Vintage Views of Brookhaven, MS
 When I was a child, one of my favorite trips was a train ride on the CIty of New Orleans to
Brookhaven, MS, where my aunt, Ernestine Garrett Godbold, lived, along with her husband,
Willard, and daughter, Mary Katherine.  My mom and I would get up before daylight and my dad
would drive us to Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans, while he passed on last-minute
instructions on how to travel safely and she passed on last-minute reminders to feed the dog,
lock the doors and eat the chicken casserole she'd left for him.
 It always felt like an excellent adventure, boarding the train before dawn and rolling through the
countryside toward Brookhaven and Aunt Ernestine.  I recall arriving at the old depot there one
December morning to find Aunt Ernestine waiting, as usual, on the platform, but - amazingly - with
snow cascading down all around her.  From the train, I could see the town's rooftops, white with
fallen snow.  I must've been about 4 or 5, and it was the first time I'd ever seen snow.  To my
childhood mind, it was a welcoming gift from Aunt Ernestine herself.  It's a happy memory, along
with many others of Brookhaven, that I've kept all these years - the kind a friend of mine calls
"heart memories" - memories that stir the senses and make the heart glad.
 It's to the memory of Aunt Ernestine and Uncle Willard that I dedicate this page.  Nancy
First Methodist Church
Public School
Left & above, my uncle
and aunt, Willard and
Ernestine Garrett Godbold
Above & right, my Aunt Ernestine (center) in the
room in which she spent a lot of her time - her
kitchen - where she lovingly created hearty meals
and delicious homemade cakes and pies...as did her
two sisters - my mom, left, and my Aunt Bessie, right.
1st Presbyterian Church
Most of these photos and postcards are ca. early 1900's,
otherwise, when known, I've indicated the date.
A Sunday afternoon automobile ride
Street scene
Jackson Avenue
Saturday in town, ca. 1890
A Christmas eve in the 1890's
Above & below, Cherokee Street, 1880 - 1900
1st Baptist Church
Above, City Hall;  below, Railroad Avenue
Lincoln County Courthouse and Jail, 1899
Above & below, train depot
East Railroad Avenue
Inez Hotel
Whitworth Avenue, 1920's
Above, St. Francis Catholic Church;
left, top, St. Francis School;
left, bottom, priest's home