Waynesboro, Mississippi (pop. 5,197) is the county seat of Wayne County in Southeastern Mississippi and is home to the Waynesboro Whistle Stop Festival, an arts and crafts festival celebrating the history of Waynesboro. The forest products industry is still a large part of the economy, there are several sawmills, veneer and plywood plants, and other enterprises that make up the community. Two major US Highways cross in town, US 45 and US 84, making it a prime location to ship good throughout Mississippi and into Alabama. The original Guide to the Magnolia State had little to say about Waynesboro itself, but what was once an attraction had a special story:
Right on this road to the unexplored PITTS CAVE, 1 m., on the Pitts farm. The cave, with its entrance in the side of a hill, is a limestone formation. A number of stories are associated with the place. An Indian, said to have lost his dog in the cave, went in after it and was never seen again. Some say his skull was found years later. The dog, it is asserted, came out at another entrance with its body stripped clean of hair by the limestone gases. Another story has it that a Confederate detachment, pursued by the enemy, took refuge in the cave. The most enthralling story, however, is that of the exploration made by Capt. L. S. Pitts, father of the present owner, who many years ago decided to investigate the cave, using twine and candles in a Tom Sawyer manner. After four candles had been burned, Pitts was at the end of his twine and gave up his search for the end of the cave. He had traveled, he estimated, three miles. When he emerged, his eyes and face were swollen from the gas. Pitts believed the cave went under Chickasawhay River, for at a certain point in his trip he could hear running water above him. The river is about a mile in a direct line from the mouth of the cave.
—Mississippi, A Guide To the Magnolia State (WPA, 1938)