Week Thirteen | Tallulah/Mound, LA to Vidalia/Black Hawk, LA: the next 160 miles
1pm, Thursday, October 8, 2020
Tallulah, Mound, Vicksburg, Port Gibson, Church Hill, Natchez, Vidalia, Black Hawk
LANDSCAPE | Culture and History
The river is old, and people have been traveling the river, living along the river, and making homes along the river for a long time. History has been built into the landscape through landmarks, architecture, traditions, and tales.
COMMUNITY | Working River
The river is old, and people have been traveling the river, living along the river, and making homes along the river for a long time. History has been built into the landscape through landmarks, architecture, traditions, and tales.
VOICE | Louis Guedon
Farmer, owner of Bluff Farm Supply and patriarch of the Mississippi bottoms. Voice gathered on the afternoon of October 10, 2019 from barn to field in Church Hill, Mississippi.
VOICE | Mike Herrin
Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Port Gibson and advocate of “Kingdom Thinking.” Voice witnessed on the afternoon of October 9, 2019 during a one-one-one sermon in the church sanctuary.
VOICE | Stratton Hall
Director of Community and Public Relations with Visit Natchez and “handler” of local personalities, including her own. Voice gathered on the afternoon of October 11, 2019 driving between Natchez, Mississippi and Vidalia, Louisiana.
It feels like just days ago when I was writing here about Hurricane Laura heading toward my home town of Lake Charles and intersecting with several of our river communities after it made land fall and turned northeasterly. But in fact, it’s been several weeks, and enough time for a new hurricane to rear its ugly head and chart its course for Lake Charles once again as well as our river friends in the very week we were traveling through this time last year.
Several folks were not able to join us on the Zoom yesterday because of the impending storm. Louis Guedon and David Yerger were making preparations up in Mississippi and Louisiana much like my own family. However, several friends and collaborators did get a chance to connect, including Stratton Hall in Natchez, MS, Ashley Gatian in Vicksburg, and Corrine Randazzo and Hannah Junkin in Vidalia, LA.
We had a vibrant discussion about the changes over the past year in each of these communities, and went on to share our reflections on the community and landscape inspired by this stretch of the river—the community of those working on, with and for the river, and the landscape of culture and history plotted in monuments, memorials, architecture, streets and crossings, historic sites and museums, and the actual voices of historians.
Just three more weeks of charting these paths before we plan to reconvene with all our river contacts for a “one river” share out. Please consider joining us on November 5th and stay tuned for more information here and in email.