Faulkner in New Albany, Part One

     Dead 53 years and born 118 years ago, William Faulkner is second only to Elvis when it comes to famous Mississippians. But in New Albany Faulkner still ranks as the undisputed number one favorite son; no close seconds.

    New Albany has drawn unknown thousands of visitors over the last half century who come because he was born here on Saturday, September 25, 1897.  His family left New Albany when Faulkner (then  Falkner) was about a year old. The reason they left and the haste with which they moved is a matter of dispute and a tale to be told here some other day. Suffice it to say for now that Murray Falkner, like his famous son, was “bad to drink,” a habit that sometimes proved troublesome.

    Jill Smith, director of the Union County Heritage Museum, welcomed two more Faulkner pilgrims here Saturday, March 14, 2015. Thomas and Rebecca Repp, editor and general manager respectively of American Road Magazine, were here and in Oxford to research a story for the magazine.  The museum has a substantial Faulkner  exhibit, including a model of the house where he was born.

The structure was moved several decades ago to a site in rural Union County, and the manse of New Albany Presbyterian church was built and still stands on that same Cleveland Street lot