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The Tennessee Delta III
The Tennessee Delta III

The Tennessee Delta III

001 Gainsville002 Gainsville003 Gainsville004 Gainsville005 Gainsville006 Gainsville007 Gus's Fried Chicken008 Gus's Fried Chicken009 Gus's Fried Chicken010 Gus's Fried Chicken011 Beech Chapel CME012 Beech Chapel CME013 Beech Chapel CME014 Trinity In The Fields015 Trinity In The Fields016 Trinity In The Fields017 Trinity In The Fields018 Trinity In The Fields019 Cotton Fields020 Stanton Masonic Lodge021 Stanton Baptist Church022 Stanton Masonic Lodge & School023 Stanton024 Stanton025 Suga's Diner026 Suga's Diner027 Suga's Diner028 Stanton029 Stanton030 Stanton031 Stanton032 Stanton033 Stanton034 Stanton035 Stanton036 Stanton037 Stanton038 Stanton039 Zodiac Park040 Zodiac Park041 Zodiac Park042 Zodiac Park043 Zodiac Park044 Zodiac Park045 Zodiac Park046 Zodiac Park047 Zodiac Park048 Zodiac Park049 Zodiac Park050 Zodiac Park051 Zodiac Park052 Zodiac Park053 Zodiac Park054 Zodiac Park055 Zodiac Park056 Zodiac Park057 Zodiac Park058 Zodiac Park
For my third photographic journey documenting the blues country of West Tennessee, I stayed mostly in Tipton and Haywood Counties, photographing the historic store in Gainsville, old churches out on the Mason-Charleston Road, and historic buildings in the Haywood County community of Stanton. Perhaps my best find though was a large private ball field out north of Mason, where a Black community baseball team called the Zodiacs once played. Such community ball parks used to be common in Black communities across the South, and were occasionally the sites of Fourth-of-July picnics where fife-and-drum bands or blues musicians played. One such ballfield used to be on Germantown Road near Ellis Road in the Oak Grove community outside of Bartlett when I was a teenager. It has now sadly been torn down.
The Zodiacs Park is in poor condition, and almost looks abandoned, but teenagers from Mason use its basketball courts on warm afternoons, and the fact that some new equipment can be seen on the premises, such as a gas barbecue grill, suggests that the complex is at least still occasionally used. Still, with the park completely empty on a late fall afternoon, it seemed a sad and lonely place indeed.

3 Comments

    1. admin

      Thanks. I used to put a lot of effort into it. Having started a new job that runs 10 and a half hours a day, I don’t have the time for it that I used to. Still, I’m not shutting it down.

  1. Natalie

    The Old Trinity church was built by slaves of you do research on it. My son’s family is Taylor’s from Mason and from research it was built by Taylor slaves but I don’t know if it was family or not. I’m researching.. So anyone who knows anything about this church of you know please let me know.

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