Some of the damage in yazoo was caused by a tornado. That tall wood structure at the end of downtown is where the wooden santa goes that my grandpa made back in the 1940's, they put it up every year. My family settled in Yazoo City and surrounding area in the early 1800's most of the family still lives here. Ms. Smith bought up a lot of the downtown buildings, restored the upstairs units for hotel rooms. Rumor has it her dream as a kid was to buy the town and paint it pink, and she did. The folks may be poor and the town may not be in the best shape but the people are rich in faith, and love the old homes are filled with family and good ole southern cookin. Yazoo City is Home!
Thank you. I just wish he would tell the true history and the result of the weather, factories, and so many factors that prevent other companies from settling here.
Adding to the extreme poverty, is the misappropriation of government funding, meant for the poorest citizens, to build volleyball arena for a university that the majority of its citizens will never attend.
you know all of my working days i have always said when i retire im going to buy a brand new truck and do just what you are doing travle from city to city in every state,now that i am retired my health wont allow me to do that,but it sure is nice seeing you doing it,by riding with you when i can,make half of my dream come true,thanks and keep up the good work.
I used to live in the northern part of the delta, it wasn't a fun experience, but the town I lived in was sorta small, and cute relative to the rest of the towns around me. I had a rough upbringing, grew up in poverty, and my mother was a single mother of 3 for a great duration of my life. I move out when I was 18 on my own accord, the internet ended up being my salvation, and the platform of which my job is held. (I am 19 now.)
I happy for you that you made it. I'm sure poverty helped you in alot of ways such as dreaming, goals and knowing how to bounce back when you take a lost. Your strong and I can only imagine how much better in life your doing.
Mississippi is the template for how to run a state into the ground. It’s not just that they’ve lost tax revenue due to population loss, but the state refuses to tax wealthy individuals or corporations…and the poor don’t have enough of anything to tax. My great grandparents left the Delta in the 1930’s thank god and went west and then north.
Those neighborhoods are segregated, also. You can tell the areas where the white populations lived and where the black populations lived. I lived in the Delta for many years.
So many of the little towns died when the factories left. Most of the people in surrounding counties worked in the factories before they left. Many of the young people moved away to find jobs. These were beautiful towns before all this happened, I know because I was born and raised in a little town just north of Yazoo City. We still love our home towns no matter what has happened to them.
@@joanneclarke771 The war on poverty was working. A kind of war I can back. We need to do it again! Even the small tac breaks we got, got taken back. It was working too.
Interesting. It's amazing the stories these little towns have to tell. I'm a little surprised you don't go into the local post office or general store and ask the locals what happened to certain buildings, or get their stories. But thanks for sharing your exploring, I enjoy watching
My mother was from Mound Bayou, and my father’s mother was from Belzoni. You have to pass right through Yazoo City to get there. We would stop and get food from a restaurant on Broadway when I was a child. I kinda hate that 49W no longer goes through the town, but my daughter and I will get off the beaten path sometimes so that we can get the real experience of Yazoo City.
I first learnt about Mississippi in spelling class in 4th grade......and then I traveled with Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn up and down these mighty rivers.......so let's all go rolling on the river with the River Boat Queen.,.. Thank you for Your Graciousness and time in sharing with us your journeys in the America rarely seen and for my ride down Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn memory lane 💥🎆🤸🏃✊😎✌️
Pretty much the exact same for me. I love the Mississippi River because of those books, and always feel a thrill when I'm there. Next summer, I'm going to do a video where I travel the Mississippi, from it's beginning in Minnesota to New Orleans. :)
You saw Rolling Fork (starting at 32:03) in its entirety before the destructive EF4 tornado of March 24, 2023. Very appreciative that you documented it before it was destroyed.
Thank you so much for showing us these obscure corners of America. I absolutely love this channel and the presentation of these languishing towns out there on the fringe of the American dream. I myself grew up in a nasty, small rural town on the east coast. These scenes resonate within me; something ineffable. Life is difficult. Your videos are precious. Keep up this amazing work!
