Nothing New in Lauderdale County, MS

[Nice Goat]

Don't really have a great story to go with this ride.  Needed to start breaking in the DR, so I brought it with me to Mississippi for Thanksgiving.  Had today free to explore around where I grew up.  Suzuki says to keep it below half-throttle for the first 500 miles, so I got out of the house to see if I could find anything good today.  Spent the whole day riding and taking pictures and kept the bike under 55mph.

This was my route, which was completely unplanned:



I started off by riding through downtown Lauderdale.  My dad's shop used to be on the NE corner before he retired.  The county maintenance department bought the property, leveled the lot, and put up a new shop (but that was over twelve years ago, so it's not really new...).  My dad owned that shop for over 40 years.  If you look at the brick building on the opposite corner, that used to be Miller's Grocery.  Mrs. Miller would give me free candy if I swept her floor.  Never really thought about it, but I guess it wasn't free, huh?  Clever woman.



Next to Miller's old grocery is Loafer's Glory.  Used to be a small engine repair shop owned by Mr. Wiggins.  Whoever owns it now uses it to keep their old collectibles, including a couple of old work vehicles.











My childhood friend, Donald, and I used to play on these tracks, including placing pennies on the tracks to have them squished by the passing trains.



I learned how to play baseball (Peewee and then Little League) on this field.



We had our Webelos and Boy Scouts meetings here:



Local rich guy has some prized cows in his front yard:

[Nice Goat]

Then I rode out Cuba Road to the Confederate cemetery.







From there, I headed over to Clarke Road, which is a dirt road that runs along the northern border of the Naval Air Station.  It's a great place to watch the new navy pilots practice on their first jets.

[Nice Goat]

Kept going north, then turned onto Keeton Road, which took me to Hogeye Road.  Found this abandoned house which looked like it might have been nice back in the day:



Eventually I made it to Hwy 39 and turned south toward Daleville.  This little town is the final resting place of General Samuel Dale, also known as the "Daniel Boone of Alabama."  Dale County, Alabama (down near Dothan) is named for him.  Legend has it that he and Chief Pushmataha were both big, imposing men and great leaders.  They eventually became friends, even though Dale was supposed to help with the relocation of Native Americans to Oklahoma.  Another story says that Dale once carried a message overland from Georgia to Gen. Andrew Jackson in New Orleans in only eight days.













"You sleep here, Big Sam, but your spirit is a chieftain and a brave in the hunting grounds of the sky." - Choctaw Warrior



"There isn't a man this side of hell who can stop Sam Dale.  Sam, you have been true to your country." - Gen. Andrew Jackson

[Nice Goat]

From there, I rode on into Meridian to the Rose Hill Cemetery, where the Queen of the Gypsies, Kelly Mitchell, is buried.  Her funeral ceremony in 1915 was attended by over 20,000 Romani gypsies.





Also in the same cemetery is a Confederate Naval hero, Lt. Charles W. Read, nicknamed "The Seawolf," as well as 100 other confederates in a mass grave.  Read died in 1890, so I guess he asked to be added to the mound...?











By then, it was getting late and cooling off, so I headed on back home and had a piece of Mom's chocolate pie.

So... I guess it was an unplanned Ride 4 Pie.

Goat out.

[Chitza]

Thanks, Goat, for this report and amazing photos. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

[Buzz]

Nice. We got to get a local sixfitty trail ride together soon.

[BuckeyeDoug]

Good stuff. 

[terryrussell1]

Nice. We got to get a local sixfitty trail ride together soon.

I'm game I need to get my feet dirty again.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

[springer]

 Cool ride report so far...looking forward to more!  :)

[renchinrider]

Too cool, Goat!  Thanks for sharing the stories and lore of your hometown!  Happy Thanksgiving!

[Brian A]

Good stuff. Thanks for the RR.

[kylepeterson]

good to know my peeps aren't too far away at all, thanks for taking us with you today.

I'm waving at you real big, from Chunky :-)

[Mulley]

Excellent ride report / history lesson. Apparently that area is rich in 19 century history. Thanks for bringing us along.

[Nice Goat]

Thanks, y'all.  Meridian has lost most of its former glory, but from about 1840-1940, it was the largest city in Mississippi and an economic and railing hub.  The growth of private transportation started the decline, and Mississippi politics did the rest.  But there is a lot more history around Meridian to be explored...