Maywood Beach

  Maywood Beach was a water park located in Olive Branch, Mississippi, just across the Mississippi state line from Memphis, Tennessee. It was opened by Maurice and May Woodson on July 4, 1931. The Woodsons were Memphians who were looking for a change of pace from city life. Maurice Woodson was a cotton linter and president of Woodson Brothers, Inc., a company that he owned with his brothers Edward and R. Peyton Woodson. Some time in the late 1920s, Maurice was told by his doctor that he must give up his business for his health's sake. Soon after the couple purchased 400 acres (1.6 km2) of land in DeSoto County, Mississippi. On the property was a clear, spring fed lake. With the help of a mule team, they dug the lake out and lined the bottom with several hundred tons of white sand imported from Destin, Florida. Then, tapping down into a natural artesian water basin below the ground, they filled it with cold, clear water, which eventually fed into two other lakes on the property. Lak...