Articles by Rufus Ward
Ask Rufus: An ancient landscape
As planning has progressed for a fossil park, an interesting suggestion has been made.
Ask Rufus: Dr. Jack Kaye, not just a geology professor
Most people remember the late Jack Kaye as a geology professor at Mississippi State University and at Mississippi University for Women, and he was. However, he was much more than just that.
Ask Rufus: All Hallows Eve, an ancient Christian celebration
Halloween is a contraction of “hallow,” which means holy, and “even,” which means evening.
Ask Rufus: Ghost steamers of the Tombigbee
For 97 years, between 1823 and 1920, steamboats plied the Tombigbee between Columbus or Aberdeen and Mobile.
Ask Rufus: The Vienna Landing
For those who are interested in history, there are some real gems to be found in the Billups Garth Archives of the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library.
Ask Rufus: Where’s that name from?
Sunday afternoon the Tombigbee pedestrian bridge will reopen with a ribbon cutting and celebration.
Ask Rufus: The hurricane of Sept. 27, 1906
When Hurricane Helene struck yesterday, I could not help but recall a column I wrote several years ago about the Alabama steamboat Mary and the Hurricane of Sept. 27, 1906. I found it interesting that 118 years to the day another hurricane had devastated the Gulf Coast and just last week I came across a circa 1905 postcard of the Mary.
Ask Rufus: The flight of the USS Shenandoah
This weekend will be filled with awe and thrills and heritage as Columbus Air Force Base hosts a spectacular air show on Saturday and Sunday. It is a world class event that is free, open to the public and not to be missed.
Ask Rufus: A weekend of blues and Thunderbirds
The weekend of Sept. 20-22 will be a world class weekend in West Point and Columbus.
Ask Rufus: Mushulatubbee and the Choctaws
Last week I was invited to speak to the Daughters of the American Revolution in Starkville about the 100th anniversary of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.
Ask Rufus: Chasing a killdee
After a meeting at the Mississippi University For Women Plymouth Bluff Center last week, the subject of killdees came up. We were pondering on how we don’t seem to see as many of them as we once did.
Ask Rufus: Dinosaurs in the park
Last Monday I was in Jackson visiting with George Phillips, the curator of paleontology at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science. While I was there, he showed me the huge mammoth tusk that recently made the news when it was found in Madison County. It was an impressive sight. However, it was the fossil bones of Mississippi dinosaurs that got my attention.
Ask Rufus: On Aug 21, 1820
I have written articles in the past about how Columbus was founded and recognized in 1819 by the Alabama Legislature as the Town of Columbus, Alabama.
Ask Rufus: Dr. B.C. Barry: Pioneer, doctor and early community leader
One of the more interesting figures associated with the founding of Columbus was Dr. B.C. Barry.
Ask Rufus: Become immersed in nature and history at MUW’s Plymouth Bluff Center
There are not many places in Mississippi where you can go and have a firsthand account of what happened in that place more than 200 years ago and experience a still almost primeval landscape. One of those places is only five miles from downtown Columbus.
Ask Rufus: The W’s Puckett House, a Queen Anne treasure
Ken P’Pool, the retired longtime head of historic Preservation at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and someone I consider the foremost authority on Mississippi and Columbus historic architecture, has called the Puckett House on the Mississippi University for Women campus one of the finest examples of a brick Queen Anne style house to survive in Mississippi.
Ask Rufus: The electric street cars of Columbus
I’ve been watching the progress of Deborah Mansfield and Marion Sansing painting a streetcar mural just down College Street from my house.
Ask Rufus: Columbus steamboats
When warm weather arrives, it’s time for people to head to the river. The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway provides a wide range of recreational boating.
Ask Rufus: The Rough and Ready
With the upcoming Fourth of July celebrations, my research into an 1879 Fourth of July celebration in Aberdeen opened a window to Columbus’ Rough and Ready volunteer fire company of 150 years ago.
Ask Rufus: A wall of separation between church and state
Prayer in schools, prayer at public events and the public display of religious scenes all too often seem under attack by the courts. The courts base their rulings on more than 200 years of legal precedents that there must be a separation — a wall — between church and state.
