Elderberry – Mississippi Native People have asked me when my love of wildwood and gardening started. I can honestly say that I was born to love nature. Both my dad and his mother, my grandmother, were avid gardeners, and my dad was a forager and a beekeeper. My family spent many days rambling in the…
Tag: Jacki Kellum Memoir
The Duvals of Kentucky from Virginia
Published in 1938 HIS book was written to meet the need of a permanent record of the history of the descendants of four brothers of the old Virginia family of Col. Samuel DuVal of “Mt. Comfort,” Henrico County, Va. On this plantation of five hundred acres was built the Chestnut Hill and Highland Park additions…
Petey the Circus Dog Who Loved My Grandma’s Church
My dad was a great storyteller, and most of his stories were about his childhood during the Great Depression. Largely because my grandfather was one of the few men who kept a job during the Depression, my dad’s childhood was colorful, and he could afford many things that most of the other kids could not….
Septembers, School Days, and Coming Back Home
It is September, and schools across the USA are back in session now. Fifty-five Septembers ago, I left my rural farmland to attend college at the University of Mississippi. In terms of the seasons of the year, that was early autumn. In terms of the seasons of my life, it was early summer. You see,…
Listening for the Voice of God
A couple of weeks ago, I visited with two ladies who have been friends almost their entire lives. At various times, Estha Mae Coleman Parker and Virginia McKibben Vanlandingham lived and worshiped at the old country church at Pilgrims Rest in Yalobusha County, and now, both of them live only a couple of farms away…
Finding the Spirit of God in a Forest Church – at Pilgrims Rest
This week, I have continued my search for an old place of worship that I have been carrying in my heart for many years, and in doing so, I discovered the Pilgrims Rest Church and Schoolhouse. It is important to note that in this area, many of the original church buildings are no longer standing…