The Land Trust of Mississippi Coastal Plain recently received a grant worth $14,000, in order to restore the smokehouse at the Shaw Homestead in Poplarville.

The Shaw Homestead includes a house that has been standing in Pearl River County since the 1890’s. According to Judy Steckler, executive director of the Land Trust, previous owner Mary Shaw left the house when Hurricane Camille came ashore in Mississippi in 1969, but she never came back to live in it.

Afterwards, the house remained untouched for about 40 years, until it was donated to the Land Trust after Hurricane Katrina.

Walking inside the house is like taking a trip in a time machine to an era that we have only seen in old movies. The house consists of several small adjacent rooms and a kitchen, which is located away from the cabin-like rooms. In the rooms, everything is exactly the way Shaw left it back in 1969. Bed frames can be found in each bedroom, along with items such as a small cabinet, chairs, and a mirror.

A small sink, dinner table and a fireplace are found in the kitchen of the house.

To add perspective, the house had no electricity or running water from the time it was built until about the 1950’s. As you tour the home and take in every detail, you get just a glimpse of how people lived in the days before television, internet, smartphones and many of the technology we take for granted.

Steckler and the Land Trust are working toward making the Shaw Homestead a tourist attraction in the near future, where adults and children can learn more about how life was lived generations ago.

The Shaw Homestead is an important piece of the history of Pearl River County and seeing organizations take an interest to maintain it and make sure it stands for another 100 years, will benefit our future generations as they learn more about it and our history.