Thank you for taking me back home. I was born and raised in Yazoo City, Miss. So strange to hear the low cost of houses. But I can imagine, wages are so low there. I graduated from high school in 1967, left for Memphis the same month. The high school, or all the schools I attended are no longer there. I still have family living there Nice memories
All schools are still in existence except Jr. High School and it’s being used as a Boys and Girls Club. Annie Ellis is now HeadStart. And yes wages are still low, but a lot of people work in Madison at Nissan, Levi Strauss, and the other factories in that county.
Real Deal do you still have relatives there? I was born and raised there as well. I graduated in 1977 from Yazoo City High School, eventually went to Tougaloo College before I left and moved to California in the late 80’s. Yes this small town have went through many social economic problems , after the small manufacturing base left or went out of business it destroyed the tax base. The lack of business and decent jobs was the final collapse of the city. Crime and drugs have taken over and deteriorated my home town in a way you can’t imagine. Believe it or not this was once a thriving little city, but time suddenly have change in my home town, but Yazoo City still will be home!
I was born in a larger town in the Mississippi Delta and spent my childhood there. Income is low and cost of living is low, and it’s only getting increasingly harder for people to take that same money and move to a place with more opportunities where cost of living will certainly be higher. I loved growing up there and wouldn’t change a thing, but I’m glad to be out. It’s sad to see the life sucked out of these once vibrant and bustling towns.
That's a beautiful town! Yes there are some who don't keep their houses and yards clean and tidy, but you get those in every town. This looks amazing to me. I don't understand why more Americans on low incomes don't buy houses there, and reinvigorate the town. That's happening in a lot of previously run down country towns where I live. Young people priced out of the big cities, are finding these picturesque and historic old towns with cheap housing, and bring life and civic pride back.
My grandmother was born down in the delta in 1913 the youngest of 9 children. My father was born there in 1933 the only child. They migrated to Starkville when my dad was young and opened a cafe. Life was much better for them then. They worked hard and long hours but they made it out of poverty. I grew up hearing about shotgun houses. I do know it gets extremely hot in the summer down in the delta. I couldn't handle it. That trash house is strange because its kinda neat trash. Thanks to the wonderful person who is feeding the cats. There is something about the material used to make the roads in Mississippi that makes it easy to identify its in Mississippi lol.
Per your video, a lot of these towns peak population was 1980, it was about that time the textile industry began to move operations to Mexico, Central America, and small farmers lost their farm due to high interest rates and severe droughts. The economy of the rural towns fell apart, and the towns slowly lost their tax base and revenue, young people moved away, leaving small towns like these to decay. Sad to see them disappear.
My little southern town was a Vanity Fair factory town. Obituaries of many 70-80 year old ladies round here mention their jobs at Vanity Fair. Only reason the town is still doing fairly well is it is the county seat, so has decent source of income.
@@delilahdavis1219 Do you live on Monroeville? Big Vanity Fair mill there for years, I had a good friend working there who transferred to Tennessee in early 80's. I dont remember when the factory closed down but lots of folks lost their jobs.
I grew up in Yazoo and left right after high school. Those colorful buildings have second floor apartments. The town has really gone down in the last thirty years or so. It is sad to see it like this but it will always be my hometown ❤️
It would be interesting if you could actually go and look at some of the lower-priced houses and the higher-priced houses in some of these Mississippi towns. Thank you for the entertaining and informative videos! Stay safe, man!
Thank you so much for visiting Yazoo City. My father was born there. I never got to visit, but it holds a special place in my heart. The paternal side of my family have all passed on from there. They were there since the early 1800's. A man named William Rankin brought them over from Scotland and changed our family name from Mae/May to Rankin. ❣ I'm proud of the history.
The condition of many of the homes shown in Anguilla would be over priced for even $33,000. The colorful buildings in Yazoo City are beautiful and must bring some cheer to the dismal situation of it's residents. This was a really nice tour.
These old towns have such a sense of sadness about them. Once people's beloved family homes & neighbourhoods left to rot & decay. All that lost hope. Thank you for the uploads, really interesting.
