The Montgomery County Arts Council will present the latest installment of the Hill Fire folk life play, “Athens of Mississippi,” this weekend at the Montgomery County Performing Arts Center in Winona.
The production will be performed at 7 tonight and Saturday night and 2 p.m. Sunday at the center, which is at 208 Summit St.
“Athens of Mississippi” is a production based on the town of Middleton, which once stood at the intersection of U.S. 82 and Interstate 55. It is not to be confused with the current town of Middleton in Clarke County.
“The Athens of Mississippi was named that because of the central location that Middleton once had,” said Elizabeth Eldridge, writer and director of the play.
The old Middleton met its demise when the townspeople chose not to let the railroad come through town, according to Eldridge. Col. Osborn Jones Moore, a local businessman, offered his land to the railroad, and before long the town started moving toward the new hot spot.
“The play talks about this movement and other decisions that led to the town’s end,” Eldridge said.
Middleton was once in the running to be the state capital and to be the home of the University of Mississippi, but leaders passed both up in order to stick to their way of life.
“The town didn’t make a lot of good decisions,” Eldridge said.
Eldridge said the five main characters are real men and real names she got out of the history books, though she may have changed some details for creative purposes.
In the play, Osborn Moore and Peter Gee, his business partner, work to promote the railroad while others, including a preacher, a music teacher and a school superintendent, try to stop it.
“The entire story revolves around our hero, Charles Pace, a leader in the community who promotes new opportunities as they arise,” Eldridge said.
The topic of the death of Middleton was touched upon in a Hill Fire play performed in 2004, but Eldridge and her co-writer, Steve Lester, felt it deserved more attention.
“All that is left of the town is the cemetery that was once destroyed by vandals and loggers,” Eldridge said.
Since its destruction, the cemetery has been cleaned up by the local Lions Club, and a monument was built to honor the deceased and the town.
“This is a town and a community that people don’t know a lot about,” Eldridge said. “This is also the first time we’ve written a play based on stories of people that no one living has any memories of.”
With a little creative embellishment, the company hopes to offer a better understanding of all that led up the death of Middleton and maybe get people to question why.
“History is made up of people making the same mistake and never learning from it,” Eldridge said. “It’s time to learn, because Middleton didn’t.”
•Contact Laura Kay Prosser at 581-7233 or lprosser@gwcommonwealth.com.
