
Thursday, October 16, 2008
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Society

City Personals
Mary Clay Brooks

Elliott home setting for brunch following baptism of Jack McNeil

Jack McNeil Elliott, son of Carole and Steven Elliott of Olive Branch, was baptized Oct. 12 at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Memphis, Tenn. His godparents are Debbie and Ken Hallman of Arlington Heights, Ill.

Following the service, the Elliotts hosted a brunch in their home for family members and friends, including Ruth, John and Rick Kloha of Holly Springs; Pam Barnett of Los Angeles, Ca.; Anna, Rick and Blake Hallman of Arlington Heights; Evelyn Elliott of Columbus; Jack’s big brother, Charlie and Julie and Rand Hinds of Tupelo.

Constance Ann Lanier of Olive Branch, was the weekend guest of Kay and Laura Wheeler. While here, she visited with friends and took a tour of the countryside.

Happy belated birthday to Jack Green, grandson of Bea and Jimmye Dale Green. He celebrated his birthday over the weekend.

Saturday night, Marshall Academy is having its annual PTC auction and dinner. This year, there are a lot of fabulous live auction items, as well as plenty of silent auction items. There are going to be raffles galore and door prizes. The price of a ticket is only $20, which includes your meal and all of the fun festitivies. If you don’t have a babysitter, don’t worry about it - there is a “Kidsfest,” which is only $5. Check your child in and enjoy your evening! Even if you do not have children at Marshall Academy, come out anyway - it is guaranteed to be a fantastic evening! If you are interested in purchasing tickets, please contact Anita Barnett or Tish Summerlin.

(To put your news in City Personals, please e-mail maryclayb@yahoo.com; mail to City Personals, The South Reporter, P.O. Box 278, Holly Springs, MS 38635 or call 662-252-4261. You may also e-mail your City Personal news to south@dixie-net.com).

Museuming
Lois Swanee Shipp
Museum Curator

Beautiful trees in Holly Springs

Holly Springs is full of beautiful trees. Remember when the streets were lined with majestic trees to give us shade and solace from the heat? Trees are very decorative and we took them for granted and thought they would be here forever. Trees are like people; they grow, produce fruit, get sick and die! We, the citizens who love Holly Springs, should work at keeping it beautiful.

In the wintertime our town needs a touch of green and we should “spruce” it up by painting the town green by planting evergreen trees. It would be nice if everybody would plant a holly tree to honor Holly Springs, and themselves as their contribution to the beauty of this place. A memorial tree for a friend or relative who loved beauty would be a living memorial. If you prefer a big, gorgeous magnolia tree with its waxen leaves and with big plate blossoms that shine from May until October, what would be more lasting and meaningful?

Don Randolph came by the museum and brought a magnolia leaf two feet long that grows here. It is the largest leaf magnolia in the world and is magnificent with blossoms that are as large as dinner plates. He has one in his yard at Potts Camp.

Mississippi only has one species of cedar tree, but the cedars that line the walk at Wakefield, Strawberry Plains, Norfleet-Rand House and others around town were brought as seed in the pockets of the early house owners.

The beautiful native cedar is the one that we go to the pasture and cut for our Christmas trees. Do you remember that sweet and wonderful aroma from that freshly cut tree and how Christmassy they are? No other tree compares with it. Sometime we see cedars in the field that are scrubby and tacky but the reason is that they are in such poor soil and the trees never had any enrichment.

King Solomon in the Bible built his temple out of cedars from Lebanon and in that day chariots were made of cedar wood. Also the Indians thought the cedar tree was sacred and used it to build litters for carrying their dead. Cedar was always used for fence posts. Pioneer settlers planted cedar trees by the front doors for good luck. Cedar smell is great in the house as the smell repels destructive moths and insects. Trees are fascinating.

Early settlers planted the “Osage Orange” tree and it is also called the bodoc tree. Animals can’t get through because of the huge long thorns. Sometimes we call it the “horse apple” tree, as its fruit is a green ball bigger than a softball that, if brought into the house will rid your house of roaches. The tree has two- or three-inch long, strong thorns and people planted the trees a foot apart to use as fences and the animals respected those thorns.

There was a beautiful line of them on the west end of Peyton Road that were like a canopy over the top of the road but it’s been cut down now. The bodocs used to be planted around “The Meadows” off the west end of College Avenue as a fence for the pasture and a lot of them are still there.

The bodoc tree came from France and there it is called the bois-d’arc for Osage Orange. The Indians used it to make bows and arrows for hunting and fishing.