A lot of towns have gone down since the interstates have taken traffic on a different path. Railways were the heartbeat of town when folks and goods traveled to small towns. Give me a small town, I do love it and am in South Mississippi.
Oh thanks for telling us about the Teddy bear, that was awesome story! The bottles tree is suppose to house spirits in the bottles trap spirits etc.. that’s a story for you that you can look up one evening when nothing to do.
As I have said before, the Delta wasn't always this way. When cotton was king and even small farmers could make a decent living, all these towns were different. Post WW2, the Delta was a magical place and I finally left it in my early thirties. The rapid decline was just too much for me. I still have family and a lot of great memories there but seldom visit. The MS Delta is a microcosm of the much larger urban America from coast to coast. Despair. Crime. Abject poverty. Substance abuse.
Doug Smith sizes it up perfectly. Post WWII, there was a flight to Detroit, MI and Chicago, IL for jobs to escape the low wages and living conditions of sharecropping in the Delta too. Pacific Rim manufacturing of clothing, etc. helped break cotton from being an important U.S. based consumable. Then the advent of synthetic polyester apparel hastened the rapid decline of cotton as important to the U.S.
As someone from England I find these videos fascinating. Our country is so small that most places get re developed once they start to get run down. I moved to London 10 years ago and it's never ending development I'd love to visit Mississippi and get a sense for how the locals live in these pretty little towns. I've read a lot about Southern hospitality!
Should have stopped by Glenwood Cemetery and said hello to the Witch of Yazoo. Some of our southern towns may be low in the heels, but stuffed with lovely people, fascinating characters, and notable past residents. Willie Morris got many of his stories from Yazoo City and the area surrounding it. Watching your video I can imagine he and his dog, Skip, running around in town.
I always learn a little history when I watch these videos. The shrine dedicated to Muddy waters was very humble. I do love listening to his songs. He had so much soul. Ohhh and the yard with all the trash piled up was wild. It appeared to be in neat rows. With the labor shortage,I guess there is no gabage pickup in some areas. It was happening in my city and alot of peeps were complaining about it.
I visited my boyfriend’s family in Greenwood MS years ago and it was an eye opening experience. Some parts of it were like visiting a ghost town. But I’ve audited in small mid-west towns and they are just as bad. There are small towns around Barstow CA that are horrible. Driving through upstate New York can be just as bad when you see smoke coming out of a chimney of a house so dilapidated, it should be condemned. We need to stop thinking that poverty exists over there because poverty is everywhere. 😢San Diego has some of the most expensive real estate in the country. But what is hiding in plain sight is heartbreaking. People can not exist on $7.25 an hour. People can’t live on $2 a day. People can not live on $800 a month if they are disabled.
You are telling the truth. What do you believe people can do to do better to beat the odds? I always thought living together and teaching/ showing eachother the importance of family and younger generations helping the elder. Where I live there's not too much togetherness.
I am from Nairobi, kenya and the history I have been reading about America is that, these place that are in deplorable conditions experienced a lot of segregation. It really saddens me how such places could be in conditions in the a fluence of such an economy.
@@murageful This type of mentality is all over the world to be honest. I have yet to meet anyone in Nairobi however I love meeting other's from all over the world. America wasn't always like this ( at least not how I remember) we we're strong in Family and community but corruption happened which is why many Africans risk their lives everyday to come here.
@@murageful You seem to be very intelligent. I hate to pick us apart because we go through that enough. Right? Regardless where we live. The Government have their rules and laws which normally doesn't help the population at large because the majority is poor. What if a nation's treatment is determined how the poorest of poor is treated instead of the rich. It is not any fault of our own if we're born into poverty or if we're born sick or if we're born with riches. Scripture tells us Love= patient and kind. That's it, nothing about material. Yet, the people who know better seem to not be able to come together and create change together. Thank you, I look forward to hear your thoughts and ideas.
