Carolina Heritage Day

The Carolina Community is planning to celebrate 174 years of community history on Sunday, September 30, 2007, from 9:30 a.m. – until. Carolina Heritage Day organizers are excited about hosting past and present residents, former students, historians, and friends at the Carolina Community Center. Admission to the event is free; donations will be accepted for community center restoration.

The community was established around 1833 when pioneers from North and South Carolina began to settle in the newly opened Mississippi territory. Because the foothills of North Mississippi strongly resembled the settlers’ original home, the community became known as Carolina.

Many of those original pioneers’ descendants call the community home today. It is hoped that the Carolina Heritage Day will generate interest in the community’s rich history. You can discover more about Carolina’s past at http://www.roadtocarolina.com.

Everyone attending the event is invited to dress ‘old fashioned’ as way of participating in the community’s celebration. There will be a covered dish lunch at noon.

Activities will include a grist mill demonstration, Carolina classroom re-enactment, wagon train, story time, dulcimer music, quilting, and others. Displays will include Chickasaw artifacts, Carolina School day photos, family photos, and more. A time schedule of these activities will be published prior to the event, but most of the historical activities will occur in the afternoon.

Nearby cemeteries contain the graves of many of the area’s first residents. These cemeteries include the Carolina Cemetery, Wiygul Cemetery, Conwill-Goodwin Cemetery, Myers-Shumpert Cemetery, New Chapel Cemetery, Elliot Cemetery, Boozer Cemetery, and Bean Cemetery. Local genealogists will be able to assist visitors in locating the graves of these first settlers.

For more information, please call Thomas Conwill (963-3756), Mike Bethay (963-3783), Patsy Pettit (963-2748), or Curtis Hall (963-2478). The Carolina Community Center is located on Carolina Road in Itawamba County, Mississippi.