After undergoing renovations for the last four years, Plymouth Bluff Environmental Center returned to its former glory Thursday as community members gathered for a grand reopening celebration.
The Mississippi University for Women, which owns and operates Plymouth Bluff, and the Columbus-Lowndes Chamber of Commerce partnered to host the event and give visitors a look at the new improvements.
“We wanted to give people a chance to see what all there is to offer here,” MUW President Nora Miller told The Dispatch. “We want people to know that this is available for family reunions, for weddings, for whatever, and hope that people come out and take advantage of all it has to offer.”
More than $200,000 has gone toward making improvements to the nearly 200-acre environmental center, Plymouth Bluff Director Chandler Lester said. While many made aesthetic changes to facilities, several improvements addressed problems that desperately needed a solution, like the newly refurbished back deck of the Sherman Conference Center.
“We had to block it offline for about a year,” Lester told The Dispatch Thursday. “We had about eight exit doors. We had to block them off because it was a hazard, so it needed to be done.”
Lester said a lot of the paneling at the conference center was replaced, and all of the landscaping around the building has been redone over the last three years.
Updating the center’s 23 cabins was another pressing priority in the renovations list.
“It’s almost like when I got here, it was hard to tell people about the cabins … and then they’d come and the toilet would go out, the AC go out,” Lester said. “It’s hard to advertise that.”
Now each newly-painted cabin feels like a hotel room, complete with Wi-Fi, new furniture, new toilets and new air conditioners. It’s a major update to the condition they were in before, Lester said.
“The best part about the job is looking at all these changes, the before and after, getting it to where we want it to be,” he said. “It’s in better condition than when it was given to us.”
But there are still more updates to come. Lester said there are plans to eventually paint and reroof the conference center and redo several bridges on the trails.
He is also thinking of new ways to encourage people to visit Plymouth Bluff, including bringing back Sundays at the Bluff. The event brought the public to the center weekly to hear educational and environmental lectures, Lester said.
“We had two talks this year, and we want to schedule as many as we can to bring them to the public at no charge,” he said. “Come and learn something that they’re interested in.”
The whole idea, Lester said, is to spread the word about what the center has to offer and encourage people to come visit. He hopes more open events like the grand reopening will help with that.
“Basically make it more available,” he said. “Have more events like this that are free to the public, so that people can look at the facility and kind of have a community — somewhere people can go.”
Details on Plymouth Bluff trails, facilities and cabins are available at muw.edu/plymouthbluff/
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 39 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 39 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