When I was in my late teens and early 20s I listened to the comedian Jerry Clower (1926-1998) who told stories about rural Mississippi and Yazoo City. I always wondered what Yazoo looked like, so thanks for the video! In 2010, an EF4 tornado hit Yazoo County. Just a few months later in November of 2010, two EF2 tornadoes hit the town at the same time. One of them went straight through downtown, which would explain those heavily damaged places. The southeast side of the town was hit by a high-end EF1 on May 2, 2021.
My dad met Jerry Clower in a small Mississippi airport in the 70's and they talked for a good bit. Jerry gave him a can of possum meat as a souvenir that I suspect he still has. We believe it's a can of potted meat with a funny label on it.
I always enjoy these videos and look forward to when you post a new one. I enjoy all the details about the places you visit. Thanks for sharing all this with us. Look forward to the next one and safe travels on your journey.
I’ve lived all over the world during my life as I was born in Australia & lived in 5-6 different countries but I chose to live in a small town here in the Bible Belt (Deep South) & will for the rest of my life - these small towns have character and stories that made America what it is - my town has 1500 & I payed cash for an old farmhouse & I absolutely love it
@@aarondigby5054 Absolute nonsense - I payed cash $100 bills to the gentleman who had it for sale - race has nothing to do with it buddy - I’ve lived in the south a long time I see a lot of successful AA folks that are doing great in every area of life - it’s what you the individual makes it - the race card is long dead and buried -
My father's family was from central Miss. - that area is also not thriving. The summer weather is very hot and humid - but visiting in the winter is ok. It is sad to see so many abandoned buildings.
I lived in Mississippi from 1934 until I left for college. We were sharecroppers and lived in abject poverty for a number of years. NAFTA took our industries and the need for cotton and gave them away. Even now you can hardly buy a cotton garment, mostly synthetics imported for China and such. That destroyed half the state.
You passed by our Main Street bungalow twice… I would’ve loved for you see our home… And you didn’t go to the area of our other home on the north east side of town…the area you showed was destroyed by TWO tornadoes… and if you’re ever in the area again I extend a welcome to you and yours… And yes I’m black… I know that will be a culture shock😳😳😳 The pots pans and grill are always on standby…😉
Oh god.... I think I'm addicted to having you as my "tourguide" through the US. I've got these on whenever I have time. Fascinating. Another interesting aspect is about the development of a nations history. You call buildings old, that in my opinion are not "that" old. I totally would call them old too, If I were driving around there, just because, what else to call them? But I'm starting to notice that my personal concept of "old" feels a bit different. In my Dutch town of about 20.000, I found within a 10 minute walk; a gigantic kathlic church from 1843, two windmills from 1350 and 1432. A castle from 1500, a castle in the next town from 1640 and some farmhouses from around 1740. My house is from 1880. The town I live in is from around 1296. Next town over (a whole 7 minute drive 😆) is from 1220. village where my parents live is from 1301. And Eindhoven, the nearest city (A whole 10 minute drive 😆) was founded around 1232. Which makes me wonder. Those towns you drive through, what is their history? Where they settlements, build from zero, by people exploring? How where their locations decided? Or are they build in places where native americans had their settlements? I am just typing what I'm thinking... Sorry.... Anyhow, Keep driving and filming. I am an absolute big fan!!!!
Indian Removal Act, MS wasn’t colonized until the 1700s. Areas between Vicksburg to Meridian were torched during the Civil War. Some structures were left alone, but generally speaking one would expect the oldest to be from the 1870s.
Lot those towns follow rivers that aren't used the same fashion any longer. Mississippi well known cotton tobacco not same industries once were. Politician sent good factory jobs overseas, putting locals out business with jobs then closes other business
I lived in the outskirts of Anguilla for a few years as a child. There was way more to "town" back then ... some great memories. It's sad to see the decline over the years 😢 .
My late husband and I traveled a lot and toured plantations in MS, LA and GA. It's so sad what happens to small towns, but it's understandable. We grew up in a small Kentucky town and left many years ago to get better jobs. I'm so glad we did for our children to be able to have better jobs. I do miss the mountains and always will.
