Since Pilgrimage was founded in Columbus 80 or so years ago, the annual spring event has focused primarily on showcasing antebellum homes.
This made the term “historical” synonymous with majestic columns, vast wraparound porches and manors still scattered throughout the city.
When Ralph Null took over as president for the Preservation Society of Columbus, one of his first observations was simple math.
“When they started the Pilgrimage in the 1940s, the houses that they were showing were the same age as a house that was built in the 1950s is today,” Null said. “That was kind of eye opening. We have things now that are much more contemporary that are equally as important for the fabric of the community.”
The Preservation Society took over the annual Pilgrimage from the Columbus Cultural Heritage Foundation at the end of 2019. However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced a two-year hiatus, with the PSC’s first event held this spring.
The group seeks to encourage diversity — not only through the homes shown, but also among the group’s membership, which has swelled to 21 on the board alone.
“We have a new board that is very diverse,” Null said. “We have young people and old people. We have African American board members, some young and some old. We have educators. We have historians.”
The new board has one goal above all else, Null said. It wants to encourage preservation, not just of individual homes, but neighborhoods.
“It is a continuum,” Null said. “We can have the most incredible architectural specimen, but if the environment of that area deteriorates so that it becomes undesirable, then even our most precious possessions have less importance. We have to think of preservation in a much broader scope.”
His idea for making that happen? Encouraging young people to take an interest in preserving these homes.
“That’s what I see as the future of preservation: creating the desire of younger couples to love the idea of a big house, but live in a contemporary modern space.”
To do this, the group utilizes the Pilgrimage, now known as the Pilgrimage Jubilee of Homes.
Next year’s Jubilee is set for March 31 through April 23.
“We are still firming up,” Null said. “Getting people to open their houses is kind of like herding cats. But the plethora of houses that we are working toward will be things from a 1950s house, a 1940s house, a 1920s house, all the way back (to Antebellum homes) so that we have the full spectrum.”
The group also involves young people through partnerships with Mississippi State University and Mississippi University for Women.
“We have become part of Mississippi State University’s master’s program in historic preservation,” Null said. “We have three professors at MSU that serve on our board. … They also have access to students who can do a lot of research and things for us that fits into what their degree is. We are also partnering with Mississippi University for Women’s history department.”
The students in the Master’s of Fine Arts in historic preservation program at Mississippi State University are already heavily involved with the group.
Students provide a variety of assistance and gain class credit for it.
“It largely depends on what’s needed. … It could be anything,” said Jeff Fulton, vice president for the Preservation Society and associate professor at MSU. “It could be researching buildings, a cemetery. It could be helping nominate a building for the national register. Primarily, we would sit down with members of the Preservation Society and determine what their immediate needs are. Right now we are looking at a cemetery or two that probably needs a little (tender loving care).”
The partnership kicked off a year ago, and it is still building its student base.
“We already have an active role,” Fulton said. “We are just looking forward to it being even more active as we get more and more students.”
Fundraising
One key aspect of the Preservation Society’s plan includes fundraising.
The annual “Cocktails-n-Culture” gala is set for Dec. 3. It will be held at the historic Ridge House, formerly known as the Proffitt House.
“It’s a social event where we target people who have attended in the past and prospective new people who would be an asset to us,” said board member Jerry Fortenberry.
Tickets are $100 each.
Money raised will be used for preservation projects.
“Our money is intended to be turned back in and used for preservation,” Null said. “We have some great things happening.”
The projects planned now include a new sign for the Queen City Hotel, which was blown away during a tornado and never found.
Another project is to put a new roof on the Masonic Lodge, which sits on the southwest corner of Fifth Street North and Second Avenue.
Null said the building has more historical significance than many people realize.
“It is (historic) for a couple of reasons,” he said. “One is that, I think, that is the first African American Masonic Lodge in town. Also, the ground floor of that building was originally the Penny Bank building. That was an African American bank. It’s been gone since the (nineteen) teens.”
Ultimately, the group seeks to preserve the uniqueness of Columbus.
“Columbus has one of the most diverse collections of architecture of any small town in Mississippi or the South,” Null said.
How to go
■ WHAT: Cocktails-N-Culture Members Gala
■ WHEN: Dec. 3 at 6:30 p.m.
■ WHERE: 571 Ridge Rd., Columbus
■ HOW: Tickets $100 per person, contact Preservation Society of Columbus on Facebook for info and tickets.
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