Heritage on film. History recovered. Prosperity by design.

Heritage with utility

From the restored one-room Tibbee School and Rosenwald research to the Mt. Pisgah Cemetery fund, we curate heritage as destination utility—channeling regional tourism and pride into local livelihoods.

Technology & access

High-speed fiber, free community Wi‑Fi, a gig-powered “Vibe Coding” lab for youth, and “Tech & Tea” digital literacy for elders bridge the rural digital divide.

Health & care

A soundproofed telehealth suite supports chronic-care management for elders; the residential kitchen incubates nutritional health programming and small-food-business experiments.

Enterprise & partnership

We incubate venture products—Herbalyst, healthcare AI, zero-waste manufacturing, and My Tea Butler—developed by Tibbee Enterprise Development LLC.

Why this documentary matters

Tibbee—also known as Tibbee Station—is an unincorporated community in Clay County with roots along Tibbee Creek and the former Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad. The one-room Tibbee School (first built in 1861, now restored and listed on the National Register of Historic Places) stands as a symbol of persistence. Yet much of Tibbee’s story lives in elders’ voices, church pews, ball fields, and family plots—not in textbooks.

The Documentary Project captures those stories through interviews, archival research, and community components that honor the people who shaped Tibbee from settlement through civil rights, cemetery stewardship, and today’s community center vision.

History & interviews

• German settlers and early Tibbee Station
• Religion in Tibbee (multi-part series)
• Oral history interviews with community elders
• Civil rights era context and local heroes

Community components

• Back-in-time family portraits
• Featured voices: Mr. Reid, Maurice Johnson, Martha Williams, Joe Pool
• Sports: Jim Blair, Alan Gunn, and Roundhead Stadium
• Youth perspectives and next-generation continuity

Soundtrack & spiritual heritage

Gospel and sacred music anchor the film’s emotional landscape—reflecting churches that have long held Tibbee together.

Distribution & social

The project is designed for community screenings, DVD sales, and digital distribution through social channels—building audience while funding preservation work on the ground. Visit the Tibbee Documentary Project page for interviews, the cemetery fundraiser, and Facebook updates linked from that page.

Campaign goal

Tibbee Development Club’s earliest organized work grew from cemetery improvement—maintaining sacred ground that churches could not sustain alone. That same spirit drives today’s $100,000 preservation goal by July 1, 2027 for Mt. Pisgah Cemetery.

Documentary proceeds, community donations, and partner support help ensure elders are honored, genealogies remain accessible, and Tibbee’s story stays rooted in place—not erased by neglect.

What were the Rosenwald Schools?

Between 1912 and 1932, a partnership between Julius Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington helped fund more than 5,000 schools for African American children across the rural South—built with matching dollars, land, and labor raised by Black communities themselves. Mississippi was home to more than 600 Rosenwald schools, making them a cornerstone of Black educational opportunity in places like Clay County.

Tibbee’s research initiative treats these schools as more than buildings. They are evidence of self-determination, sacrifice, and the conviction that education is the engine of generational advancement—the same conviction driving Tibbee’s work today.

The Tibbee School connection

The one-room Tibbee School—first built in 1861, now restored and listed on the National Register of Historic Places—anchors this research. By placing Tibbee’s schoolhouse in the broader Rosenwald story, the project recovers the educational backbone of a community whose history is too often missing from textbooks.

How the research feeds the documentary

Rosenwald research and the Tibbee Documentary Project reinforce one another: archival findings shape interview questions, and elder testimony points researchers toward records and sites. The result is a richer, evidence-based account of how Tibbee learned, worshiped, and organized.

Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD)

Rural development fails when outsiders import solutions and ignore local assets. Tibbee Enterprise Development applies ABCD—mapping skills, institutions, heritage, and social networks already present—then investing to amplify them.

Community brainstorming sessions (beginning in 2021) brought younger and older residents together to identify opportunities. The Tibbee Community Center—conceived in 2003 and opened for community use—became the physical expression of that collective will.

Cultural capital as economic fuel

The Heritage Gallery at the community center features the Bessie Johnson basket-weaving legacy and Roundhead Stadium athletic history. This is not nostalgia—it is destination utility that channels regional tourism spending into local livelihoods and pride.

When heritage is curated with care, Tibbee becomes a brand rural planners can point to—a blueprint for CREATE Foundation and Golden Triangle LINK partners seeking replicable rural innovation models.

Gig-powered lab

Eight all-in-one PCs power “Vibe Coding” for youth (ages 10–21) learning Python to solve local problems, plus “Tech & Tea” sessions helping seniors bridge the digital divide.

Hyper-connectivity

High-speed fiber and public Wi‑Fi via 4-County make Tibbee a viable third space for remote workers and students who once traveled miles for a stable connection.

Telehealth & kitchen lab

A soundproofed telehealth suite supports chronic-care management for elders. The residential kitchen incubates nutritional health programming and small-food-business experiments.

Heritage products

Documentary DVDs & streaming, the Rosenwald research archive, Heritage Gallery exhibits, and curated fundraiser merchandise—revenue that flows back into cemetery preservation and the community center.

Learning & workforce services

“Vibe Coding” for youth, “Tech & Tea” digital literacy for elders, and workforce training in the gig-powered lab—delivered as repeatable programs other rural communities can license.

Venture products

Herbalyst, healthcare AI, zero-waste manufacturing, and telehealth services incubated in Tibbee’s kitchen and care suites.

Tibbee Development Club, Inc.

Non-profit steward of the 2,400 sq. ft. community center, programs, rentals, and fundraising for cemetery and facility needs. Tibbee Enterprise Development LLC and the Club have no relationship or dependency on one another; the Club is one benefactor of our planned profit-sharing.

Regional anchors

Golden Triangle LINK, CREATE Foundation, 4-County electric cooperative, and academic partners across Starkville, Columbus, and West Point strengthen Tibbee’s economic connectivity.

Web Integration Consulting Services

A non-profit consulting firm that works with organizations that support youth initiatives.

Community Investing Locally with Limited Equity

A microloan program set up through Hope Federal Credit Union for asset-based community development.

Contact & inquiries

• Organization: Tibbee Enterprise Development LLC
• Leadership: Dr. C. Fitzgerald Wicks
• Community center: 141 Community Center Road, Tibbee area
• TDC email: corky@tibbeeedllc.com
• TDC phone: 769-257-0272