No matter how hard we try to deny it, the simple fact is that the holidays can be stressful. Between the craziness of shopping, wrapping, budgeting, traveling, cooking, decorating – and the list goes on – sometimes, it can all be a little too much.
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In small-town Mississippi – Mantachie to be precise – at the top of a small hill sits a house that now belongs to Tyler Camp. Surrounding it are homes owned by his parents and aunts’ families. There, atop the hill, that is the heart of the Camp Compound.
Upstairs, opposite the train tracks, a bearded man sits near a window, quietly working. His booth is less cluttered than most in Relics, but the walls are lined with sepia-toned artwork, a few splashes of color here and there. The man, Alfred L. Jones, doesn’t dip his paint brushes into a palate; instead, three small Rubbermaid containers. In them, coffee.
This historic, four-storied, eight-roomed, 8,000-square-foot mansion was completed in 1858 for Colonel George Hampton Young. Col. Young lived there for the rest of his life, and after he died, his children took over the estate. One of his sons, Captain Billy, was a notorious playboy of his day who enjoyed a good party.
A lot has changed in one year for John James, an accountant by day, carpenter come nightfall and weekends. A year ago, he signed up for a carpentry class; now, he and his brother create various designs and mark them with their James Woodcraft Company branding iron.