Just a mile or so north of modern Highway 82 and a few miles west of Interstate 55, the small town of Carrollton is one of Mississippi\u2019s most perfectly preserved 19th-century communities. So many of its homes, churches and public buildings were constructed before 1900 that it was the logical filming site for William Faulkner\u2019s novel, The Reivers,<\/em> set in 1904. When Hollywood came calling in 1968, searching for a town that could pass for turn-of-the-century Jefferson, they were astonished to find that all Carrollton needed was some dirt on the streets and a few downtown buildings tweaked. The town\u2019s lone gas station disappeared behind a livery stable facade. Old signs were painted on a few storefronts. Add a few wagons and the star of the movie, a 1904 Winton Flyer, and time stood still.<\/p>\n

In the half-century since the movie was made, not much has changed in Carrollton. Visitors still find its 1878 courthouse sitting on the town square, with exterior doors that are never locked. Church designs range from the Gothic Stick Style jewel that is Grace Episcopal to more formal classical buildings used by the Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist congregations. The 1870s jail survives, as does an entire block of mid-1800s storefronts on the south side of the square. Merrill\u2019s Store, now a museum, dates back to the town\u2019s 1830s origins. Winding residential roads are lined with antebellum showplaces and Victorian cottages, most in excellent condition and some handed down over multiple generations.<\/p>\n

There are many historic towns in Mississippi where you can find the old interspersed with modern life. But only in Carrollton can you find a town that truly seems like it has been preserved in amber for more than a century. It\u2019s well worth the trip.<\/p>\n

Mary Carol Miller, author of Written in the Bricks: A Visual and Historical Tour of Fifteen Mississippi Hometowns<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just a mile or so north of modern Highway 82 and a few miles west of Interstate 55, the small town of Carrollton is one of Mississippi\u2019s most perfectly preserved 19th-century communities. So many of its homes, churches and public …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,4,3,40,30],"tags":[5,15,17,43,12],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carrollcountyms.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carrollcountyms.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carrollcountyms.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carrollcountyms.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carrollcountyms.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/carrollcountyms.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":500,"href":"https:\/\/carrollcountyms.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493\/revisions\/500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carrollcountyms.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carrollcountyms.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carrollcountyms.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}