Businessman finds success preserving history

By By William F. West / community editor
Sept. 2, 2002
ENTERPRISE Gil Carmichael's dream of being governor of Mississippi has long since passed, but his courtly manner, knowledge of history and can-do spirit remain his trademarks.
These days, the Meridian businessman and longtime Republican is enjoying doing restoration work on old structures, whether in the city's business district or in the countryside.
Late last week Carmichael was delighted to show work now underway at the Woolverton-Boyd home, a pre-Civil War, Greek Revival structure just off Highway 513 east of here.
Carmichael said historians have documented Woolverton-Boyd as one of the most significant Mississippi homes that need preservation. And the 90-acre site is in an area with a rich history.
In the early 1800s, Enterprise was a trading center on the Chickasawhay River, which connected with the water highways that fed into to the Gulf of Mexico.
During the Civil War, Enterprise served as a hospital, a prison camp and a refuge of state government.
Carmichael also said that Enterprise once had the chance to secure major railroad service, but that the merchants wanted too much money for the land.