Dear Vicksburg,

Thank you so much for the lovely, warm reception you’ve given my husband, Tim Cutler, and I since we arrived here earlier this month to join the ERDC Team. Tim and I are originally from Montana and have lived in South Korea for the last three years. So, we’re very familiar with reserved communities, and Vicksburg has been a wonderful change.

Within days of arriving, we had met and chatted with more people in Vicksburg than we typically would’ve met in our first months at a new location. We encountered folks in Kroger, Home Depot and around town who asked us how we were doing.  Then, strangely to us, they sincerely wanted answers and were ready to chat about how our day was going. While we were initially surprised, we’ve quickly become big fans of the ready welcome here in Vicksburg. 

Also within days of arriving, we locked ourselves out of our new home late one evening. Naturally, our phones and wallets were still in the house. This provided us with a great opportunity to meet the neighbors.

They were wonderful and made several phone calls to get us linked up with our real estate broker who had the other key. Granted, we did get a “bless their hearts” out of the meeting, but we completely deserved it. It was a start to what we’re sure will be a long friendship.

Since then, we’ve met many of our other neighbors, some when they stopped by the house to say “hi” and introduce themselves, and others at a lovely reception our broker held for us in her home. At the reception we were able to try a couple Southern firsts: mint juleps and Vicksburg tomato sandwiches. We thoroughly enjoyed both and will definitely have them again. We’re now looking forward to wandering around our new neighborhood to see who’s out and about in the evenings. 

In addition to meeting our neighbors, we’ve also been invited to dinner at the Vicksburg Country Club, Supper on the ‘Sip and Porchfest on Drummond Street, and we were able to participate in the Pilgrimage.

We’re awed by the diversity of events and opportunities to join the people of Vicksburg in celebrating Southern hospitality and neighborliness.

We couldn’t have asked for a better welcome to Vicksburg, and we’re looking forward to being active members of the community over the next few years. 

Col. Teresa Schlosser, ERDC Commander