The town of Rolling Fork is a quiet hamlet in the Mississippi Delta that was founded in 1828 by Thomas Chaney. The county seat, in 2000 the town had 1883 residents.
It is home to Mont Helena, a plantation house best known for being built atop a large ceremonial Indian mound in 1896. Henry Vick was to marry Helen Johnstone Harris, but Vick was famously killed in a duel with Aaron Burr in 1859. Helen eventually fell in love with and married George Harris, and they retired to “The Helen Place” as her father named the plot years earlier, and set upon the task of building a home. The current house is the second ediface, as the first house burned while the Harris family was on a train en route with their belongings.
On March 25, 2023 it was hit by a large E4 wedge tornado that decimated a large portion of the western section of town. The following photos are the first edits of multiple posts to come–the editing is coming slowly, as it is heartbreaking to see what became of a town I have come to love, with friendly people, and one of my favorite models to shoot with, Carson Fitzhugh. Carson owned a hair and nail salon that was destroyed down to the foundation. As you’ll see, though, these are not a defeated people…they love their town and are actively cleaning to prepare for rebuilding.
