The Mississippi Delta 37b: Eden, Tchula, and Sidon (Xpan 11)

On my recent trip north on Route 49E, I revisited the tiny town of Tchula. I photographed here in 2020 with black and white film. This time, I was using my friend's Hasselblad XPan panoramic camera and wanted to capture some scenes in the wide view.

Eden

Attack of the Spacemen, Eden, Mississippi (45mm lens, ƒ/8.0½, yellow-green filter)

Eden is a little town of about 130 inhabitants in Yazoo County just west of 49E. There is not much to see except for the Cyclopian spacemen in front of the closed convenience store. I have admired them before. We continue north on 49E.

Tchula

Bridge to Cooper Road, Tchula (45mm, yellow-green filter)

Guinea hen house, Front Street, Tchula. Note the wandering rooster.

Time for lunch, Front Street, Tchula (45mm lens, yellow-green filter, ƒ/8.0½)

Front Street may have been the former 49E. It semi-parallels Tchula Lake, which is really a tributary stream to the Yazoo River.

The Tchula Hardware Company on 201 East Main Street is like a throwback to another era - a hardware store with all the useful things you can use to fix your house, bicycle, car, flooring, or appliances. The gent siting outside graciously said I could to take pictures inside. A young lady in a couch did not pay any attention to me. I placed the XPan with the super-wide 30mm lens on a counter and set the self-timer. The exposures at ƒ/11 were in the 2-4 seconds range. To see some of the detail, please click any picture.

Sidon

West Railroad Avenue, Sidon (45m lens, yellow-green filter, ƒ/11)

There is not much to Sidon now. East and West Railroad Avenues have no commercial buildings any more other than the post office. The wide bare stretch where my car is parked may have once been a rail yard or the location of a depot.

This ends our short trip on US 49E in the central Delta. Stand-by for more exploring in the future. Thank you for riding along.

The Mississippi Delta 39: Thornton

Thornton is the remnant of a town on US 49E south of Tchula and north of Yazoo City in the Mississippi Delta. Two dilapidated square-front commercial buildings remain on the only street in town. More buildings would have once formed a small commercial core. 

Silos and gin south of Thornton (Kodak Tri-X film, Fuji GW690II camera, 90mm ƒ/3.5 EBC-Fujinon lens, yellow filter, 1/250 ƒ/8)

I drove on 49E on a blazing hot day in 2020. This gin and the silos may be unused, but possibly in Autumn, when cotton is harvested, the gin is put back into operation. The frames above are from a medium format Fuji GW690II camera with Tri-X film (click any frame to see details at 2400 pixels wide.

Mark's store in Thornton (45mm lens, yellow-green filter)

Mr. Kevin hangin' out, Thornton (45mm lens)

In 2022, I drove back north on 49E but this time stopped in Thornton. Mr. Kevin was standing in front of one of the square buildings. At 11:00, he was already slurring and asked me if I came to see Mark. I said sure. Mark came out of the other square building and was in much better shape. He said his father formerly owned the building and ran a store. At this time, it looked like Mark lived there. I forgot to ask if they had safe drinking water. Other gents in town were also drinking or enjoying weed. Mark generously said I could photograph the store. They all admired my 42-year-old car, which is a conversation ice-breaker. Kevin said with a car like that, he could get the chicks.

J. Chambers Street view west, Thornton (45 mm lens, yellow-green filter)

The three last photographs are from a Hasselblad XPan panoramic camera and the 45mm ƒ/4 lens. The film was Fuji Acros, exposed at EI=80. The light was harsh and glarey.

For more articles about the Delta, type "Mississippi Delta" in the search box. Click any photograph above for more details.

Panoramas on the Dixie Overland Highway - Mound, Tallulah, and Delhi (XPan 04)

As I wrote in the previous article, a generous friend loaned me his fabulous Hasselblad XPan panoramic camera. You may recall that I wrote about using an XPan in western Washington and Seattle during 2004, when I worked there for a few months. 

This offer was much too kind to resist. Loading a roll of Kodak Tri-X 400 film, I crossed the Mississippi River bridge to Louisiana and drove west on historic US 80, once known as the Dixie Overland Highway. I have photographed in Mound and Tallulah before with regular cameras, but the area offers topics for a wide view. Please click any picture to enlarge it. Unenlarged, they look like skinny sideways pictures, especially on a mobile phone.  (An aside: one day I plan to follow the former route of the Dixie Overland all the way to San Diego.)

Delta

Mount Zion BC Church, near Delta, Louisiana (45mm lens, med. yellow filter)

Tallulah

Tallulah is a bit beat-up. I have photographed there over the years and sometimes bicycle through town if I bike the loop on LA 602 and US 80. 

No shopping here, West Green Street (US 80), Tallulah (45mm, med. yellow filter)

No shopping here, either, West Green Street

Waiting for a load, West Green at Fourth Street (45mm at ƒ/8, yellow filter)

Fixer-upper house west of Tallulah, US 80

Willow Bayou Rice & Grain, west of Tallulah, US 80

Delhi

Delhi (Del'-high) is an agricultural town west of Tallulah on US 80 (no, not the Delhi in India - I have been there, too). It looks a bit more prosperous than Tallulah, and the downtown strip has some stores and restaurants.

Mooney's Auto Sales & Repairs, First Street (US 80) at Rundell Street, Delhi

No more pumping, Delhi Water Works

The Air Man of Delhi, First Street (US 80)

I took these photographs on Kodak Tri-X 400 film exposed at EI=320. Northeast Photographic in Bath, Maine, developed the film. Because the frames are 68mm wide, I scanned them in two pieces of 36mm with my Plustek 7600i film scanner and merged them with the Photomerge function in Photoshop CS5. The Tri-X is a bit grainy and does not let these lenses show their true potential.

