History
History
of the Festival
Beautiful Sucarnoochee, Mississippi, was founded in 1821 by Jebediah Wilkins, an itinerant day-laborer and sometime gambler who history records left his native England and came to America sometime during the War of 1812. Some sources imply that Wilkins deserted from the British army while stationed in Maryland in 1813 after losing a large sum in a wager with other members of his regiment, but evidence to support this theory is sketchy. In any case, "I sought out a Land of beautie, a Land of peace and harmonie," Wilkins wrote in his memoirs, "and I found it on the bankes of the river which the Indians called Sookar Noochie, which means 'River of Sweetness,' and so too I called the Towne."
Sucarnoochee
Main Street, circa 1898 (courtesy Wilkins Estate).
A more apt name for the new hamlet could hardly have been found, for within 60 years, Sucarnoochee was a major center of sugar and molasses production in the American southeast, and by the turn of the century there were no less than four large sugar mills operating here at full capacity.
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Although the elder Mr. Wilkins passed away in 1878, his son, Jeremiah Wilkins II, and grandson, Horace P. Wilkins, continued the family's capable stewardship of the town, both serving in turn as Mayor of Sucarnoochee in addition to their roles as prominent business and civic leaders in the community. |