Even though pay is low, and I'll admit 24000 is very low, what people miss is the cost of living is also very low in these southern towns. And I don't know about Yazoo city, but the southern town I live in looks similar to this. But believe it or not, people work hard to keep our historic downtowns. We also have Wal-Marts, Sonics, McDonalds, Shopping Centers, Restaurants...and other things that aren't in these downtown areas. They're old and we want to keep them that way. We don't want them torn down for progress.
You’re right. Same in upstate NY. There are laws to keep the towns historic. So most of these towns are meant to look the way you see them….a flash in the past.
My niece took me there....they have cotton fields corn soybeans and wild hogs...she lives at Satarta....i loved it there...took me to Midnite .....my dad was born there....
Missed your videos; I've got a lot of catching up to do. I've been exploring my own area, which is beautiful in the Fall. Yes, your opening shots of Yazoo City made me think it was a beautiful city, a great idea to paint the buildings with lots of color. In my town we have music piping in the downtown area as well. I hope the kid who burned the town down in 1904 at least had to stand in the corner for a couple of hours. I'd say that the stately home would be on the market for about $175,000. Depends on how long the owner was willing to wait for a buyer. There are 4 homes for sale in Rolling Forks now, the one you mentioned for $125,000, two around the $100 range and the other one for $42. The one in Louise was reduced to $55,000 on 9/29. It's cute; yes it needs work but some do in my town as well and they're scooped right up. Too bad some work-from-home types can't move to these dying towns to scoop up the great deals and revive them.
Hello. I just found your channel tonight and I have binged 4 videos and I am now a new sub. Thank you for what you do. I love the stats you give us and your camera control is great 😊 That Muddy Waters bit made me feel so welcome 😊
Thank you for an eye opening video! Hard to believe in some towns a top of the line vehicle can cost more than a house! Loved the last town. I did not know the origin of the Teddy bear. The shack replica of Muddy Waters was cool.
I do appreciate your channel. Do you think many of these small towns were supported by factories who's products are now being manufacturing someplace overseas. This killed the towns.
What amazing is that Yazoo downtown looks 10x more colorful and bigger then all our coastal downtown city areas I'm from Gulfport and I literally never been to Yazoo but it's way more interesting then Gulfport from just the looks alone
My father family lived in Yazoo Mississippi in 1920 til the early 40's , my father was born here in 1931 . I got the chance to go to Yazoo in 1994 and it wasn't nothing like this ! Wow ! What a big change this city has went down ! I mean the stores were doing great business the restaurants were making good money ! That's only been 28 years ago ! Mind blowing 😳😳🤯🤯🤯
I really enjoy your videos. Thank you for taking the time, work, and money it takes to do this right. Good job my friend, and I hope you can keep it going for a long long time
My family is from Louise, MS... It's almost a ghost town now. My family knew Hoover Lee... He was an Asian man that owned a store downtown, his family might still own it. That's the cotton gin you passed. So glads you covered it. I wish you could have shown the very small old jail not far from the cotton gin. Again, so glad you covered Louise, MS
Damn these videos are always so interesting to see. The High poverty rate to the disappearing towns and low home valuations makes me wonder what the people who live in these towns actually do for work.
I have been to the Delta and spent some time in Gulfport. In the Delta they farm cotton , rice , and corn. A lot of catfish farms. On the Gulf Coast they have gambling casinos, port where ships come and go, ship building and fishing. A lot of people go their to hunt and pay landowners to hunt mostly duck, dove, quail and deer. The hunting is really good.
Since blacks were often unable to afford to live in white areas or were not permitted, money poured into a home was a way to show some status. This was talked about where i grew up. Yazoo is 80% black. Those nice homes are owned probably by whites.
The term 'Shotgun' house is the white man's 'annunciation' of the West Africa word "togun" which means house. I too found your road trip and stats interesting. The (NOLA) New Orleans, Louisiana 'Shotgun' houses (all over the south) are actually single homes (not duplexes as I assumed.) The matching front doors is explained that one side is actually the front door and the other is strictly for ventilation. If all doors are opened from front to back it produces a draft to cool down the home and houses lifted off the ground & onto a raised stacked brick foundation is in part for ventilation as well.
