Well, you would have had to be there to see for yourself what I’m gonna say. Wister Gardens in Belzoni, 14 acres of nature started around our troubling World War II and providing a peaceful retreat for everyone free of charge, was a generous gift from one couple to the world.
Mr. and Mrs. Wister Henry poured their hearts into the rich Delta soil and planted a variety of trees in this only botanical garden in the Delta and rated best in the state by Mississippi Magazine voters.
Four-thousand roses were planted behind hedges, fountains, gazebos and a pond that is home to black-bellied whistling ducks, who with their funny long, orange bills were lazing in the sun.
Mr. Henry had a guest house built which evolved to include a glassed-in porch with air conditioning and a complete kitchen for the many clubs who held meetings there.
In the 1960s, when Mr. Henry was alive, he maintained the grounds with one helper. The garden grounds, buildings and plantings were in their prime. The Henrys provided for the continuation of the garden through a foundation. With no children, this was their legacy they freely gave to us.
This would be a lovely venue for a wedding or just a place to come and talk to God one on one.
We scheduled our picnic lunch, which Sara Wilson picked up at “What’s Cooking” in Greenwood, that included a tray of roast beef, ham and turkey sandwiches rolled on tortillas cut into pinwheels with delicious dressing. It was garden club ladylike all the way. We had the finest company of our seven traveling members gathered around one table where the two Ann’s (Ann Jones and Ann Kelly), guest ministers, delighted us with stories of Leland happenings and pottery classes. We could have stayed a good long time, but Sky Lake Boardwalk awaited us just down the road.
If you’re passing through Belzoni at 9 p.m. and you hear a whistle sounding, that has been happening every night since WWII to remind the German prisoners housed in a Quonset hut that it was time to return to quarters.
Sky Lake boardwalk is easy to find with a GPS. There are a lot of left and right turns, but the signs make it easy.
All along the boardwalk are educational signs of interest. One of the first signs spoke of palms, horse tail plants and cypress trees all being just right for growing together and that the horse tail plant I had in my back yard, the plant kids would pull up and fight each other with, was one of the oldest plants around. Same for palms, fitting since Sunday was Palm Sunday and my branch from church now sits in my kitchen window.
The boardwalk is 1,735 feet. I made it more than half way before I said to myself, “Self, you’ve had some broken-up feet, a torn ACL in your knee and there’s no reason to see one more cypress.” We gathered for selfies and headed home. It was a good day with good friends.
