This beautiful building was designed by James Gamble Rogers (who also designed several buildings on…read morethe Yale and Columbia University campuses) and was completed in 1909. It is in the neoclassical style and features a long portico topped by a cornice supported by massive Ionic columns. The courthouse is surrounded by multiple allegorical sculptures including "Justice" and "peace" and "Authority" and "Wisdom." The grounds are open and quite accessible to view from all angles. Metered street parking was available, but it's a Saturday morning. I would expect all of these spots to be busy during the week. There is a historical marker with more information, "Designed by Architect James Gamble Rogers and dedicated on January 1, 1910, the Shelby County Courthouse is the largest and most ornate in Tennessee. Quarterly Court Chairman James Hill Barret led the movement for the imposing structure with modern amenities. Upon approval of the project and issuance of $1,000,000 in bonds (later supplemented by an additional $500,000), he appointed N.C. Perkins to head the construction committee. Until 1966 this neo~classical building of blue Bedford limestone housed the executive and legislative chambers of Memphis and Shelby County governments, as well as state and local courts. Beginning in 1984 and utilizing taxes paid only by litigants, County Commissioner Charles Perkins directed an extensive, 8-year renovation that resulted in refurbished courtrooms and offices for Circuit, Probate, and Chancery Courts and the Civil Division of General Sessions Court. Many fine details were preserved and augmented, including mahogany doors and paneling, brass doorknobs embossed with the County seal, and walls, pilasters, and flooring comprised of seven varieties of marble." Bummer the building was closed today. [Review 19841 overall - 393 in Tennessee - 814 of 2023.]

On Friday May 10th, 2024 a drunk driver by the name of Alonzo D. Jones crashed into my parked…read morevehicle. Two female white sheriff deputies made the scene. They refused to give Alonzo D. Jones a drug test and placed him in the back of an ambulance. He was drunk or high on drugs, speeding in a residential neighborhood, no insurance, and no valid drivers license. The deputies are Davis badge number 10049 and Purtle bade number S11510. It's sad that they refuse to do their job. I bet if I were a white citizen they would have arrested him.

If you are looking for a quaint place to spend the night in Memphis, look no further!!…read more From the wonderful and welcoming folks in the Intake area to the kind and compassionate Jailers in central booking, I can't think of a more fitting experience when you are in the Detroit of the Delta!! The kind of characters your will meet in the sprawling facility are second to none..most will welcome you to their fair city with open arms and tales that are unparalleled. One word of caution: if you are looking for some famous Memphis BBQ, 201 Poplar if not the best choice. While there are many great options just beyond the razor wire topped fences, old school Americana dominates this menu: bologna sandwiches seem to be the cuisine of choice. I was somewhat saddened to see my stay end, but there is a reason people come back so often! With free transportation offered throughout Shelby County, it's hard for most to stay away for long!!

Corinth was founded in 1853 as Cross City, so-called because it served as a junction for the Mobile…read more& Ohio and Memphis & Charleston railroads. The last census has the population at almost 15,000. Corinth was recently voted #48 of 50 Best Small Town Downtowns in America http://www.bestchoicereviews.org/50-best-small-town-downtowns-in-america/ http://corinth.net Located on the National Register of Historic Places Battery Williams (also known as Fort Williams) Siege and Battle of Corinth Sites Coliseum Theatre, built in the early 20th century http://www.yelp.com/biz/corinth-coliseum-civic-center-corinth Corinth National Cemetery http://www.yelp.com/biz/corinth-national-cemetery-corinth Downtown Corinth Historic District http://www.yelp.com/biz/corinth-historical-district-corinth Dr. Joseph M. Bynum House Federal Siege Trench (also known as Harper Road Trench) Fort Robinette (also known as Battery Robinette) site of the Civil War Interpretive Center http://www.yelp.com/biz/corinth-interpretive-center-corinth Jacinto Courthouse (also called the Old Tishomingo County Courthouse) built in the mid-19th century. L.C. Steele House Midtown Corinth Historic District Moores Creek site, a prehistoric Native American site from 3000 to 3500 B.C. Old U.S. Post Office Rienzi Commercial Historic District Thomas F. Dilworth House Union Battery F, Battle of Corinth Union Earthworks Veranda House (also known as the Curlee House) built in 1857, it served as headquarters for Confederate generals during the Battle of Corinth Places of interest not on the historic register include the Black History Museum http://www.yelp.com/biz/black-history-museum-of-corinth-corinth There is a variety of festivals held in Downtown Corinth and there are new activities popping up every year. Last Summer there was a block party created by several local shops and businesses. There is an annual BBQ cook off known as Hog Wild and the aroma wafts throughout the Downtown area all hours of the day and night. Every Winter there is a Wild Game tasting fundraiser event held in the Crossroads Arena http://www.yelp.com/biz/annual-alcorn-county-wildlife-tasting-supper-corinth The city itself seems like it is larger than a community of 15,000 people, with four large grocery stores, a Wal-Mart Supercenter, three large auto dealerships and numerous used lots, two Mi Toro Mexican restaurants, a Malco theater, clusters of fast food chains, convenience stores seemingly at every intersection, Caterpillar, Kimberly Clarke, two new Japanese/Asian fusion hibachi restaurants and perhaps the most state of the art hospital facility within 100 miles http://www.yelp.com/biz/magnolia-regional-health-center-corinth-2 I do love the city but I feel it falls short of five stars. The city is charging a mandatory tourism tax on all restaurant tabs. Corinth doesn't have any tourist attractions aside from Civil War and slugburgers (specialty burger made with soy filler and costs around $1.00). There are no theme parks, Starbuck's, water slides, wax museums or antique car collections. The grocery stores, although well stocked, lack in carrying high-quality food items. It is impossible to make homemade cheeses because all the heavy cream is ultra-pasteurized. I've lived here by choice and have witnessed it go through many changes and some were so subtle it's hard to recall what certain areas of the city looked like 20 years ago. With the current expansions and improvements (especially to the city park) it is hard to imagine how it could look in another 20 years.

