Video: Public Invited To See Neighborhood Revitalization Efforts As Part Of ‘Holiday Open House’

TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – Christi Houin has spent an awful lot of time recently, decorating her home on South Church Street in Tupelo’s historic Mill Village neighborhood.

“I love Christmas, I love to decorate,” Houin said.

Christi and her husband Jeff purchased the three story home earlier this year.

“We looked at this house on a whim, drove by the house, saw it was for sale, knew the realtor and told Jeff I was going to come look at it that afternoon, he said, ‘we are not going to buy a house’ I said I know we aren’t going to buy a house, I’m just going to go look,” she said.

The 101 year old house is one of eight featured in “The Mill Village Holiday Open House. ”

Recently, the Mill Village neighborhood, which was developed between 1900 and 1929, has been targeted for renewal and revitalization by the city of Tupelo.

Many of the workers at the old Tupelo Cotton Mill lived in homes in Mill Village, while more prominent citizens lived nearby in larger homes.

Molly Tanner is president of the Mill Village Neighborhood Association. Her home is featured on the tour and she is excited about the renewed interest in the area.

“People realize this is the only historic district in downtown, I think it’s gotten a lot of attention because of the homes that are here, basically what happened is people started moving into the neighborhood and started caring about what was going on with the homes here,” Tanner said.

Bess and Grayson Robbins have been busy renovating their 95 year old home for the past year. They live in a popular Tupelo neighborhood, but wanted something unique.

“You can walk in and see a dilipidated old house at first but if you have a little imagination you can see its potential, see the beauty and craftsmanship you can’t purchase anymore today,” Grayson said.

Bess and Grayson are almost ready to move into their Mill Village home and look forward to welcoming many visitors during the open house.

“Come and just look at all of the beautiful homes on this street and enjoy the Christmas season with us,” Bess said.

Proceeds from the Open House will go to beautification efforts in Mill Village . Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at Simply Sweet by Margarete or any home on the nights of the tour.  Or you can call 662 213 7043.