HottyToddy Hometown: Ridgeland, Mississippi

My home is a small suburban town squeezed in between Jackson and Madison. I thought of it as a middle child since it is in Madison County yet is also counted in Jackson metro via its city statistics. However this town is my heart.
Ridgeland is located on the Natchez Trace which was a national traveling road used by Native Americans and settlers since 1700s. Ridgeland may have been inhabited for hundreds of years before it became a town at the turn of 17th century. James B. Yellowley of South Carolina purchased the area now known as Ridgeland in 1853 and established a community known as Yellowley’s Crossing. He later named it Jessamine for his wife. In 1896 Edward M. Treakle and Gorton W. Nichols, Chicago realtors, purchased the area from Yellowley and formed the Highland Colony Company with the goal of attracting northern settlers to the area. Treakle and Nichols laid out a town site and named it Ridgeland. The families arrived soon and the town had a successful truck farming industry with strawberries and pears as its main crops.
Despite its small-town vibe Ridgeland is one of fastest growing cities. Its 1960 census reported 875 residents. By 1980 the population was 5,000. Now Ridgeland is home to over 21,000 citizens.
Ridgeland’s small-town vibe is real. Its mayor Gene McGee gets his nails buffed at Sarah’s Nail, a small nail shop just off the newly-renovated Lake Harbour Drive. I grew up a block down from Faith Hill’s stomping grounds now named Faith Hill Drive off S. Wheatley Street. It wasn’t not uncommon for Ridgeland natives to make friends with Madison and Jackson residents since either town was at most 20 minute drive from a Ridgeland home.

Ridgeland can attribute its rapid growth to having a shopping spot a short distance from any residence. I lived near the Northpark Mall which was the largest shopping district until the Renaissance at Colony Park was built shortly before I graduated from Ridgeland High School in 2010. From my small neighborhood Squirrel Hill I could take a right and walk to the Northpark Mall for its Food Court, or go to my left with a bike and ride to the Mac’s grocery store that bordered Papa John’s, Wing Stop and Chinese takeout to name a few. This abundance of restaurants from local like the Trace Grill to fast-food made eating out a busy social outing. In my experience it was impossible to enjoy a Bop’s frozen custard without saying “hello” at least three times.
The real social setting however was Renaissance at the Colony Park. Fashion options from Libby Story to Material Girls to J.Crew to Francesca’s and more was endless for local trendsetters. And the shopping list of stores goes on! High school students from Ridgeland High, Madison Central and even St. Andrew’s gathered at Barnes & Noble cafe to study (and socialize). The dining options was incredible: Five Guys and Burgers, Ruth Chris’ Steakhouse, Sweet Peppers Deli, Another Broken Egg Cafe, P.F. Chang’s, Mint the Restaurant (where Morgan Freeman was spotted once), and Biaggi’s.
The Renaissance is a timeless social outing through out the seasons. However there is a spot in Ridgeland that gets abundant attention in warmer weather.

When one wants to get away from shopping there was the Ross Barnett Reservoir. Anyone who has dated in Ridgeland has had a romantic night at the Reservoir at least once to constant annoyance of Ridgeland police patrolling for lovebirds sneaking to the reservoir past closing times.
The summer begins at the reservoir with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra’s Pepsi Pops concert at the Old Trace Park every May. Families near and far bring blankets and baskets to enjoy an evening picnic in front of the band. The band plays on the reservoir’s shoreline, making it easy for boats to float behind the orchestra. At nightfall the fireworks welcomed the summer break.
After the Pepsi Pops, if not before, people dust off their sails and tubes for a long day of boating in the three mile wide and 45 mile long reservoir. There was little food to pack however because there were a handful of restaurants and a couple of country clubs that dotted its shore. Among the popular are the Pelican Cove, a beachy restaurant and bar where boaters could pull right up to it and the Cock of the Walk with a deck for the boaters as well as Southern dining with enough corn bread to toss to the birds.
It is also a popular fishing spot, especially as the dams open up a bit to let out excess water to excitement of fishermen poised on the rocks just off the Spillway Road next to the Reservoir. Catfish, bass and crappies can be caught in the reservoir. However those fishermen and especially the boaters had to keep an eye out for alligators and gars. This caution also extends to wild geese who aggressively pester diners on the shoreline for cornbread from the Cock of the Walk.
Boating may sound like a great way to celebrate the summer but it doesn’t come close to the hustle and bustle of the annual Balloon Glow every July 4th.

All of Ridgeland celebrates the summer with the annual Balloon Glow where one can drink sugar water advertised as lemonade, bop heads to country rock and watch the hot air balloons flicker in the sunset. As the night fell all laid in the grass as the booming fireworks almost as big as those in Disney World lit up the sky. It is a summer hallmark: teen relationships began and ended there, children’s first memories were had and well, it’s a town-wide tradition.
The fun doesn’t end in the summer though. The city’s Christmas parade theme is “A Tropical Christmas.” The mid-afternoon parade will be held on December 6th, and all are invited to enjoy what Ridgeland has to offer.
Ridgeland has been my home as long as I could remember from its woods-dominated days paved by new roads and shopping districts. The past two years I have accustomed to taking detours around Ridgeland’s construction that makes my little town into a city of its own. To this native no matter what size my town is it will always be one of the first loves I have known.
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Callie Daniels is the staff reporter for HottyToddy.com. She can be reached at callie.daniels@hottytoddy.com.