One legendary business downtown that is deserving of a visit is Borroums Drug Store. It was founded…read morein 1865 by former CSA army surgeon A.J. Borroum. It is the oldest drug store in continuous operation in Mississippi. It is considered a "free museum" also because they have on display, Native American arrowheads, Civil War relics, and an authentic, working soda fountain. This business has been owned and operated by the Borroum family since its founding. I worked at Borroum's for a short time. I remember listening to Mrs. Camille recall an incident from her childhood of her and her father being held up at shotgun point. Mrs. Camille was the first certified female druggist in the state of Mississippi. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt0ugLzb2ws&sns=em Some locals can be seen talking about Corinth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFmD_7VjXg0&sns=em Biggers Hardware opened in 1918 and has been a mainstay in the community ever since. The store's ownership is in the fourth generation of the Biggers family. December 7,1874, three to four members of the Jesse James-Cole Younger gang rode into Corinth with a plan to rob the Tishomingo Savings Institution. Refusing to cooperate, the bank owner, Alonzo Taylor, allegedly told them, "I'd rather be in hell than in Corinth without money". The outlaws escaped with $15,000. Back in the late 1980s I lived in a small rental house and the landlord claimed that the gang rode through a part of the land, even pointing to the general area in which they rode. Corinth native, Roscoe Turner is the only Mississippian in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio. Turner is the only three-time winner of the Thompson Trophy Race. He also established the cross-country airplane speed record in 1925. One of Turner's planes is featured in the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian Institute. There is a small airport named after Turner http://www.yelp.com/biz/roscoe-turner-airport-corinth In 1955, Elvis, Scotty and Bill were to have two performances in the Alcorn County Courthouse/Assembly hall. The shows were sponsored by the Corinth Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees) to help raise funds for a playground. It is said there were insufficient ticket sales to have one showing. While in town, Elvis was reputed to have visited Borroum's drug store and by the recollections of Camille Borroum Mitchell, local legend has it he was thought to have temporarily left his guitar there for some unexplained reason. Every year there are various celebrations and events held downtown, such as Hog Wild, Slugburger Festival and the Block Party. Roads are blocked off, talent shows are held, foods are cooked, carnival rides are set up and fun is had by all for a weekend at a time.

The Sultana: The Greatest Maritime Disaster in US History. Yes,... even worse than The Titanic…read more This disaster received little public attention, as it took place at the end of the Civil War, after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, and the day after John Wilkes Booth was killed. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865. Under the terms of the surrender agreement, POWs were to be freed and sent home as soon as possible. Union prisoners from Andersonville, GA and Cahaba, AL were sent to Vicksburg, MS to ship home up the MS River. The government offered to pay boat owners $5 per enlisted man and $10 per officer transported. The Sultana left Vicksburg on April 24th with more than 2,300 prisoners of war (plus an additional number of crew and passengers and a large shipment of sugar bound for Memphis). It's legal carrying capacity was only 376 passengers. The Sultana had pulled into Vicksburg at about the same time as two other boats (the Pauline Caroll and the Lady Gay); however, those 2 boats left with 0 soldiers. To make matters worse, a boiler had to be patched while in port at Vicksburg. The mechanic warned it would need to be properly fixed once up north. At about 2am on April 27th 1865, the steamboat's boilers exploded. Over 1,800 of the Sultana's +2,300 passengers were killed just north of Marion, Arkansas. The 1,800 people were burned to death, drowned or died of hypothermia. After the disaster, people wanted to determine the cause of the Sultana explosion as well as why it was so overcrowded. Many concluded that Mason, the captain and part owner of the Sultana, bribed Union officers into letting him transport as many freed prisoners as possible so that he would make lots of money; however, Mason was killed in the accident. Captain Frederick Speed, a Union army officer, was found guilty of overcrowding the Sultana. But his verdict was overturned by the army. So in the end, the U.S. Army never punished anyone for the disaster.

This is a terrific museum dedicated to a disaster that has largely been forgotten, lost in the…read moreaftermath of the Civil War. There is a great introductory film, and then several rooms of artifacts and interpretive material about this event, the largest maritime loss of life in American history. The passionate and deeply knowledgeable guide made our visit very special. Highly recommended.

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse…read moreof your teeming shore." -The New Colossus, Emma Lazarus (1849-1887) No, the poem isn't here at her feet. Instead, the Paragould War Memorial has a different purpose. She stands at the center of this small veterans memorial park on Courthouse Park near the Greene County Courthouse. It was erected in 1924 as a tribute to the 40 soldiers from the County who were killed in WWI. The memorial has since been expanded to include additional marble slabs carved with the names of those lost in more recent conflicts including WWII and Desert Storm and such. This is far from a full scale model of the famous Statue of Liberty in New York as it is just barely seven feet tall. That said, she was the the first replica of the statue to be erected outside of New York that is still standing outside an Arkansas courthouse. A narrow accolade but it works for me. Paragould is far from the beaten track as it is 25 miles from I-57 in Walnut Ridge. But if you're one who collects reviews of various Statues of Liberty (New York, Austin, the museum in Indianapolis, Colmar France, Tokyo, Las Vegas), you'll want to head over to here. [Review 2365 of 2024 - 413 in Arkansas - 23379 overall]