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==History== The land southwest of Beulah was owned by a [[Choctaw]] family in the 1830s. A series of lawsuits caused them to lose their land, and [[Charles Clark (governor)|Charles Clark]] took ownership. Clark established the Doro Plantation during the late 1840s and early 1850s, which grew to over {{convert|5000|acre|ha|abbr=on}} and became the most prosperous slave-owning plantation in the region. It continued to operate after the end of slavery until 1913.<ref>{{cite web|title=Doro Plantation Archaeological Artifacts and Reports|publisher=Delta State University|url=http://www.deltastate.edu/pages/1308.asp|accessdate=September 4, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207204401/http://www.deltastate.edu/pages/1308.asp|archive-date=February 7, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> During that time, the Mississippi River flowed next to Beulah along "Beulah Bend" (now Lake Beulah), and Clark was often visited by [[Mark Twain]] while writing ''[[Life on the Mississippi]]''.<ref name="Chenault">{{cite web|last=Chenault|first=Marsha|title=Beulah Cemetery|publisher=USGenWeb|date=September 4, 2013|url=http://msgw.org/bolivar/beulah.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201212223/http://msgw.org/bolivar/beulah.pdf |archive-date=February 1, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1858, Frank A. Montgomery purchased a tract of land along the river north of the Doro Plantation and established a plantation. Beulah was one of its villages. Mississippi River boats landed at points in the community, and there was a noted river trade. Freshwater clam harvesting – "clammin" – enabled a thriving pearl button industry.{{citation needed|date=September 2013}} In 1863, [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] soldiers altered the course of the river by constructing a channel to avoid Beulah Bend, and the town became shut off from river commerce. The pearl button industry declined, as freshwater clams tend to concentrate in the bends of rivers, though many families still participate in clam harvesting at places they can access the river.{{citation needed|date=September 2013}} Altering the river's course also destroyed the nearby towns of [[Prentiss, Bolivar County, Mississippi|Prentiss]] and [[Napoleon, Arkansas|Napoleon]].<ref name="Lake Beulah">{{cite web|title=Lake Beulah|publisher=DeltaWildlife.org|url=http://deltawildlife.org/images/file_downloads/lake-beulah.pdf#page=1&zoom=auto,462,612 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111223064201/http://deltawildlife.org/images/file_downloads/lake-beulah.pdf |archive-date=December 23, 2011 |url-status=live|accessdate=September 2, 2013}}</ref> In 1866, Montgomery donated the village of Beulah to the county, and gave $1,600 to build a courthouse. A two-room log jail was also built. Beulah became the first county seat, and had a Masonic Lodge, church, school, bank, stores, and post office. The ''Bolivar Times'' newspaper was also edited there. In 1872, the county seat was moved to Floreyville (now called [[Rosedale, Mississippi|Rosedale]]).<ref name="Chenault"/><ref>{{cite web|last=Sillers|first=Florence W.|title=The History of the County Seat of Bolivar County|publisher=City of Rosedale, Mississippi|url=http://cityofrosedalems.com/page11.html|accessdate=September 4, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130822103724/http://cityofrosedalems.com/page11.html|archive-date=August 22, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Cooper|first=Forrest Lamar|title=Looking Back Mississippi: Towns and Places|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|year=2011|isbn=9781617031489|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nNnVX4gQdD0C&pg=PP1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Montgomery|first=Frank Alexander|title=Reminiscences of a Mississippian in Peace and War|publisher=Press of The Robert Clarke Co.|year=1901|url=http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/montgomery/montgom.html}}</ref> After the Civil War, numerous [[freedman|freedmen]] bought and cleared land in the bottomlands away from the river. By 1910, declining financial and social conditions had caused most to lose their land, forcing them to work as sharecroppers and laborers.<ref>John C. Willis, ''Forgotten Time: The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta after the Civil War''. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2000<!--ISSN/ISBN, page(s) needed--></ref> Beginning in the early 1900s, thousands of blacks left Mississippi as part of the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]] north by railroad to [[Chicago]] and other northern industrial cities, but others remained, with strong local ties.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} Blues musician [[W. C. Handy]] once invited [[Charley Patton]] to watch his band perform in Beulah. Patton got in free, and when he observed that Handy's musicians were all strict score-reading performers, he gave up all ambition of playing with their band.<ref>{{cite book|last=Robertson|first=David|title=W.C. Handy|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|year=2009|isbn=9780307266095 |url=https://archive.org/details/wchandylifetimes00robe|url-access=registration|accessdate=June 21, 2015}}</ref> Beulah was mentioned in [[Eudora Welty]]'s ''Death of a Traveling Salesman'':<blockquote>Bowman had wanted to reach Beulah by dark, to go to bed and sleep off his fatigue. As he remembered, Beulah was fifty miles away from the last town, on a graveled road. This was only a cow trail. How had he ever come to such a place? One hand wiped the sweat from his face, and he drove on.<ref>{{cite web|last=Welty|first=Eudora|title=Death of a Traveling Salesman|publisher=University of Richmond|year=1941|url=http://scribe.richmond.edu/jessid/eng423/restricted/2welty.pdf|accessdate=June 21, 2015|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130502224851/http://scribe.richmond.edu/jessid/eng423/restricted/2welty.pdf|archivedate=May 2, 2013}}</ref></blockquote> In 1970, Beulah was chosen as the site for a large event by the Southern Female Rights Union.<ref>{{cite book|last=Voyce|first=Stephen|title=Poetic Community: Avant-Garde Activism and Cold War Culture|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2013|isbn=9781442645240|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=huM2xOxJkvMC&pg=PP1|accessdate=June 21, 2015}}</ref> Part of the movie ''[[Crossroads (1986 film)|Crossroads]]'' was filmed in Beulah.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cheseborough|first=Steve|title=Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|year=2009|isbn=9781604733280|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LBWRY90sphQC&pg=PP1|accessdate=June 21, 2015}}</ref>
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