The town of Carrollton is beginning to see the fruit of its labor after working to have Carrollton included on the Mississippi Writers Trail as the native home of renowned author Elizabeth Spencer listed. In addition, the town has been working to get a history marker for the Carrollton Community House.
Carrollton Mayor Pam Lee announced that both the historic designation and the marker have been approved, and both will be celebrated during the week of the Carrollton Pilgrimage.
Lee told supervisors that she and members of Antiquities Society have been working to have the Carrollton Community House, located on Lexington Street in Carrollton, placed on the National Registry of Historical Places and on the registry with the Mississippi Department of Art and History.
“When we had all our other buildings placed on the list, but the Community House wasn’t old enough,” Lee said. She added that she believes the year a building could be added may have been pushed up.
“Some of the buildings that we heard when we were down there were younger than the Community House. They were built in like 1923,” she said. Lee said now that the house has been approved for the designation, it also qualifies for a grant that will be used to replace the oldest air conditioning unit.
“Sometimes, it can get really hot in there in the summer time and we want to fix that,” she said.
Lee also told board members that the marker honoring Elizabeth Spencer on the Mississippi Writer’s Trail was also approved.
“It’ll be at the Merrill Museum like our [Country Music Trail] marker,” Lee said.
She said there will be a celebration for both the registry listing and the unveiling of the Spencer marker during the Pilgrimage. She said the registry celebration will be on Oct. 4, and the sign unveiling will be Oct. 5.
“We wanted to do both during the week of the pilgrimage,” Lee said.
She said Rebecca Jernigan, who was the storyteller during last year’s Pilgrimage, will return for the unveiling of the signage and will also return as a storyteller for the event at Cotesworth with “Celebrating Elizabeth Spencer.”
More information about these events will be released closer to the Pilgrimage and Pioneer Day.
