olympus OM2s camera on Fuji Superia 200 film. I still have two Olympus lenses and need to buy a body on which to use them.
