operates. the concept of southern hospitality still exists here. no matter what color you are, what political party, there is a warmth here where people want you to come in. they want to show you a part of their culture they re proud about. they call it the mighty mississippi for a reason. i think that goes beyond the current. it s about the impact this river has had on what we become as a nation and what we decide to become as a nation. i m carlton mccoy, raised in inner city d.c., educated in kitchens around the globe. these days i make a living as a master sommelier. i m a nomad, driven to move in and out of different cultures, different worlds. to celebrate diversity by embracing what makes us both unique and the same. after all, we carry our travels with us to our next destination. that s what life is all about. let s do this. i grew up in washington, d.c., raised by my grandmother who is from virginia. so i always felt i had one foot in the south. but as a young child,
no, nobody was taking care of any house this size in america by themselves. so obviously there were, if not slaves, there were definitely domestic workers who were they would have all been slaves. yeah. wyolah is one of the most intact places of its kind in the south which includes all the original outbuildings, and there are two slave cabins. they were in such disrepair i had to make the decision do you keep it or do you erase history. and a lot of people said that i should just mow them over and plant bushes. but i thought it was the honorable thing to do to restore them because those are the hands that built this place. it s about 20 people living in each one. it s women and children. and if you d like to, go on inside.
and then when i was making the help, i wanted to film it in this state since it was the state, the stories on the backs of a lot of men and women who were from here. yeah. and legacy was here. and also, you can t fake mississippi. sure. and the actors could just feel being in the mississippi delta, you could feel the history. when there is thick history, you feel it. wyolah was built in 1836 at the height of slavery in the south. by meticulously restoring the entire property, tate and john have recreated a piece of living history, passed along, along the way. i got to ask, was this an actual plantation? this was a showoff doctor s house. okay. sorry. i can breathe easy now. no. a doctor is an irish immigrant. okay. and that was his office. so irish immigrant isn t taking care of this house by himself.