Sometime back around 1970 our family made a trip south to Vicksburg, Mississippi. We were following Civil War interests on that trip, and Vicksburg is a rich experience in pursuing the major battle sites of the Civil War. Just recently, through some research our son Jeff has done, we discovered that one of my great-grandfathers on the Nichols side had fought for the Union with General Grant at Vicksburg, and that my great-grandfather Holcomb had fought for the Confederacy at Vicksburg.
Their units were about a mile apart, so they probably didn’t actually shoot at each other. Although I have lived about 70 other years besides that year, I had never been in the state of Mississippi for any other visits. We may have to go back to Vicksburg someday, to see if we can identify where their units were placed during the siege of Vicksburg.
Early on, as we planned our southeast U.S. trip for late April and early May this year, we determined that we didn’t want to stay on the major traveled highways, but to take some roads through the backcountry. So, although our first major destination in Mississippi was Oxford, the home of Ole Miss, we decided to head east from Senatobia, Miss., on Hwy. 4.
I was well pleased that we chose that route, because it began exposing us to some of the interesting town names, and Indian tribal history in the state of Mississippi. I began to note the names of Mississippi counties on the map. They have some county names in common with us, a Benton County, Washington County, Carroll, Monroe, Clay.
But many of their counties have Indian names: Tishamingo County, Pontotoc County, Oktibbeha, Chicasaw, Itawomba, Tippah, Tallahatchie, Yalobusha.
We have some interesting town names in Arkansas,too, such as Evening Shade, Round Pond, Oil Trough and Weiner. Town names are one of my curiosity interests.
Highway 4 first took us past the town of Looxahoma. The highway didn’t actually go through Looxahoma, and we didn’t take off to go through it, but it reminded me of how often little towns get bypassed when new highways are built and “improved.” Not far down the road from Looxahoma is the little town of Thyatira. I was almost startled to see that one. It is not uncommon for places to have biblical names, but I had never before known of a town given the name of Thyatira. In the Bible, Thyatira is one of the churches that the Book of Revelation was first written to, and in Revelation John was not very complimentary of Thyatira. This was just one of several indications of the impact of the Bible on this part of the country.
We passed many churches, many of them black Missionary Baptist churches, as well as a number of African Methodist and Christian Methodist churches. Infact, there were so many churches, one at almost every crossroad, that we wondered how there could be enough people up and down the roads to attend all those churches.
Just east of Thyatira, we came to Chulahoma.
I almost missed that one.
I was looking at the map, since my main job on our trip was as navigator, but I looked up just in time to call for a stop at Chulahoma. On the south side of the road was the one store building remaining in town, but across on the north was this very striking, very fine, two-story lodge hall building. I have long had an interest in those buildings and Masonic Lodge history in them. In the early days of many of our towns, in Arkansas as well as in other states, often one of the first public buildings would be the lodge hall.
Typically, the Masons met in the upstairs, while they made the downstairs available for community use, such as for church services, school classes and activities and other community gatherings like weddings.
This was the case for the beginnings of our own town of Pea Ridge. The Masonic Lodge that eventually moved into Pea Ridge, had initially met in Leetown.
By Civil War time, the Masons from Leetown had established their new location at Buttram’s Chapel, two miles southeast of Pea Ridge. It was there, in 1874, that Pea Ridge Academy was born under the leadership of Professor J.R. Roberts, and his sister, Miss Nanny Roberts. The support of the Masons was important throughout the history of the Academy and the later Masonic College at Pea Ridge. An early Methodist Church met at Buttram’s Chapel, led by Rev. Elijah Buttram.
Later, First Baptist Church of Pea Ridge organized at Buttram’s Chapel, until their new building on Curtis Avenue was completed in 1929.
As we traveled east in north Mississippi, I was also aware that we were following the general path of both the Union and Confederate troops who moved eastward after the March 1862 Battle of Pea Ridge.
Many of them would meet again in battle at Corinth, Miss., in the northeast corner of the state. Later in our trip, on the way home, we visited the Shiloh Battlefield in southern Tennessee, and also the nearby city of Corinth, Mississippi, two enormously important battles which did much to determine the course of the war thereafter.
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Editor’s note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is a retired Methodist minister with a passion for history.
He is vice president of the Pea Ridge Historical Society. He can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected], or call 621-1621.
Community, Pages 5 on 05/25/2011