On April 3, the Marion County Historical Society in Columbia will host a free walking tour of Columbia’s city cemetery. The program will take place in conjunction with the Smithsonian traveling exhibit Crossroads: Change in Rural America, on display in Columbia through May 8.
In 1825, Gen. Benjamin Lee purchased a parcel of land in Columbia just off Main Street, for burial of himself and his descendants. Later, several sections were added to this original parcel and the City Cemetery of Columbia grew. Among those buried there are persons from a number of founding business families from retail merchants to pharmacists, doctors, bankers, newspaper publishers and more. This tour provides an opportunity to discuss the growth and changes in time of the City of Columbia through these early families.
Crossroads: Change in Rural America offers small towns a chance to look at their own paths to highlight the changes that affected their fortunes over the past century. The exhibition will prompt discussions about what happened when America’s rural population became a minority of the country’s population and the ripple effects that occurred.
The exhibit will be on display in the Marion County Museum and is open to the public Tuesdays to Saturdays 9am-5pm. Crossroads is free to visit.
Weather date for the Main Street historic tour will be Saturday, April 10.
Upcoming Crossroads events in Columbia:
April 17, 3pm: Lampton Rural Center Tour
April 30, 8am:“From Snapshots to a Collage: Exploring Rural Mississippi Through Population Studies” presentation, Dr. John Green
