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CIVIL WAR MARKER SERIES
A ceremony dedicating the first of more than a dozen roadside markers in a series focusing on the Civil War was held near Raymond on May 11. Pictured are, from left, Vicksburg National Military Park superintendent Mike Madell, chair of the Mississippi Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission Parker Hills, MDAH Historic Preservation Division director Jim Woodrick, and Raymond mayor Isla Tullos. The state historical markers trace the movements of Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant in 1863 as they maneuvered to capture Vicksburg, the “Confederate Gibraltar.” The signs will be installed along the fifty-mile Grand Gulf-Raymond Scenic Byway in Claiborne and Hinds counties that runs through environments untouched by modern development. This historic road will offer travelers an interpreted progression along the route of Grant’s supply line throughout much of the final phase of the Vicksburg Campaign The markers are funded by a $20,000 grant from Entergy and a $1,000 grant from the Friends of Vicksburg Campaign and Historic Trail. The remaining markers are being fabricated now and will be installed by the end of the summer.
Hail Damages Department Properties
A powerful storm passed through central Mississippi on March 18, dropping golf-ball-size hail throughout downtown Jackson. Storm destruction across the area included roof damage, broken windows, pitted siding, and dented cars. Damage to MDAH sites, including the Eudora Welty House, Manship House Museum, and Old Capitol Museum, and vehicles, is currently estimated at $100,000.
“While the Welty House and Manship House were more significantly impacted, overall our sites sustained minimal damage,” said John Carroll, MDAH director of operations. “In light of what happened in Clinton, the damage could have been
much worse.”
The north and west sides of the Welty House and neighboring Education and Visitors Center bore the brunt of the storm. A blue tarp now covers the kitchen roof to prevent leaking. Both roofs will be replaced. Screens on the house provided protection from the hail for the majority of the Welty House’s windows. Only the two screenless windows were broken. Five windows in the visitors center and four small windows in the Welty garage were broken.
Storm damage to the nearly completed cedar shingle roof on the Manship House has delayed the museum’s foundation re-
pair project. Finger-sized holes at the Visitors Center roof will require replacement of the entire roof. Broken windows, dented wood siding, and paint loss occurred on both the Manship House and the Visitors Center.
Three downspouts were tom from the Old Capitol Museum, and the copper roof contains dimples from the hail. The full extent of roof damage to the Charlotte Capers Building, GM&O Depot, Old Capitol, State Records Center, and the William F. Winter Building is still to be determined.
Nine of the department’s twenty-three vehicles will have to be repaired for body damage from the storm.