Thursday 13 ~ #3

Thirteen Things about Mississippi Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, on January 8, 1935. Historic Jefferson College, circa 1802, was the first preparatory school established in the Mississippi Territory. The first nuclear submarine built in the south was produced in Mississippi. Mississippi was the first state in the nation to have a planned system of junior colleges. The rarest of North American cranes lives in Mississippi in the grassy savannas of Jackson County. The Mississippi Sandhill Crane stands about 44 inches tall and has an eight-foot wingspan. Friendship Cemetery in Columbus has been called Where Flowers Healed a Nation. It was April 25, 1866, and the Civil War had been over for a year when the ladies of Columbus decided to decorate both Confederate and Union soldiers' graves with beautiful bouquets and garlands of flowers. As a direct result of this kind gesture, Americans celebrate what has come to be called Memorial Day each year, an annual observance of recognition of war dead. After the Civil War, famed hat maker John B. Stetson learned and practiced his trade at Dunn's Falls near Meridian. The oldest game in America is stickball. The Choctaw Indians of Mississippi played the game. Demonstrations can be seen every July at the Choctaw Indian Fair in Philadelphia. Natchez was settled by the French in 1716 and is the oldest permanent settlement on the Mississippi River. Natchez once had 500 millionaires, more than any other city except New York City. The Vicksburg National Cemetery is the second largest national cemetery in the country. Arlington National Cemetery is the largest. Mississippi suffered the largest percentage of people who died in the Civil War of any Confederate State. 78,000 Mississippians entered the Confederate military. By the end of the war 59,000 were either dead or wounded. Root beer was invented in Biloxi in 1898 by Edward Adolf Barq, Sr. (my eldest son's favourite soft drink). At Pascagoula the Ingalls Division of Litton Industries uses leading-edge construction techniques to build the United State Navy's most sophisticated ships. Visit Mississippi Fast Facts and Trivia to learn more about Mississippi.