Alright Folks!!!  I am now officially able to get into Orvisburg.  On Sunday I talked to Mrs. Knoll and it was the easiest thing I have done throughout this entire journey.  I asked if there was anyway I could get out there and she looked at me and said, “So how many days do you want to be out there?  About three?”  OMG!  Wow, you mean to tell me I have been all over Pearl River County asking around on how I can get into Orvisburg and all I had to do was go to church and ask?  Hurray for me ya’ll!  I can’t believe it!  So next week (after spring break) Lauren, Joseph, Allan, and I will be taking the last steps in our three and then four week journey!  It is kind of sad after all of this hunting that it is about to come to an end… ~*sniff*~ 

Even better Mrs. Knoll told me that I she will get me access to aerial photographs of the town when most of the buildings where still there!  How cool is that!

After we are finished Joe and I will be editing all of the video from our journey and you will only be able to find it here on StephanieSeal.com!  So check back soon!

WE HAVE HAD A BREAK THROUGH!!!  I can’t believe it, we have finally found out a way to get to Orvisburg.  Joe and I both finally got into the PRCC Museum and found a man that practically knew everything about Orvisburg!  He said that he had tons of family that lived and were buried out there.  It turns out that he even had family that worked out in Nortac, which was the lumber company that used to be in my backyard.  He led us to a man that knew how to get back in to Orvisburg and funny enough Tina Knoll owns almost all of Orvisburg.  I got to church with Miss Tina and know them fairly well so all I have to do is go to church this weekend and ask!  YIPPIE!  I am so happy.  On Sunday I will have a new update.

Ya’ll have a good spring break!

Here we go again…another day has come and is about to go and we have gotten just a little bit closer to solving the Orvisburg Mystery.  So we started off by asking Bud Lambert if he wanted to join our search.  Well we begged and begged….And he still said No!  What a little baby…fine I get it if people think we are crazy…but hey when Joe and I are on one of the History Channels most popular shows….you’ll be sorry!!!

Yesterday we I had a meeting with the principle our school, “Carl Merritt”, because there was a rumor that Orvisburg was on 16^th section land and owned by the school.  That would make things so much easier since we are doing the whole “Search for Orvisburg” thing as a journalism project.  Well we called a bunch of people and I got a whole bunch of info on the place.  We never found out if the school owned Orvisburg, so today I made a trip up to the PLE to look at a 16^th section map.  Needless to say, the school doesn’t own it!  Dang…

Our superintendent, Gylde Fitzpatrick told us that we might have some luck figuring out who owned the land and more information on Orvisburg at PRCC because they had a small museum of Poplarville history…and guess what…THEY WERE CLOSED!  So we will continue our fearless journey tomorrow during journalism…until then…

Okay we have made some progress so far.  Joe and I made a bunch of trips all over Poplarville to found out exactly what happened to and where is Orvisburg.  First we went to the Tax office and got a whole bunch of names of the people who owned property in the general area.  This was great news for us, because both Joe and I know people who know these people.  Then we went to the library, which was no help at all.  All they had on Orvisburg was a book that was all the way in Picayune…yay….  But the woman at the front desk was really helpful and told us how the court house may have something information on deeds of the old town.

So we drove a long, long way, which calculated to about 1/20 of a mile.  The journey was rough on the bumpy road to the court house.  We went in and found a woman who said that her great aunt had owned a grocery store in Orvisburg…well that was good to know, because now we know for sure that there was actually a town back there.  The deeds weren’t as helpful however….

So here we go…we got a little information, but not enough to really help us…It is just so strange that a thriving town with houses, stores, and graveyards would just totally root away.  Why did people leave?  Was it the small pox?  Did the lumber company buy it out?  Is it legal to have a cemetery on private property and not let the public come in?  Why is there no information anywhere about a town where people once lived and died?  It is a really sad story to think about, but hopefully the next time I update on the story we will have more info, and we would have figured out the Orvisburg Mystery.

Okay ya’ll I have some exciting news for you!  Today Joseph, Allen, Lauren, and I took an adventure to find the long lost city of Orvisburg, Mississippi.  For all of you that don’t know what the heck I am talking about,  Orvisburg was an actual city that is between Lumberton and Poplarville on highway 11.  It is now an abandon city with only a main street, a few cemeteries and some old worn down houses, one of which was burned down some years ago and only a staircase remains.  One of the cemeteries is a children’s cemetery, where in the 1890’s a small pox epidemic spread through the city killing a lot of children.   Kinda spooky I know, but as an archeologist lover I had to see this place for myself. 

We started off our journey at Allan’s house where we soon left.  As we rode down the road we noticed farm animals and began a conversation on the sex life of Catharine the Great.  When Lauren told Allen she was leaving him for a horse we stopped in the middle of the highway until Lauren took it back… you had to have been there.

When we took a road to where Orvisburg was we ended up by railroad tracks.  Allen’s mom told us that if we walked on the railroad far enough we would reach the forgotten city.  Well we walked, and we walked, and come to think of it we walked a little more.  The problem was that the “Prosecuted for passing this point” signs were really starting to get to Lauren and me.  So we decided it was time to turn around.

So we found a road called Orvisburg Rd. Well we drove down it and found a Red Neck hunting ground.

We walked through the "No Trespassing" gates and found  what had to have been an “Ancient Chewing Tobacco” can…very exciting.  But once again, the “Prosecuted” signs started getting to Lauren and me again and the thought of the fact that it was turkey season didn’t help either.

 Well we headed home as a bunch of failures.  But that is okay, because on Monday I am going down to city hall to see who owns Orvisburg.  We plan to go back once we have gotten permission.  Keep coming back to see more of our adventure.  But Joe is still kinda upset!