Articles by Rufus Ward
Ask Rufus: The story in a name
Names preserve a place’s story and history. Many local roads and streams actually have real stories to tell.
Ask Rufus: A Virginia family adventure
Last week I was in Alexandria, Virginia, for a family visit. It turned out my granddaughter’s school class was studying the Indians of Virginia. We had planned on spending a few days in Yorktown sightseeing, and so the timing was perfect for a side trip to Jamestown.
Ask Rufus: Is It Eggnog or Milk Punch?
Thanksgiving has now passed, and Christmas is fast approaching, which raises that perennial holiday beverage controversy: What is the favored Christmas Holiday’s libation, eggnog or milk punch?
Ask Rufus: Hitler’s silver, a soldier’s souvenir
Three weeks ago, I was at a luncheon at the Aliceville Museum. Linda Anderson and her sister Bonnie Anderson Hariton had come from California to present to the museum a collection of silverware their father had sent home at the end of World War II.
Ask Rufus: Ancestors of the Thanksgiving turkey
Last week I was talking about Columbus history with Mayor Keith Gaskin, and he mentioned that on November 18 there would be the pardoning of a Thanksgiving Turkey in Columbus. That made me think about early Columbus and the turkey lore I have heard or read. That lore has roots in Alabama and Mississippi which go back for centuries, extending even into prehistoric times.
Ask Rufus: The Columbus Warriors, Mississippi’s First Pro football Team
We are in the middle of football season with a lot of interest not just in high school and college games but also in the NFL. While Mississippi has never had an NFL team, there have been pro football teams from minor or indoor leagues.
Ask Rufus: The Ghosts of the Tombigbee
From 1823 until about 1920 steamboats plied the Tombigbee between Columbus and Mobile. For many of those years the river was Columbus’ principal artery of commerce. Those times brought many steamboat accidents and accidents involving people living and working along the river.
Ask Rufus: The opera sings the blues
This evening from 6:30 till 9:00 at the Black Prairie Blues Museum in downtown West Point there will be a music event not just to hear but to experience.
Ask Rufus: Leigh Mall, in the beginning
On Aug. 23, 1972, a time capsule was buried at Leigh Mall in front of Sears with instructions to open it during Columbus’ bicentennial in 2021.
Ask Rufus: The September hurricane of 1906
When researching local history, you never know what rabbit hole you might fall into.
Ask Rufus: Native flowers
Through spring and summer, we have been enjoying the vivid display of color of our common flowers, many of which are native to this area.
Ask Rufus: The U-boat war along the Gulf Coast
Last weekend I was visiting my friends, Bruce and Faye Bennett, in Pine Apple, Alabama. Bruce and I were talking about how there is so much of our history people do not know. The topic of how German U-boats operated in the Gulf of Mexico during World War II came up.
Ask Rufus: Not seeing the forest for the trees
Last week I helped Nancy Carpenter and Visit Columbus show our town to a German travel writer who was on a tour of Mississippi. I found his comments about Columbus and what appealed to him as a tourism asset most interesting. It was the walkways, historic vistas and slices of natural history that surround downtown or are only a short drive away.
Ask Rufus: A day of mixed emotions
Thursday was a day of mixed feelings. The day started when I attended the Change of Command of the 43rd Flying Training Squadron at Columbus Air Force Base.
Ask Rufus: The Amazing Life of Frank Bell
Last week I started the story of Dr. Frank M. Bell who was born and raised in Columbus, was an aviation pioneer, a “leading spirit” of the Catalina Island sailing community, had the first automobile in El Paso, was the hero of a trainwreck in Kansas, was tried but acquitted of murdering his brother-in-law in San Francisco and died in 1914 after an “aeroplane accident” in Meridian.
Ask Rufus: Real or Fantasy, the Amazing Life of Dr. Frank Bell
Every now and then I come across a local figure or event that is almost too amazing to be true but contains a definite thread of truth woven throughout the story.
Ask Rufus: A Mexican silver dollar and a Civil War mystery
There are all kinds of stories and legends floating around about $110 million dollars in gold and silver from the Confederate treasury being buried at the end of the Civil War.
Ask Rufus: The Jenny Lind and the Freshet of 1851
On February 22, 1851, the Columbus Democrat reported, “Our river has again overflowed its banks, and reached within a few inches of the great freshet of 1847.”
Ask Rufus: The Giants Among Us
Last week Chance Laws and I were talking about the World War II veterans we had known and how so many of them never talked about what they had been through or what they had done.
