Maywood:  Memphis Mecca of Summer Delight
by Cathy Marcinko

The rushing water shoots into the sky from the iron tube with the force of a geyser, and loud shouts ring out as the icy water falls in giant showers of light on the sunburned skin of the children.  Kids leap into the air, propelled up from the sandy white bottom of the pool and reach for the tube, eager to spray one another, while others dart away like frightened fish.
   
In another part of the pool, older boys throw themselves in skin-popping belly flops from the painted wooden dock in the center of the lake, while swimmers hang breathless in anticipation of climbing the tiny wooden ladders up out of the water. On the dock, pony-tailed girls stand poised for long minutes contemplating the sparkling waves.  They dive all at once, sleek and effortless into the cold and silent reaches, down in a graceful swoosh and back to the surface in a mirage of tiny bubbles and yellowish green light. The girls in two-piece suits quickly yank up their bottoms before emerging from the water, triumphant and eager for one more dive.
   
From across the blue concrete margins of the pool come excited shrieks as a line of youngsters watched by their mothers make their one hundredth trip down the tall metal water slide. It beckons each child again and again--the giddy height, the thrill of speed, and the sudden drop!
   
The bright sun in the blue sky, the sparkling lake with white sandy beaches, the oak-shaded picnic tables where heat-struck grownups sunbathe or doze in the shade--this is Maywood.  Maywood, Mississippi, mecca of Memphis in the endless summer of youth.
   
Water is the element that enticed them here. Cold, pure, ever-changing water with no hint of chlorine.  So clear you can count your toes against the white bottom.  So cold even the hottest, most humid day is tolerable in its shocking embrace.  With a pool large enough to challenge parental supervision and wide enough to tire the average swimmer, Maywood has long been one of the best places a Mid-South kid could be in the summertime. 
   
Maywood has changed a lot in some ways, none at all in others, since it was opened by Maurice and May Woodson on July 4, 1931. The Woodsons were Memphians who had a love of the country and a dream that they were fortunate enough to make come true.  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 of land in DeSoto County, just outside the small town of Olive Branch.  It was close enough at 17 miles for Maurice and May to maintain contact with their family and friends in Memphis, but far away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
   
The challenge was how to transform the rough tract of gullies and woods into something that could be enjoyed. Maurice and May set about it in a big way.  In a short time they had built a modest house and soon after they decided to build a natural lake beside their cottage.  With the help of a mule team they dug the hole and lined the bottom with several hundred tons of white sand imported from Destin, Fla.  Then, tapping down into a natural artesian water basin below the ground, they filled it with cold, clear water which eventually fed into four other lakes on the property.
   
Lake Shahkoka, as it was called, after a Chickasaw Indian who once lived on the land, soon drew more than just family and friends to Maywood.  The Woodsons turned   developers and began building summer and permanent resort homes in a rustic vein around the picturesque lakes.  To entice buyers they added roads, picnic tables, barbecue pits, pavilions, a bowling alley, and a miniature golf course, as well as playgrounds, a snack bar, and tearoom at the Maywood swimming pool.  Residents were given free access to the Maywood Pool under the terms of their purchase.  The other lakes were also for residents’ use and were kept natural for fishing and non-motorized recreational boating.   
   
Over the years many Memphis businessmen chose to buy homes at Maywood and some even lived there year round, sending their children to school in Olive Branch while commuting to the city to work.  The Maywood community eventually numbered 100 residences, and though it remained unincorporated, there were an active civic club, Sunday church services during the summer months, and plenty of recreation opportunities including badminton, tennis, and horseback riding.
   
The pool thrived as well, drawing folks from Memphis from opening day in May to its close in September.  It became a surrogate beach for Memphians longing for the ocean and hosted TV commercials for Coppertone, publicity photos for beauty queens, weddings, baptisms, church picnics, parachutists, class reunions, and romantic encounters.  The pavilion was a popular dance arena from the 1930s on, and Elvis Presley played there early in his career. The tearoom offered social amusements for the ladies, including hat contests, and was known for its good food.
   
Over the years the pool has been enlarged but the character of Maywood has essentially remained the same, though dancing isn’t seen anymore in the pavilion. The stone retaining walls and the well-beaten paths to shaded picnic tables, playground swings, and the wooden bathhouse still have the feeling of a 1930s camp.  The pool was integrated in 1969 under a consent order and since then one can see skin tones of every hue happily soaking up sun or slathered in layers of sunscreen.  
   
For 70 years people of every age and kind have enjoyed Maywood--nubile, fat, old, young, energetic, and oblivious to the world.  Kids have spun countless cartwheels into the water showing off for their friends as adults played volleyball in the hot sand. Music still blares from the refreshment stand where the hungry line up for soft ice cream, hamburgers, and drinks as the noon hour approaches. Young boys still bury their friends in the sand, and little girls still build sandcastles in the shade of Maywood’s trees. Year after year the peaceful green lakes around the main pool reflect crepe myrtle and weeping willow, while in the distance the lazy clang of the ice cream truck sounds as a breeze stirs the air.
   
For more than half a century Memphis parents and children lucky enough to know about Maywood have looked forward to a trip down Highway 78 for a day of pure summertime pleasure. Sadly, 70 years after Maurice and May Woodson inaugurated their dream, the unexpected news that Maywood is closing has come from current owner Hugh Armistead. The lake and surrounding property will be turned into a private residential development.  The final closure date is uncertain, but it will probably take place some time in July 2003.  This news will most certainly sadden anyone who has ever spent a blissful summer’s day at Maywood Beach. 

             
Maywood Beach and Pool is located just outside Olive Branch, Miss., off old Highway 78, less than an hour’s drive from most corners of Memphis. The hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. However, before planning a trip, call to confirm that the facility is open. Admission is $8 for adults and $6 for children. For information, call (662) 895-2777. 
   
This story was first published in Old Shelby County Magazine and is reprinted and updated with permission of the publishers. Maywood’s owner, Hugh Armistead, provided the original background information and historic photographs for this story.