19th Century
The original house built by John Oldham was added to and expanded over the years, and it still stands within sight of the Stovall Store. Now a private residence, the home has been painstakingly restored by its current owner and stands as one of the finest antebellum restorations in the State of Mississippi.
For more information on this historic dwelling, click here.
Railroads and Mail Drops
As American settlement of the area expanded, railroads became critical to development, as roads were often impassable and great tracts of woodlands still covered much of the landscape. A railroad ran along what is now Mississippi Highway 1 and that line served as the main transportation artery for goods and people headed north and south.
The steam engines required watering stops, and those watering stops were typically identified with whoever was farming that land. Many of these watering stops became mail drops and the mail drops became post offices. Thus along the current highway route lie towns tied to families that still live in the area, such as Sherard, Bobo, and Stovall.
The Stovall post office was, in fact, originally the Prairieville post office, and the name was changed in 1885 to Stovall. The post office celebrated its centennial in 1978 before being closed in the late1980s.
“I was able in college to write my parents and address the letter to ‘Mom and Dad, 38672.’
The zip code got the letter to the post office and Sue Philpot the postmistress knew my handwriting and my New Haven address.”
- Howard Stovall
The Gin
There was also a gin on the site in the 19th century. We don’t know much about it beyond the photo at right, which appears to imply that there was at least one intrepid woman who wasn’t afraid to wear her hoop skirt on an industrial site.
We do think that gin was situated at a 90-degree angle to the current gin. That belief is based on the old brick foundations that we encountered when digging the post holes for the white irrigation pipe fence that runs across the center of the current site.