Thanks, Bill, for letting me use your XPan!

Standby for more Xpan photographs in the future, including examples in color.

The Colonial Heritage Byway, north central North Carolina (Abandoned films 08d)

Colonial Heritage Byway

In the previous article, I wrote about historic byways in North Carolina. This the second byway that I explored in October of 2021. 

From the North Carolina Department of Transportation:

Colonial Heritage Byway

This byway provides an impressive tour of 18th and 19th-century history in North Carolina. While traveling on NC 62, look for many older houses and barns dating back to the 1800s, especially in the town of Milton. The NC 86 portion of the byway provides a glimpse of the Piedmont’s dairy farms and rural life.

My goal was to photographic tobacco barns. I read that they were a traditional architectural feature of the Carolinas that were disappearing because tobacco is a less important agricultural commodity than in the past. I started my journey in Carrboro and headed northwest towards Hillsborough (a very nice town with an excellent coffee shop, Cup-a-Joe, on West King Street) and proceeded north on NC 86 towards Cedar Grove.  It was a cheerful sunny day but with rather harsh lighting.

Garage with residence above, 8906 Old NC 86

Fixer-upper, 7403 NC 86, Cedar Grove

Vine explosion, 7403 NC 86, Cedat Grove

Heading out of Hillsborough, I did not see many old barns but was pleased to see some of my favorite topics, country stores.

Shed behind 8318 NC 86

Ahah, the first tobacco shed. I stopped at a workshop on NC 86, and when I told the proprietor what I was looking for, he directed me to an overgrown path behind his shop. At one time, these sheds had gaps in the logs, but afterwards, farmers added concrete chinking to seal the interiors.

McDade Store, McDade Store Road

Finally, between Prospect Hill and Hightowers, old-fashioned tobacco barns became more common.

Restored historic barn, Prospect Hill

I spoke to a farmer who owned the barn and land. This one had been restored by the state. He said that if a historic barn was standing, the structure could not be demolished. But, some farmers let the barns deteriorate to the extent that they collapsed, and then they could sell the land to developers who built McMansions. This farmer and several others I met were bitter that some landowners were willing to sell out. I saw signs protesting proposed gravel pit somewhere in the county.

Barn, NC 86, Hightowers, North Carolina

Sheds, NC 86, Hightowers

Asphalt siding house, Hightowers

Asphalt siding, similar to roofing shingles, were popular in the mid-20th century because they were durable, repelled bugs, and did not need paint. Notice how in the siding on this house was made to look like bricks.

Barn on Hwy 119, Hightowers

Shed on Hwy 119, Hightowers

By 5:00 pm, the light was fading and it was time return to Chapel Hill. I could have easily spent more hours driving on rural roads and looking for old barns and sheds.

No gas here, US 158, Leasburg

Slightly closed store, New Hope Church Road, Leasburg

This ends our short tour of part of the Colonial Heritage Byway. Thank you for riding along.

I took these photographs on Kodak BW400CN film using my 1949 Leica IIIC camera and its 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens. This roll of film was grainy, and dark areas looked sooty. This was one of my last rolls of BW400CN, and I will not buy any more.

The Football Scenic Road, central North Carolina (Abandoned films 08c)

North  Carolina Scenic Byways (from NC Department of Transportation)

Introduction

The State of North Carolina has a network of scenic byways that cover many of the historic and scenic parts of the state. If you go to the Department of Transport web page, you can download a book of the byways and look at an interactive map. You can also request a printed copy of the book.

The screen capture above is the online map on the NC-DOT web page. The blue line in the west is the Blue Ridge Parkway. Long-term readers may remember that I have driven much of the Parkway in 2017 and 2018. I have also driven the Nantahala and Fontana (Rte. 28) Byways. It is beautiful terrain in the west. 

For the urban decay photographer, the state is a treasure trove of old farmhouses, mills, factories, and quiet little towns that look like time passed by. 

The Football Road (west of Chapel Hill)

The DOT calls the route between Chapel Hill and the outskirts of Greensboro the Football Road. I do not know why it has this name. But it goes through nice farm country and avoids the boring Interstate 40. Part of it is Old Greensboro Road and then becomes the Old Greensboro-Chapel Hill Road.

Barn on Old Greensboro Road, near Chapel Hill

Farm house, Dawson Road near Chapel Hill

Farm, Old Greensboro Road near Chapel Hill

Barn, Greensboro-Chapel Hill Road near Snow Camp

Farm, Greensboro-Chapel Hill Road near Snow Camp (Jupiter-8 lens, yellow filter)

Happy cows, Greensboro-Chapel Hill Road near Eli Whitney

The Greensboro-Chapel Hill Road winds its way past farms and woods. An occasional car or tractor passes by. I was surprised that many of the silos consist of concrete tubes reinforced with exterior steel bands. It is a cylindrical version of a barrel. 

Fixer-upper house, Greensboro-Chapel Hill Road, near Snow Camp

Snow Camp

Historic school, Snow Camp Outdoor Theatre, Snow Camp

Restaurant next to Snow Camp Outdoor Theatre

The Snow Camp Outdoor Theatre is at 301 Drama Rd. (great name!) in Snow Camp. The site was empty when I visited in October, but in-season, the semi-professional company has been presenting plays for over 40 years. The restaurant next door will not be providing any meals for a long time..... 

Unoccupied farm, Holman Mill Road, Snow Camp

This ends our short excursion on the Football Road in central North Carolina. The time was late and I had to return to Chapel Hill.

These photographs are all on Kodak BW400CN film from my little Leica IIIC camera. I used my 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar and 50mm ƒ/2 Jupiter-8 lenses, often with a yellow filter to enhance clouds.