A date has been set to unveil the museum located in the historic side of Picayune’s City Hall.
The museum will still be a work in progress, but on Thursday the community is invited to come and see the results of months of work conducted by members of the Pearl River County Historical Society. Historical Society member Jerry Stough said the event will start at 9 a.m. and last until 11 a.m.
Visitors to the ribbon cutting and grand opening will be the first to see displays that portray the history of Picayune and Pearl River County, Stough said.
There is a display on the county’s logging days, photographs from high school graduating classes as far back as 1900 and even a kindergarten class photo with Dobie Holden from 1909.
Two letter jackets from decades past will also be on display, including a Picayune Memorial High School cheerleader jacket from 1947 and a jacket from the old Industrial High School, which Stough says used to be located across from the Pine Grove Baptist Church before its closure in the late 1950s. Stough said that building has since been demolished.
A glass case displays old school books from the 1800s while another has a collection of arrowheads collected from various sites around the county.
The logging display includes photographs of the various technology used throughout the life of the industry, including a photo of a two wheeled cart capable of carrying one log at time and an eight wheeled cart with three logs aboard.
Other items currently on display in the museum include a hand-woven basket and a butter knife that belonged to Indian Chief Greenwood Leflore.
Stough said there are future plans for the museum he will discuss at the grand opening. Some of those plans include displays of the oldest churches in the county, including Antioch Baptist Church, Old Palestine Church, First Baptist Church of Picayune and Union Baptist Church in Caesar.
The museum is still accepting item donations to add to the displays.
After the grand opening visitors can tour the museum by making an appointment with Stough by calling 601-590-3268 or sending him an email at stoughje@bellsouth.net.