82nd Annual Pilgrimage Tour of Historic Homes
Churches and Museums
Open Friday and Saturday various times
CHURCH OF THE YELLOW FEVER CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH FIRST UNITED METHODIST MARTYRS MUSEUM
305 East College Avenue 100 North Randolph Street 175 East Van Dorn Avenue
305 East College Avenue 100 North Randolph Street 175 East Van Dorn Avenue
The Yellow Fever Martyrs Church has its beginnings in 1839, just three years after the founding of Holly Springs. A small but influential group of Episcopalians had settled here, and Bishop James H. Otey of the Diocese of Tennessee (which held dominion over Mississippi before the founding the Diocese of Mississippi ten years later) authorized the creation of a new parish in the young town. This parish, named Christ Church, was founded on April 21, 1839.
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Christ Episcopal Church began in 1841 in a small frame church building. It was later sold and moved to East College in 1858 to make room for a new larger building. The present organ is actually the third organ. The first one was destroyed by Federal troops in the Civil War. The church was used as a stable for the soldiers' horses. The alter was turned upside down
and used as a trough. |
The First United Methodist Church was established in 1837, with the first building located on the corner of West College and Craft Street. This building later became a residence. The property was deeded to William Long, who built the new church building in 1849. Records also shows that the pews and pulpit from this early church were moved to the new church. When the courthouse was burned during the Civil War, court was held on the lower floor of the church for several years. Federal troops stored gunpowder in the sanctuary and stabled horses downstairs. The pews were pushed together with the seats facing to make feed troughs for the horses.
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IDA B. WELL-BARNETT MUSEUM
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MARSHALL COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM
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Ida B. Wells, one of the most important civil rights advocates of the nineteenth century, was born on this property soon after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. Ida B. Wells was born on July 16, 1862, in Holly Springs. She was orphaned at age 16 when her parents died as victims of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878. The post office was named the Ida B. Wells Station in Holly Springs, MS. Ida B. Wells was a civil rights activist, a woman's rights activist, and one of the founders of the NAACP.
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The museum displays exhibitions of artifacts from the Civil War era. The upper floors of the museum show a collection of taxidermy animals indigenous to Mississippi, a large collection of Victorian children’s books, and items made by the Native American tribes of Mississippi. It was originally built as a girls’ dormitory for the Mississippi Synodical College during the early 20th century. The Marshall County Historical Museum retains both the layout and the atmosphere of a domestic environment.
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