Yalobusha Historical Society Minutes – Sept. 16, 2011

    The Yalobusha County Historical Society held its regular meeting September 16,  in Coffeeville at its headquarters the Presbyterian Church.  There were forty one members and guests present.  
    The opening prayer was spoken by Mike Ayers.  President Mike Worsham welcomed members and guests.  Mike acknowledged the deaths of two longtime members, Bill Davis and Billie Rotenberry.
    Heartfelt sympathy is extended to the Davis and Rotenberry Families from the Yalobusha County Historical Society.
    Julia Fernandez introduced the speaker and owner of Taylor Grocery, Lynn Hewlett. Taylor Grocery continues a long community tradition of cooking catfish, and serves hundreds of people each weekend with world famous food and live music.
    In addition to serving good food, Lynn Hewlett likes to tell about the history of Taylor.  The year was 1832 when John Taylor, a physician by trade, settled in the area of Taylor Creek and Yocona River. Taylor bought large tracts of land from the Chickasaw Indians, and he built a mill on the river.  
    Other pioneer families, some whose descendants still live there, chose to call this land home.  The settlement was first called Yocona Station.  Soon a school and church were built. The school was a one room log cabin on Thacker Mountain, the county’s highest point at 571 feet. Miss Victoria Thacker taught all ages of students at the facility.  Yocona Church was built east of town and a cemetery established. Construction of the Mississippi Central Railroad began in 1856. A depot was built and when it was completed in 1858, the train was the life blood of the town. The train ferried everything from cotton to timber to Memphis.  
    During the Civil War, General Ulysses Grant’s army moved in and around this area on its way from Holly Springs to Vicksburg traveling down the Mississippi Central Railroad.  Evidence of the Union Army’s camps is found east of Taylor.           
    Taylor’s Depot was incorporated in February of 1873, and in 1907 the name was officially changed to Taylor.  Yellow fever came through twice – in 1879 and in 1898.
    Later a fire swept through Taylor’s Depot destroying most of the town.    This disaster was the beginning of the end of Taylor as a thriving center of commerce.
    However, in the 1970s several artists moved into Taylor and more artists followed. Today, farmers, artists, and refugees from city life live side-by-side attending church and raising families.
     There were many other interesting aspects on Taylor that Lynn shared with the YCHS.  
      The next meeting of the YCHS will be October 20, 2011 and the guest speaker will be Gary Darby.  His topic will be Harmontown.