I have a bottle from the Holly Grove Bottling Plant in my possession.
The Rabbit Foot Minstrel was a tent show with Negro entertainers. There were the "Mr. Bones" charcaters, the Interloctor and other characters like ministrels had back in those days.There is a museum and other information of the original housed in, I think, Natchaz, Mississippi. I will try to find the info I found on it last year. As well as I remember the minstrel was not just for the Negroes. I can remember all the kids in town tried to get free passes to the nightly show by helping set up chairs and had out handbills. My daddy usually got some passes because he serviced the transportation trucks and cars that brought the tent, actors and everything. The minstrel ceased after intergration.
This minstrel also made stops in Clarendon, Marvell, Helena, West Helena and all over the area.
I can remember gravel streets that were finally paved after the war. I remember street light reflectors on poles at the corners of each block that used one light bulb. What wattage I don't know. At one time I had one of the reflectors Daddy had obtained when they were taken down, sometime in the late 1940s.
I remember walking on a "board" walk west of the old Hamp Thompson Drug Store to the end of the block. At one time Mr. Tom Kameron was housed in the end building at that point.
I recall Mother talking about the lights blinking at 10:30 p.m.
In regards to the Minstrel Show, I remember when I was very young that they had the show in the vacant lot behind where Bully Walls store and the Post Office used to be. I don't know when they quit having it. They also used to have a carnival there . There also used to have a circus in the vacant lot down on the road where my mom and also the King family. Those were the good ole days. Ralph Hall
- Does anyone remember the light plant? Does anyone remember the lights blinking at 10:50 p.m. before being shut down for the night or remember a family member telling stories about that?
-Does anyone have photos or stories about the mud streets and wooden sidewalks and gas lamps along Smith Street?
-Does anyone remember or have photos of town picnics or fish fries?
-Does anyone know what the Rabbit's Foot minstrel show is (I believe it was annual entertainment in the black community)? It happened in the fall. When did it begin? When did it end? Do photos of it exist?
-Where was the bottling plant? What kind of bottles did they make? Does anyone have family that worked there? Photos of the bottling plant? Bottles from the bottling plant?
- Summer revivals at the Methodist Church? Did they do any of their revivals at local lakes?
-I've got several old family letters that discuss the old Holly Grove baseball team. I've even posted some sections from those letters here. Does anyone else have information about the Holly Grove Baseball team? When was it formed? Who were some of the members of the team over the years? Do any photos of it exist?
If you have any information about any of these, send me an email!
-- Edited by Danyelle McNeill Fletcher at 19:44, 2006-02-25
