I visited Eminence Cemetery on a very hot and dry day over the weekend. The truck was reading 102° F. (38.8° C.) when I got there late one afternoon. It immediately crossed my mind that some trees would be nice in the cemetery . . . but I imagined that they had removed them to make mowing easier. Later I was told that was indeed why there was no shade. I don't suppose those interred there care that much. Above left: Our beloved Marion Leggett and to the right William and matriarch Myrrh Leggett.
Above: Looking away from the setting sun at the church where my parents were married in the 1950s. Both family farms are within a mile of the cemetery. The 2010 census recorded 335 people in the Eminence to Seminary area of Mississippi. . . or in other words a couple of people per square mile.
Above: My great grandfather Felix Leggett and my great grandmother Zipporah Redmond Leggett. Felix died in 1948 at the age of 82. Zipporah died in 1929 at age 61. Most of the Redmonds are buried across the road in their own small family plot. Most of the Leggetts reside at Eminence.
The best way to locate this place on a map would be to use its latitude and longitude (approximately 31.613 latitude and longitude 89.434). The nearest town is Collins, Mississippi located on Mississippi Highway 49. The elevation is more-or-less 450 feet above sea level though there are some taller hills and lower valleys.
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Above: Find the 588 circled to the left of the notation for Eminence. The road just to the right of that 588 notation that runs north-south (top to bottom of image) is Stuart Leggett road. Where the diagonal line of clearing traverses Stuart Leggett road (gas transmission lines) is the old Leggett farm. At the end of Stuart Leggett road (bottom of map) where it meets County Road 535 is the Lott property. Most of the farm is on the left side of 535. Some acreage remains on the right (east) side of the road as well. . . though the land hasn't been surveyed in many, many years. The farm appears as a circular expanse of trees toward the bottom left of this aerial photo. . . adjacent to a clearing that is a small dirt farm to the east.
I can always find the family farmland by a palm tree planted in the 1930s by my grandmother Gladys Gilmore Lott. She used to say it was the only palm tree in this part of Mississippi. It is certainly one of few palm trees growing on these dusty hills today.
Above: This is more-or-less what Mississippi 588 looks like . . .kind of desolate. Lots of tall pine trees. The camera doesn't do justice to the steep hills, however. I was driving rather fast while snapping photos.
Above: My great great grandfather John Leggett who was a soldier for the Confederate States of America. There are no dates on the headstone but note the "C S A" designation. John was one of Felix's brothers. I was named after Felix.
Above: Looking at the Leggett Homeplace. Its in there somewhere. I was surprised at how dark and spooky the woods could be. I traipsed around in there a bit looking for any trace of the old house but found nothing but lots of poison ivy and bugs. It was painfully hot despite the near dark of the woods. The big green leaves to the right top of image are poison ivy.
Above: Looking south down the road from the Leggett farm toward the Lott property. The hill is rather steep. Again the camera distorts the topography.
Above: Looking north through the Leggett farm—up hill. One can easily see why these are referred to as the "piney woods." In geography the Piney Woods generally refers to the temperate coniferous forest ecoregion of the Deep South dominated by several species of pine trees as well as hardwoods including hickory and oak. The World Wide Fund for Nature considers the Piney Woods to be one of the critically endangered ecoregions of the United States.
For more of my Mississippi images and musings go to PHILLIP'S NATURAL WORLD III.