Gena Koelker / CorrespondentThe Chunky River provides picturesque views along Highway 80 on a Sunday Drive through Chunky.

Life is busy and there are times when we forget to take stock of the things around us. Sometimes, we get so wrapped up in our busy lifestyles that we forget simple pleasures, like things our parents did that we took for granted and have since forgotten. 

Spring is nearly here, and soon Mississippi will be in full bloom, which means it might be a good time to just take a drive.

Sunday drives used to be a huge part of family life. It was a time we spent together and saw things we might not ordinarily see. We laughed, we talked and sometimes we fought, but we did it as a family and the memories we made we have carried for a lifetime.

By definition, a Sunday drive is an automobile trip, primarily in the United States and New Zealand, typically taken for pleasure or leisure on a Sunday, usually in the afternoon.

During the Sunday drive, there is typically no destination and no rush. In other words, it is the perfect kind of drive in the Mississippi spring.

This weekend, consider taking a ride down highway 80 to Chunky. Most people bypass Chunky on their way to anywhere because the Interstate is faster, and smoother, however, a Sunday drive is slower paced, and allows you to spend time exploring the things you have forgotten, like the way the sun sparkles off the river or the way the church spire catches the sun in the afternoon.

Chunky was once an important part of this region’s industry, and was quite a bustling town in its own right. At one time it had a sawmill, a barrel factory, a turpentine distillery and even a cotton gin.

Those things may be long gone, but there are things that still draw people to Chunky, like the Chunky Shoals Fish Camp, where you can grab a bite to eat before you get back on the road.

The Chunky River, of course, draws people of all ages to fish off its banks and float down the water highway it provides.

As you drive down Highway 80, think about a little historical tidbit taken from Terry T. Lange, The History of Chunky, Mississippi. Lange relates the following story:

“In the early 1930s, Cob Brothers’ Construction Company came in and put down a strip of concrete six feet wide and called it a highway. It went from the Lauderdale County line to the town of Newton. When they started paving between Hickory and Newton, I got a job as night watchman for 40 cents an hour. I very well recall one morning about 4:00 a.m. I had a barricade up at Potochitto Swamp where they had just paved, and I saw a car coming toward me. I had a coal oil lantern that I started waving to make the car stop, but I soon realized the car had no intention of stopping. I jumped off the road and let him go. The car ran over the barricade and onto the fresh concrete, cutting tracks through the concrete. When the car got to the mixer, it went off the road, around the mixer, and kept going toward Newton. About a half hour later, the night watchman from Newton came by with Mr. Cob, the contractor, and told me who the car belonged to. Lord have mercy! It was John Dillinger and his gang, armed with tommy guns. They told me he had just held up a service station in Meridian, one at Newton, and had gone on toward Jackson. If I had known it was Dillinger, Potochitto Swamp would never have held me! I was so scared that I told the contractor he would have to hire another watchman. I was finished as of that minute.”  

As Sunday moves toward Monday and you head back to wherever you began, take a moment to think about the people and things that came before you.

As you travel down the road on your Sunday drive, you can never tell just who traveled the road before you.

If you go

From the east, take Highway 80 through Chunky. Continue on Highway 80 through Hickory or turn on Adams Street and take it to Interstate 20. From there, head to wherever your sunday drive will take you.

Correspondent Gena Koelker writes Sunday Drives, which features day trips to locations in Mississippi and Alabama, for The Meridian Star. Submit ideas to editor@themeridianstar.com.