Mississippi Travel Forum

Hi Mississippi Vt members.

My question follows from a thread about the song 'Ode to Billy Joe' that I posted on the miscellaneous forum on Sunday night. There's been a huge response and I would really love to know :

If the Tallahtchie Bridge still exists ?

Does anyone On VT live nearby ?

Does anyone have a photo or tip about it on their pages ?

Any information will bevery gratefullly received.

Greetings from Ireland,

Katherine :)

There is speculation as to which bridge is actually "THE" Tallahatchie Bridge. The Tallahatchie River has lots of bridges, but none are specifically named The Tal. Bridge.

The one over old MS-15 is sometimes believed to be the one referenced in the song:
http://bridgehunter.com/ms/union/tallahatchie-canal-115/

Some locals believe its this bridge:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/soundsgoodllc/175466338/

Thanks for that Dave.

I think the first one is the one that is commonly accepted as being 'the' one but I'm checking both links now.

No problem! Hope it puts some curiosity to rest. I did some of this searching a while back when my friends and I heard the song during a roadtrip a few years ago.

The Tallahatchie River Bridge used in Ode To Billy Joe doesn't exist anymore. By the way DSwede, neither of those URL's you posted are pictures of THE Tallahatchie Bridge. Here's the one used in the movie:

http://vaiden.net/talla_bridge1.jpg

There's more details about the movie and the bridge here:

http://vaiden.net/movies.html

As I said, that bridge doesn't exist anymore. My wife and I set out to find it four years ago, but we had no luck. So I contacted the webmaster of the above site and asked some questions. I was given the phone number of a guy named Sanders in LeFlore County. I don't remember his title, but he was in a position of power. He had the bridge imploded in either late 1986 or 1987. He told me where it used to be and how there was now a concrete bridge 100 yards north of where the old bridge was---called the Sanders/Hooper Bridge. This bridge, like the old one, is in LeFlore County near the town of Rising Sun. So my wife and I went back there a week later and found it. The Sanders/Hooper Bridge isn't flat---it goes way uphill and goes slightly downhill on the other side. I guess the old bridge was prone to flooding and that's probably why they designed it that way. But at the bottom of the bridge, there's a plaque there, stating that this bridge was built "to replace the old Ode To Billy Joe Bridge". It had those exact words on it. There was a small field in front of the bridge on one side and we could see where there was a bit of paved road--to get to the old bridge. But the bridge itself was gone.

We took Highway 49 southbound to get there. As I recall, where you turn off, there's a trailer park on the southeast side and you turn opposite of that---to the right. You go down a little ways, over a railroad track, and then the road suddenly goes to the left. You go down a block, turn right, and you're at the Sanders/Hooper Bridge. You can see part of the old road that went to the old bridge if you look about 100 yards to the south of the new bridge.

I hope that helps---it's been a long time.

Rajazz that is excellent information and thank you so much for taking the time to post it. We had a very long thread going back in December, as to the whereabouts of the TB, what Billy Joe and she were throwing off it etc. It's a place that has always intrigued me and excited my imagination. Have you posteda ny pictures on VT ? I'd love to see some. Katherine :)

Sorry, I don't have any pictures. We didn't have a camera with us.

Thanks for the update. Regardless of what Hollywood decided to depict as the bridge, I do not think anyone will truly know the one implied in the song.

Maybe that's just as well because we all have our own version of it in our heads and the reality would probably have been an anticlimax.

"Mentally visualising MY Tallahachee Bridge':))

The link I provided is THE Tallahatchie Bridge Bobbie Gentry was referring to. Here's a video of Bobbie Gentry doing the song in 1968 and near the end, you even see her walking on the bridge. There are some close-up shots of the bridge in the video as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuKOfOjCyjQ

There's one thing that's different. The Bobbie Gentry video shows the bridge with wooden guardrails and the link I provided in my first post had steel guardrails. The original bridge collapsed in 1972. When it was rebuilt, they used steel guardrails. So the first link (Vaiden website) is of the new bridge AFTER 1972. But for the Ode To Billy Joe movie, since it was supposed to be set in 1953, they re-fit it with wooden guardrails.

Another reason I know this to be THE Tallahatchie Bridge is because Max Baer was the director of the movie. Most people remember him as Jethro Bodine on the Beverly Hillbillies. The thing is, BAER CONSULTED WITH BOBBIE GENTRY WHILE MAKING THE MOVIE. So that's another way I know this to be THE bridge Bobbie Gentry was talking about in the song.

Gentry had several offers to do a movie based on her song, but with Max Baer, this was the first time she said yes. She trusted Baer to make a movie with a true understanding of the South---not just a movie with Southern stereotypes. I know this because I have a printout of notes on the movie which I received 20 years ago from a guy I used to work with. He had a friend who was involved in the making of the movie and he originally got those notes from him. One page has the credits, another page has the notes about making the movie, and a third page is a copy of a signed picture of Max Baer.

In the notes, it says that the sawmill was in Vaiden MS (concurring with the website I provided in my first post). The Jamboree was also shot in Vaiden. Bobbie Lee's family farmhouse was in Webb. It's amazing how they make it look like the farmhouse was within walking distance of the Tallahatchie Bridge, when in fact Webb is about 50 miles north of where the bridge was. Four years ago, when my wife and I found where the old bridge used to be, on our way home we passed through Webb. It was a very small town. We stopped at a convenience store/gas station there and there wasn't much else there.

Finally, here's a songfacts page. One of the things I found interesting was this:

"When this became a hit, Rolling Stone magazine reported that it was only a 20 foot drop off the bridge and the water was deep enough so you would not get hurt. Of course, lots of people went to the bridge and jumped, which drove the local police nuts."

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1623

Oops! Correction to my last post. Bobbie Lee's farmhouse was in Itta Bena, not Webb. I just re-read my notes again. And Itta Bena is in LeFlore County, just like the bridge was.

The height thing is interesting because at the time the song came out I always imagined it as a huge suspension type bridge at the top of a steep grassy ridge.
When I saw pictures of the actual bridge, it's hard to imagine anyone jumping off it.

The Choctaw Ridge and the Tallahatchie River cross each other West of Batesville Mississippi. Batesville is also the little town where Bobbie Gentry grew up. If you head out of Batesville on Highway 6 West for 5.5 miles there's a bridge that crosses Tallahatchie.

The Choctaw Ridge and the Tallahatchie River cross each other West of Batesville Mississippi. Batesville is also the little town where Bobbie Gentry grew up. If you head out of Batesville on Highway 6 West for 5.5 miles there's a bridge that crosses Tallahatchie. Google this: "Choctaw Ridge Map" and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Wel, I'm probably only ever going to travel there in my imagination so no real need for maps. Do you have any photos to post of the bridge or ridge ??