I had never heard of Paul J. Rainey, but last year I was invited to visit his place, The Rainey Place, near Cotton Plant, Mississippi, in Tippah County, to hunt quail.
That wonderful experience piqued my interest to find out who Paul Rainey was and why he had a sprawling quail plantation in North Mississippi.
Paul James Rainey was born on Sept. 18, 1877, and he died 46 years later to the day. His years may have been few, but he lived life to the fullest and experienced more in his short time than most people living more than twice as long. Rainey was a well-known American businessman, hunter, philanthropist and photographer. He was considered to have it all — money, education and good looks.
While Rainey’s interests ranged from the mundane to those of significant risk, two things would define his legacy — hunting and photography.
Rainey attended the National Bird Dog Field Trials near Grand Junction, Tennessee, at the tender age of 23. This one event inspired Rainey to begin assembling a 12,000-acre parcel of land in northeast Mississippi, near Cotton Plant, in the southern part of Tippah County, and approximately 8 miles north of New Albany. His desire to provide a superior hunting facility for himself and his friends drove him to enlarge and remodel an existing house on the land. This would become known as Tippah Lodge.
Rainey would eventually control over 30,000 acres in Tippah and Union counties, and he stocked his land with fox, bear, pheasant and wolves. He was keeping the land stocked with wildlife which also aided in the training of his infamous hunting dogs.
Tippah and Union counties benefitted greatly from the arrival of Rainey. Jobs were provided during a time when they were greatly needed.
Rainey went on to open a bank and constructed the region’s first soft drink, garment and ice plants. To provide for the abundance of guests at Tippah Lodge, he built the Rainey Hotel in New Albany.
After World War I, Rainey spent most of his time in Africa. In 1923, he organized an excursion to hunt and boarded a ship sailing from Southampton to Cape Town. Sometime during the voyage, on his 46th birthday in 1923, Rainey suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and was buried at sea.
Rainey is still remembered to this day for all he accomplished in his short life. He was the first to produce films of wildlife hunts in Africa, and they were shown in movie theaters in New York City and other locations. Most of his film clips are kept at the Library of Congress, and a video of those clips can be found at the Ripley Public Library in Tippah County.
He also wrote a narrative of life in Russia shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution, where he filmed prisoners and the last residence of Czar Nicholas II.
The Paul J. Rainey Memorial Gate was unveiled at the Bronx Zoo, in 1934, given to them by his sister, Grace.
James L. Cummins is executive director of Wildlife Mississippi, a nonprofit, conservation organization founded to conserve, restore and enhance fish, wildlife and plant resources throughout Mississippi. The website is www.wildlifemiss.org.