I grew up in a shotgun duplex house. My PawPaw bought two side-by-sides in a small town called Bibb City inside Columbus, GA. The little city was a created to house the mill workers at the Bibb Mill. Shotgun houses to us means that you can open the front door and all doors to each room and the back door and shoot a shotgun through the front door and it would go through the house and out the back door without hitting anything. Each house has a living room in front, bedroom in middle and kitchen in back. Both sections shared an outside bathroom on the back porch and if you were lucky, you shared a washing machine on that back porch too. Luckily we had family living in both sections LOL. PawPaw eventually closed off the porch and when I was a teen, my dad remodeled the entire thing into one big house. Funny note my brother had a kitchen sink in his room since his room was the second kitchen. He cut in a hallway joining both sections of house. I loved growing up in that house as it was originally and when we remoded.
excellent. fascinating video. me, a senior south side chicago, grandmother rooted from rolling fork to greenwood and then vicksburg where, growing up my ma in a kitchen, she learned to cook her precious german chocolate cakes that she once served for a jewish family.
Hi Lord Spoda This is a contrast of your earlier videos on rural Mississippi. Burnt houses, dilapidated abandoned houses, rubble everywhere is a typical sign of dying towns. A sorry sight indeed. Of course sprinkling of brightly colored houses in the towns is an interesting part of it. It's a good video showing other side of America too. @ 35:55 at the shack it is surprising to see a ceiling fan running. The playing of music seems to keep the history alive. Thanks for the video. Got to know more about dying rural small towns because of this video. Waiting for the next one.
You want to see rural poverty get out more towards the MS River. Look at those small crossroads towns like Rolling Fork, Anguilla, Hollandale etc... A lot of people don't realize how good they really got it until they visit areas like these.
You captured the Rolling Fork footage just in time. A follow up video of the devastation caused by the March-'23 Tornado would could be a great way to bring attention to all those in need. Thanks for the video.
This is the forth of your videos I have watched and they are getting better now you have got out of your car! Really interesting. I actually wouldn't mind living in a couple of these towns, Yazoo looks nice and these house by the river!
I like to follow along with the maps as I have no idea where you are going, Mississippi is rather large compared to what I'm used to. These small towns have certainly shrunk and with little to no chance of ever growing. The factory that was the main employer has gone and therefore peoples livelihoods but that is not just related to this area but in many countries. Reading the other comments gives a good perspective of how it went from boom to bust, seems it was reliant on one product that was replaced by a cheaper alternative. Rather sad as some of the buildings are beautiful. Thanks for the trip! Ended with a bang! Muddy Waters, I was brought up listening to his music, early 60's in England.
Oh my gosh. I saw a Ben Franklin's 5 and dime store in Yazoo City. We had one of those downtown in my home town. A friend of my parents worked there. I remember the creaky wooden floors and buying penny candy. Very good memories. I couldn't tell if this store was shuttered. The Ben Franklin's in my home town closed down many years ago. I just watched that bit again and, based on the cars parked there and the goods shown inside, I think it's still open. A WIN.
Lord Spoda MISSISSIPPI DELTA High poverty Rural towns were interesting to see what was going on years later some of the building falling down so isn't some of the houses Lord Spoda your video are awesome to watch I can't wait for the next video
Thank you mate..thoroughly enjoyed the ride..good bad indifferent, the awareness & knowledge of another people's, life, location & scenery, great viewing.
Mississippi, Louisiana, & Arkansas was the wealthiest cities in the country during their evil rise of slavery and lynching for hundreds of years, now these three cities are the poorest in the country, RIGHTFULLY SO!
Much of the rubble and other damage you see is from tornado damage. You will find such damage in the Deep South. There are towns in Alabama that have been completely leveled by tornadoes. When the interstates came through and bypassed towns many dried up. People shop at nearby malls and are willing to drive 30 minutes for jobs. The huge “ginning” building that you mentioned is an old cotton gin.
Zig Ziegler always said Yazoo City was where he came from! He was a pretty famous motivational speaker! I think the colors work as enhancement. Thanks as always!
