Some things just niggle at you. A few years ago, we were
driving along Highway 4, about four miles west of Ashland, when we spotted a
beautiful lake with houses all around it and boat docks jutting into the water!
In a landscape of crop fields and trees, it seemed to pop out of nowhere. We
slammed on the brakes – stunned! – and took a picture or two. After a few minutes of gawking, we drove on
and spotted a sign that said “Snow Lake Shores”. Over the years since, we often
mentioned the shock of stumbling upon a resort we had never heard of. We
couldn't quite believe it. And then one day we thought, “Maybe we should go
back and take a better look...just to make sure we didn't just dream it up.”
So, we did.
But, this time we decided to learn a little bit about the
place beforehand – in case it was really there to explore. It turns out that
Snow Lake Shores was the brainchild of a New Yorker named Walter Utley, who
moved to the area in 1947, looking for a place to build a resort. And, by
golly, by 1958, Walter and his business partners had created a big lake and
started building houses around it. Interestingly, they marketed the resort as
being “safe” and “family friendly,” which seem like rather unnecessary things
to bother pointing out in 1950's Mississippi.
The neighborhoods are a mix of large new homes, lake houses
of varying sizes, rustic cabins, and simple post-war ranch styles. The houses
sit on the rather large hills that surround the lake – at least, the areas we
saw. There are homes high on the hillsides, homes fairly close to the water,
and homes located between the two.
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| Snow Lake in January |
Our favorites were the ones near the water, in large part
because of the “extras” most of them seemed to have – boat docks, charming
gazebos, beautiful terracing, and the like. Some look really idyllic, and we're
guessing they all have absolutely stunning views, even in winter, which is not
the best season to sight see. Our first visit was during warm weather, and SLS
is stunning when everything is green.
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| Snow Lake in January |
From the beginning, this was a place where people could
vacation or live year-round, and that seems to be the case even now. About 300
folks call Snow Lake Shores home, but apparently during the summer the
population triples. We saw a lot of homes that are obviously year-round
residences, many that appeared to be closed for the season, and quite a few
houses for sale.
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| Eastern Shore of Snow Lake in Mississippi |
Snow Lake Shores isn't large when compared to places like
Pickwick, but it's plenty big enough, and interestingly shaped, with three
fingers of water protruding from the main body – talk about a wealth of
waterfront lots! We tried to drive around it, only to discover it was much
larger than it looks, although, supposedly, the community is less than one
square mile. We made one loop along the body of the lake and over a bridge, but
we found that all those forested roads and turnoffs look pretty much the same
and we weren't sure enough about the overall layout to ensure we weren't going
to get lost. We figured that trying to venture up around the three forks area
was just asking for trouble, so we went down to the highway and admired SLS
from there (our favorite view anyway).
Then, because we were only fourteen miles from Holly Springs
and we never pass up a chance to visit that charming place, we drove through
town just to check on things. Our most important discovery concerned Graceland
Too. When we heard the sad news that Paul McLeod had passed away a while back,
we wondered what was to become of all his beloved Elvis memorabilia. And now we
know.
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| Graceland Too with a whitewash. Note the "TLC Mary TCB" on the porch. |
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| A chance to buy a piece of famous Elvis memorabilia.(Spurkauctions.com) |