Honoring Generations

The Lodge at Live Strive Farms pays homage to the owner’s grandfather and brother.

Written by Eugene Stockstill  |  Photographed by Joe Worthem | Photos contributed by Austin Haynes

You could say that The Lodge at Live Strive Farms, one of Lafayette County’s newest and most popular event venues, has been in the making for at least three generations.

Mississippi College graduate Austin Haynes, 27, runs the lodge, which opened this year and has plenty of dates inked through 2026. He says the place pays homage to his grandfather, a row-crop farmer in the Mississippi Delta who built a lodge back in the 1960s.

“The current one was built absolutely because of the old one,” Haynes said. “Just the fact that our family had a lodge for 50 years, we were just like, ‘How do we not have a lodge?’”

That old Delta lodge itself, which was used by family and friends, was only one small part of the big show. A museum that included rooms filled with old cars, old radios, sports memorabilia and items from old barber shops and schoolhouses really made people’s eyes pop.

“It was so massive that there couldn’t be a list,” Haynes said of his grandfather’s 20,000-square-foot museum and its contents.

But Austin’s granddaddy, Fletcher Sanders “Buddy” Haynes of Lambert, Mississippi, in

Quitman County, had an even bigger claim to fame. He was a collector of exotic animals, and his personal zoo included buffaloes, zebras, camels, deer, elk, wallabies, kangaroos and emus. Some of the zebras still live at the young Haynes’ home, by the way.

The most interesting bit, though, may have been Oscar the junkyard ostrich.

“The junkyard had two Doberman guard dogs in it, but people still kept stealing parts off the cars all the time,” Haynes said, and that’s when his granddad bought a mad-pecking ostrich to help. “He would leave him loose at night in the junkyard. Nary a windshield wiper went missing after that.”

That put the elder Haynes in People magazine and on an old TV show, “Real People,” as well as a Japanese game show that asked contestants to distinguish between two lies and a truth. Oscar the ostrich was the true story in one episode of the game show. 

All of that history was at still bubbling behind the scenes when the first part of the family’s current lodge went up in 2013.

“I have this tour that I give people,” Haynes said. “I talk about my grandfather collecting … and that we have antiques that have been passed down and are in the lodge.”

Those antiques include multiple pieces of furniture and three stained-glass windows at least 120 years old that came from a church in Belgium.

“Those stained-glass windows have been with us for almost 50 years,” he said.

Two years later, the unexpected death of Haynes’ older brother served as additional inspiration for completion of the venue now known as The Lodge at Live Strive Farms (read more at right).

Haynes, who has worked with his father in construction and also runs another business,

Oxford Wedding Cars, drew up the plans for the venue, plans that a draftsman and an engineer fine-tuned for him later.

Builders broke ground in 2023, construction ended earlier this year, and not long after that, the venue hosted an event for a Farm Bureau group. Weddings and other events have also taken place.

Perhaps the biggest draw of all at the locale that’s so loaded with history and attractions is the glassed-in wedding chapel, which includes the antique stained glass and whose indoor space exudes a decidedly outdoor feel without the hazards of heat and rain.

“Our big draw is the chapel,” said Haynes, who lives with his family two miles away.  “There’s something about the simplicity of it.”

If Haynes’ grandfather, owner of the original Haynes family lodge, could only see him now.

The Details

• The Lodge at Live Strive Farms sits on 170 acres of land eight miles outside Oxford, just 15 minutes from the Square, at 855A MS-30.

• The venue seats up to 280 people and includes a wedding chapel consisting mostly of glass on three sides. The 12-foot panes are separated by posts, and the front of the chapel includes antique stained-glass windows.

• Overnight accommodations include 4,000 square feet of space and room for 10 to sleep and has a 32-foot vaulted tongue and groove-pine ceilings.

• The event space includes 8,000 square feet of space, a bridal suite, a groomsmen’s room, a bar, a catering prep area, a coat closet, a 2,500-square-foot ballroom, a large stage and foyer and balcony overlooking the foyer.

• There is also a 4,000-square-foot wrap-around porch, a 150-inch television that can be used for event visuals and a sound system that can be heard all over the site.

• Interested in having an event there? Contact Austin Haynes at 662-444-8141 or thelodgems@gmail.com.

A Memorial to Justin Haynes

Justin Haynes, the older brother of The Lodge at Live Strive Farms’ manager Austin Haynes, is very much a presence at the property. Justin died in a car crash in 2015, years before the lodge and chapel were built. When he was alive, he had a cabin that is still on the site of the now popular venue, and he was a Marine veteran, which inspired the “Live Strive” name itself. Marines attempt to live up to the standards of being a Marine while they strive to set even higher standards. Justin was engaged at the time of his death, and the family decided that the day of his wedding should somehow turn out to be a tribute. As a result, the canceled wedding date became a fundraiser for the Wounded Warrior Project, an event that brought in more than $50,000. They called it the Live Strive Memorial Benefit — wristbands, T-shirts and license plates were made, too. “After that we kind of ran with the Live Strive thing,” Austin said.