One of the largest bodoc trees in Mississippi is on East Van Dorn on the south side between Chesterman Street and the Catholic Church.

The bodoc often grows crookedly and is not resistant. There is a huge one by the Mike Lynn Park that grows sideways and you can walk up the trunk with no hands. If you burn them in the fireplace, they project an intense heat. Long ago it was the most popular wood for wagon wheels, rims and hubs. The wood is like concrete and you would break your saw when trying to cut it. When freshly cut it is bright orange.

General H.E. Williamson, one of the Holly Springs generals, was also mayor of the town and the progenitor of the Seale family. He was born in “The Hermitage” when his parents were visiting Andrew and Rachel Jackson. It is said he planted the Linden trees after ordering them from Germany. They used to line the street in front of the school on Walthall and also in front of Linden Terrace on College Avenue where Williamson lived.

They are all over town as the Lord made the seeds with wings like a parachute and they fly around through the air.

Also ordered from China in the 1840s were the mulberry trees that we have all over town. The town was trying to have a silk industry here and along with the mulberry tree came the silk worm.

The industry didn’t work but we still have many delicious mulberries from the trees that bear here now. A tree salesman came to town in the 1890s selling the Paloma tree, which also came from China. The trees were very ornamental, having large clusters of purple flowers. These trees came from the queen’s garden and the tree is also known as the “Empress” tree.

One of the largest cypress trees in the state is here in the Lynn Garden. The state forester said it is 300 to 400 years old and about 100 feet tall. The Indians probably used it for shade and shelter. It’s one of my favorite trees; I even like it in the winter when it is bare.

There is a bamboo forest in Mike Lynn Park that was planted there hundred years ago by Oscar Johnson. Mr. Johnson ordered exotic plants from all over the world for the park but didn’t live to see the park completed.

When Mr. Lynn went in there a few years ago and started clearing a hundred years of growth, it was amazing that these exotic plants popped up as they had been in hibernation for a hundred years.

There was a lonesome pine which stood guard in front of the Baptist Activity Building on College and was the last thing of the past on that block and now it too is gone with the wind. I don’t know if it was a white pine or a Virginia pine.

When that pine was planted, it was in front of the Franklin Female Academy, which was built in 1849. During the Civil War, the school was used as a barracks for the northern troops. A big Civil War Hotchkiss cannon shell was unearthed in the yard thirty years ago and given to the museum. It was a solid bolt of iron and was used for knocking down walls. We have it at the museum.

In the cemetery is a beautiful evergreen yew tree that is used as Rev. Joseph Holt Ingraham’s tombstone and was ordered from England for that purpose. Mississippi is too hot a climate for this tree, but it has survived because its roots are sitting over our underground river.

At Christmas, this is a favorite of decorators because of its great beauty. Rev. Ingraham was the rector of Christ Episcopal Church here and the writer of great books still read today. He was found shot to death in the vestry room of the church on Christmas Eve 1866.

In the courthouse yard at the south side of the courthouse, there used to be a beautiful memorial buckeye tree. Actually it is the Ohio State tree and I always wondered where it came from and who gave it. In the springtime, that tree had huge clumps of puffy flowers on it, which turned into poisonous buckeyes later.

In the front yard of the courthouse today are two gingko trees that are so pretty and the fruit is so delicious to eat. There is also a huge Deidra evergreen that would be fun to climb if it weren’t against the law.

The glorious dogwood trees around town usher in the springtime. Some are white, some are pink. In the fall the leaves turn brilliantly red and are glorious again. The legend of the dogwood tree says the Christ was crucified on the dogwood tree, which at that time was a large tree. After it was used for the crucifixion, the tree was small. Its blossoms are in the shape of a cross, the crown of thorns is in the center and on each of the four blossoms is an indentation lined with blood from Christ’s hands and feet. It is a reminder about what happened to Christ 2008 years ago.

The cemetery drive is lined with fantastic crepe myrtles planted by the Town and Country Garden Club. They are a joy to behold.

Our trees are really an asset to our town and we need to perpetuate them. In a person’s lifetime, everyone should have a child, write a book, paint a picture and plant a tree. Trees need to be planted in November, so do your part and let’s paint the town green. Green is my favorite color and it’s also the color of that green stuff - money. It’ll help draw the whole world to see this jewel of a town.

Marshall County Museum, 111 Van Dorn Ave. Holly Springs, MS 662 252-7977; www.mch museum.org and email marshallcomuseum@bellsouth.net

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