In my travels across the Southern United States I come across small towns that have been greatly affected by the change of times, the main road that brings people to them gets altered. The county road that once tied these small towns together are being replaced by four-lane state highways or interstates aimed at getting you to your destination quicker. 
What happens to the towns when this occurs? They either find a way to survive or they simply begin to fade away. This is one in a series of articles I’m writing to stress the importance of these small towns and communities that if we do not attempt to preserve our history then it will just fade away.
On a rather dreary overcast afternoon just past the four way stop at the intersection of Highway 45 and County Road 16 I drove past a row of buildings that what was once the main street of Scooba Mississippi. When I got the chance I turned around and pulled in to speak to a couple of locals and to do a little photography. As in most cases, they are always friendly and are happy to discuss their town or in this case what was left of it.
While I as pulling out my tripod to set up to do some photography, a elderly gentleman walked up and asked if I would like to have the tour of the town, laughing a little under his breath, I spent the next 4 hour listening and walking up and down this one street town.
Across from the only remaining open business, a small grocery, passenger trains once stopped at the train depot, it’s gone now, the only reminder, resemblances of a foundation and lumber strewn around the tracks where a freight train goes by a couple times a day. Rebecca’s radio and television shop is boarded up now, as is most of the main street area. Over at Frost‘s, “the Greyhound bus used to stop there” he stated, the roof is gone, all the windows and doors are also gone, nothing but a shell. Jim’s Saw Shop performed double duty, up on the second floor was the neighborhood movie theater, you can’t go up there anymore the floors might give in.
They built a community college down the road, but according to another townsman, nearly 90% of the working residents compute over 30 miles to work. According to the 2000 census, nearly 26% of the population is under the poverty line. We’ve tried to get funding to perform a little restoration, however, there is none available. People pass here everyday heading to the casino, which is located about 40 miles up the road, but no one stops here anymore, there’s no reason to.
If you ever find yourself out on MS County Road 16, stop by and pay your respects to a small town that one day may cease to exist.
For more images of Scooba
Murray
Scooba Mississippi
In my travels across the Southern United States I come across small towns that have been greatly affected by the change of times, the main road that brings people to them gets altered. The county road that once tied these small towns together are being replaced by four-lane state highways or interstates aimed at getting you to your destination quicker.
What happens to the towns when this occurs? They either find a way to survive or they simply begin to fade away. This is one in a series of articles I’m writing to stress the importance of these small towns and communities that if we do not attempt to preserve our history then it will just fade away.
On a rather dreary overcast afternoon just past the four way stop at the intersection of Highway 45 and County Road 16 I drove past a row of buildings that what was once the main street of Scooba Mississippi. When I got the chance I turned around and pulled in to speak to a couple of locals and to do a little photography. As in most cases, they are always friendly and are happy to discuss their town or in this case what was left of it.
While I as pulling out my tripod to set up to do some photography, a elderly gentleman walked up and asked if I would like to have the tour of the town, laughing a little under his breath, I spent the next 4 hour listening and walking up and down this one street town.
They built a community college down the road, but according to another townsman, nearly 90% of the working residents compute over 30 miles to work. According to the 2000 census, nearly 26% of the population is under the poverty line. We’ve tried to get funding to perform a little restoration, however, there is none available. People pass here everyday heading to the casino, which is located about 40 miles up the road, but no one stops here anymore, there’s no reason to.
If you ever find yourself out on MS County Road 16, stop by and pay your respects to a small town that one day may cease to exist.
For more images of Scooba
Murray
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