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 Kate Freeman Clark“Miss Kate,” as they called her in her native Holly Springs, was a privileged daughter of Southern aristocracy. She left her home for New York in the early 1890’s accompanied by her mother, a widow. She then came under the tutelage of William Merritt Chase, America’s most famous art master of the day. Adopting the professional name “Freeman Clark” to conceal her gender, she exhibited canvases in prestigious shows throughout the country. By 1923, though at her peak, she abandoned her easel after the death of her mother and returned to Holly Spring, never to paint again. Unmarried and without close kin, she left the many hundreds of paintings and money to build a museum in her honor to the city of Holly Springs. |
 Katherine Sherwood Bonner McDowellWhen her husband proved unable to support their family, Katherine Sherwood Bonner McDowell set out alone for Boston in search of both educational opportunities and employment. There she found the literary world she longed for and formed a lifelong connection with poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. As a teenager, she sold her first romance for publication to the Massachusetts Ploughman and New England Journal of Agriculture. Between 1875 and 1884, her short fiction was published in national magazines under the name of Sherwood Bonner. Literary scholars consider her an important writer of humorous and local-color dialect fiction. Bonner loved to tell stories, write, and observe the world and people around her. She returned home when she received word that her father and brother had both contracted Yellow Fever. She never returned to Boston and died at the young age of 34. |
 Ida B. WellsWas an African-American journalist, newspaper editor, and early leader in the Civil Rights Movement, along with her husband, newspaper owner Ferdinand L. Barnett. She documented the extent of lynching in the United States, and was also active in the women’s rights and suffrage movements. Go to www.idabwells.org for more information on her and the museum built in her honor. |
 Hiram Rhodes RevelsWas the first African American to serve in the United States Senate. Because he preceded any African American in the House, he was the first African American in the U.S. Congress as well. He represented Mississippi in 1870 and 1871 during Reconstruction. In his later life he taught theology at Shaw University (now Rust College) in Holly Springs, where his family made their home. He is buried in historic Hill Crest Cemetery in Holly Springs. |
 R.L. BurnsideA North Mississippi Hill Country Blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist who lived much of his life in and around Holly Springs, Mississippi. He played music for much of his life, but did not receive much attention until the early 1990s. In the latter half of the 1990s, Burnside repeatedly recorded with Jon Spencer, garnering crossover appeal and introducing his music to a new fan base within the underground garage rock scene. Click here for more information on Hill Country Blues. |
 David “Junior” KimbroughBorn in Hudsonville, Mississippi, Kimbrough lived in the North Mississippi Hill Country near Holly Springs. He recorded for the Fat Possum Records label. He was a long-time associate of label-mate R. L. Burnside, and the Burnside and Kimbrough families often collaborated on musical projects. This relationship continues today. Rockabilly musician and friend Charlie Feathers called Kimbrough “the beginning and end of all music.” This is written on Kimbrough’s tombstone outside his family’s church, the Kimbrough Family Church, in Holly Springs. Click here for more information on Hill Country Blues. |
 Charlie FeathersThe “Rock-a-Billy King” was rockabilly personified. Although popular myth and Charlie’s own tall tales sometimes clouded the truth surrounding his career, one fact is certain: Feathers possessed an uncanny feel for rockabilly music which few performers, if any, have ever matched. The ambience imbued in each of his records and live shows placed his music within a focal position from which rockabilly music has since been judged. His most noted songs include: “One Hand Loose,” “Defrost Your Heart,” “Bottle to the Baby,” and “Jungle Fever.” |
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