Just about everyday, after my father picked me up from school, we would stop at the McCaffrey's Grocery for a few odds and ends. Every once in a while, my parents would take us to the Beverly Drive-In Theater. My brothers and I would be dressed in our pajamas all ready for bed and to my parents delight, we would usually fall asleep before the movie was over.

I lived way out on Elks Lake Road in the Dixie Community. Above, is a picture of my Grandparents house which I lived next door to. That house was HUGE and VERY OLD. It was such a beautiful area surrounded by Pecan trees. My brothers and I hated it when Autumn came around, not only because that meant the start of the school year, but it also meant that soon, we would be out in the fields every afternoon after school picking up pecans. All around our property, we had various fruit trees growing. I can remember eating peaches, pears and figs right off of the tree. My Grandmother made the most delicious blackberry cobbler from the blackberries that grew all over the place. I never really cared for the wild grapes though.

From what I have been told, my Conn family owned a great deal of land in Mississippi. At one time, they owned approximately one fourth of the state...the entire Southwest Quarter. They owned several saw mills on this land. They owned a lot of Hattiesburg too. After all of the lumber was used, they donated a lot of the land to various organizations. They donated the land that USM now sits on. Also, they donated the land for the Dixie Baptist Church and gave many acres to various friends and relatives.

Every Sunday, people from all over the area would stop in to see my Great Grandparents at their house on Elks Lake Road. My Great Grandfather, Alec, would sit out on the porch and shoot the breeze with all of his visitors while all the women would gather on the back porch to socialize. My Great Grandmother, Misouria, would make incredible lunches and feed anyone who came around.

By the time I came around, the William Alexander "Alec" Conn legacy was not much more than a memory. Only the older family members and friends knew about "the good old days." The days when the property on Elks Lake Road not only flourished with farm life and gardens full of all kinds of vegetables and melons but also, the companionship of family and friends.

Unfortunately, due to family hardships, the family was forced to sell that wonderful house and all of the land surrounding it. Later, the people who bought the house had it torn down only to be replaced by two new homes. Now, all we have are pictures and memories of our days spent in that house. So I ask you, can you be homesick for a place that you haven't lived in for 17 years?