Become a Sponsor of the 2009 10 Most Endangered Historic Places Event Find out more information about supporting this important event by clicking here.   Historic Preservation Curriculum Available for Download The recently completed historic preservation curriculum is now available for download by clicking here.   Old Capitol Ornaments and Mississippi Note Cards For Sale Need a unique Mississippi gift?  Then purchase one of these great items and help support preservation in Mississippi!  Click here for ordering information. Preservation Professionals Form In an effort to build a data base of professionals involved in preservation across the state MHT is soliciting the names of those involved in the preservation trade.  More information and a form to fill out is available by clicking here.
	"Mississippi Heritage Trust is an organization that seeks to protect Mississippi's irreplaceable cultural heritage - our towns and places, our sense of place that everyone recognizes as Mississippi, the place that inspired our literary greats, the place that is cherished by each Mississippian, and the place that is known throughout the world as a birthplace of creative genius." Ron Miller - Past President, Mississippi Heritage Trust

10 Years of Saving Mississippi's Endangered Historic Places!

2009 is a big year for MHT as our 10 Most Endangered Historic Places program turns 10! What began in 1999 as a way to raise awareness about the most threatened historic places in Mississippi has turned into a signature program at MHT. In 10 years over 60 individual sites and several statewide groupings of buildings have been added to the Endangered list including such places as the King Edward Hotel in Jackson, Beverly Drive-In Theatre in Hattiesburg, Turkey Creek Community in Gulfport, Historic Schools in the state, and many more. This program has brought needed attention to these places where important people lived and important events took place, like the home of L.Q.C. Lamar in Oxford to the Old Jackson Public Library where the Tougaloo Nine were arrested for reading in the library during the Civil Rights movement. Since the 10 Most program began eight places on the list have been saved, and at almost half of the places listed work is in progress to put them back to use, unfortunately there are many places on the list where no progress has been made and two buildings have been lost, the Tivoli Hotel in Biloxi and the Cooperative Creamery in Starkville. 

To celebrate 10 years of the 10 Most program MHT completed one special event and has another one planned for this year. The annual Experience Mississippi Preservation Conference was held in April and focused on case studies from places on the 10 Most list. Attendees learned first hand from the people saving these places how their efforts have worked or not worked.  Then on September 10th the new 2009 list of the 10 Most Endangered Historic Places will be unveiled at a very special unveiling event in Jackson! As in the past 10 art pieces will be commissioned on each of the sites on the list as well as an additional 10 very special pieces by top name Mississippi artists of the King Edward Hotel which was placed on the very first 10 Most list in 1999 and will reopen in the fall of 2009. For more information on the sites on past 10 Most lists click here.    

Historic Preservation Curriculum Completed

From the grand State Capitol in Jackson to the modest shotgun home of Elvis Presley in Tupelo, our historic buildings tell the story of Mississippi’s rich and colorful past. In order to foster an appreciation of our rich cultural and architectural history, the Mississippi Heritage Trust is proud to announce that the recently completed historic preservation curriculum is being tested in ten schools across the state. For more information on the curriculum or download it click here. 

Help Save Church Street in Port Gibson!!

Beautiful historic homes, churches and trees are threatened by the expansion of Highway 61 along Church Street in the historic town of Port Gibson.  The Mississippi Department of Transportation has announced plans to widen sections of the street to increase the traffic flow for the highway which could have damaging impacts on the numerous historic structures and wonderful trees that border the street. Click here to find out more information about the issue and how you can help Port Gibson preserve the historic character of Church Street through an on-line petition and letter writing campaign.

Click here to visit the Port Gibson Heritage Trust web site to learn more about this issue!

Work on the Flannegan - Lowry House

Continues

One of Jackson’s few remaining antebellum structures and home to a former Mississippi governor was moved in June of 2007 to its new site, a major step forward since work began by the Mississippi Heritage Trust in 2005 to save the historic structure. The Flannegan - Lowry House, located on North Congress Street behind Baptist Hospital, is a circa 1850 Greek Revival raised cottage and former home of Mississippi Governor Robert Lowry (1882-1890).

After the house was moved the foundation walls and piers were completed in September of 2007 to support the house. Architectural plans for the restoration of the exterior and interior are moving along and are scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.  This summer a site cleanup took place at the house removing debris left from the installation of the foundation. The site was also partially graded to allow water to drain away from the front of the house.  Work has also been completed on the reconstruction of the front porch that was removed in order to move the house to  its new site.  The rear porch which had been enclosed has now been opened up back to its original configuration and the porch floor and supports repaired.

Click here for more information on the

Flannegan - Lowry House project and to see pictures

of the house before, during,

and after the move.

2009 Work Planned for the

Mississippi Heritage Trust

We were busy at MHT in 2008 and 2009 will be no different.  We hope you will join us in our efforts to preserve the pre-historic and historic cultural resources of Mississippi that are so important to our communities.  We had many successful events and projects in 2008 and have many more planned for 2009 including:

• Holding the 2009 Experience Mississippi Preservation Conference in Jackson April 24th.
• Celebrating 10 years of the 10 Most Endangered Historic Places program in Mississippi and announcing the 2009 list in Jackson this September.
• Continuing our work to restore and renovate the Flannegan - Lowry House for the new MHT office.
• Maintaining our Katrina efforts on the Gulf Coast and continuing our work with local, state, and federal officials to save as many of the remaining historic structures damaged by Katrina as possible. 
• Completing the expansion and upgrading of our web site to include more detailed information on our programs, activities, and preservation news from around the state. 
• Continuing our consulting projects all across the state including projects for Raymond, Columbia, and McComb. Projects include historic resource surveys, National Register historic district nominations, and Design Guidelines for historic districts.   MHT is also assisting the Mississippi Main Street Association with charrettes in several Main Street Communities across the state to help make them more successful.
• Monitoring the introduction of the Preservation Curriculum in 10 schools across the state to see how the lesson plans work and if any changes need to be made.

As a non-profit organization all that we do at the Mississippi Heritage Trust is a result of the financial support from our members and sponsors across the state, and from around the country.   So if you are not a member, please consider joining (just click on the Join Now button on any page) us in the fight to save the historic resources that make Mississippi unique!

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