Old South Merges With New on Ceres Plantation

The family of a prominent Confederate minister fled to the old Ceres Plantation when Union gunboats began the Civil War siege of Vicksburg, bringing along what was reputed to be the biggest library in the South.

Yankee soldiers who later sacked the mansion used those books to “pave” the muddy road to the Big Black River.

Today, Yankees or anyone else with bucks to invest in high-tech businesses are welcome at the former cotton plantation.

The Old South is merging with the New South on the plantation’s 1,300 acres, which have been acquired by the Warren County Port Commission for development into an industrial park.

Potential Headquarters

The two-story, country-style antebellum home was named for the Roman goddess of agriculture. Now it is being offered as a potential corporate headquarters in a state trying to diversify its economy.

Jimmy Heidel, executive director of the Economic Development Foundation of Warren County, said the project, just 8 miles east of Vicksburg, is a symbol of a South that has risen again--resurrected with a new openness to change, yet proud to preserve its heritage.

Heidel says he knows of no other Southern industrial parks built on old plantation sites.

“I don’t know of any trying to market themselves in that way and trying to retain the history--keeping the old home, setting aside a wildlife refuge area and also keeping those 200-year-old trees in place,” he says.

Some 220 acres will be preserved for the wildlife refuge, with jogging trails and picnic tables for the industrial park’s workers.

A federal grant of almost $1.5 million and $2.5 million in industrial revenue bonds have financed the project. Work began in November.

Two existing Vicksburg businesses already have signed letters of intent to locate in the park, and developers recently began contacting other industrial prospects.

Heidel notes that the plantation sits on a major route from the East Coast to the West Coast, Interstate 20, which also is the only interstate highwaycrossing the Mississippi River between Memphis, Tenn., and Baton Rouge, La.

The industrial park also is just 25 miles west of Interstate 55, a major north-south route, and only 10 miles from the Mississippi River, another major transportation route. It is 30 miles from the Jackson Airport and plans for a railroad spur are in the works.

“With the fact that 60% of the consumer buying power is now shifting to the Southeast, which puts Mississippi right in the middle, you’ve got to go after distribution,” Heidel says.

The 6,000-square-foot Ceres Plantation home sits just a few hundred yards off Interstate 20.

Civil War Tales

The roads to and from the plantation bring to mind several Civil War tales, says 70-year-old Shelby Flowers Ferris. The land had remained in her family from 1820 until her brother, U. Grey Flowers, sold it to the port commission in 1986.

Ferris wrote a brief history of the old family home.

“As cannons of gunboats bombarded Vicksburg, the Rev. William Lord, rector of Christ Episcopal Church, became concerned for the safety of his family. He decided to accept an invitation from his friend, Col. Ed Flowers, to come to Ceres,” Ferris says. “The buggies and wagons of Reverend Lord were filled with family possessions and his extensive library--reputedly the largest in the South--were brought to Ceres. . . .

“When the Union Army came through, the family escaped, but the house and its contents were desecrated. With the butt of their muskets, they shattered pictures, mirrors, curtains, rugs and carpets.

“A large plantation wagon was loaded with Reverend Lord’s library, and the books were used by the soldiers to pave the muddy road from the plantation to the Big Black River. For a mile and a half, you could have walked on books.”

Heidel says he realizes that Mississippi, one of the most impoverished states in the nation, faces an image problem. But he contends that Mississippi can produce a skilled work force for high-tech businesses and provide a quality life style for well-educated employees brought in from elsewhere.

“You’re talking about a higher level of education in Warren County than the rest of Mississippi,” he says, noting that the 52,000 residents of the county include more than 6,000 federal employees of the Vicksburg Waterways Experiment Station, and local and regional U.S. Army Corps of Engineers offices. He says about a quarter of Warren County’s federal employees are engineers and others with doctoral degrees.

‘Quality-of-Life Items’

“They demand better school systems” and other quality-of-life items, Heidel says.

Heidel adds that the entire state is upgrading its technological image.

“You go to Stennis Space Center on the Gulf Coast and you’re going to see a lot of scientists,” he says. “The new research center at Mississippi State University for micro-electronic engineering is attracting a lot of these people, the new acoustical research center at the University of Mississippi is attracting Ph.Ds. You look at the polymer science center at the University of Southern Mississippi.

“We’ve got some research facilities in this state that should change our image.”