Bankston, MS
County:
Choctaw
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
33°23′50″N 89°22′00″W / 33.39722°N 89.36667°W / 33.39722
Elevation:
410 ft (120 m)
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Bankston is a ghost town in Choctaw County, Mississippi, United States. The nearest community is French Camp, located 8 mi (13 km) south-southwest.
Remains:
All that remains of the town is the Bankston Cemetery.
Current Status:
Because of its isolated location in the backwoods of Choctaw County, the Bankston Mill continued to operate through 1864. The end came when scouts for the Union Army learned that the mill was turning out one thousand yards of cloth and 150 pairs of shoes each day. Benjamin Grierson’s federal troops arrived on the night of December 30, 1864, and set fire to the cotton factory, the wool factory, the flour mill, and the shoe factory while locals slept. Another factory was established in Bankston after the war but was also burned. The population in 1900 was 84. Around that time the settlement had a post office and a grist mill.
Remarks:
In 1848, the first successful, mechanically powered textile mill in Mississippi was founded in Bankston by James Madison Wesson. It was named for one of Wesson’s financial backers, Mr. Banks from Columbus, Georgia. Located on McCurtain’s Creek, a tributary of the Big Black River, the Bankston Textile Mill, also known as Mississippi Manufacturing Company, produced cloth and shoes for the Confederacy after Mississippi seceded from the Union.
Brewton, MS
County:
Jackson
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
30°38′01″N 88°39′30″W / 30.63361°N 88.65833°W / 30.63361
Elevation:
135 ft (41 m)
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Brewton, Mississippi is a ghost town in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. In the early 19th century, settlers were attracted to Brewer’s Bluff (Brewton) in Jackson County because of its high elevation, just west of the Pascagoula River. The name was derived from a Brewer family that obtained the property through a Spanish land grant.
Remains:
In 1816, Brewer’s Bluff was selected as the county seat of Jackson County, with the construction of a courthouse and jail around 1820. By 1826, Brewer’s Bluff had not met expectations because of its remote location, and the county seat was moved east of the Pascagoula River.
Current Status:
Early in the 20th century, the L.N. Dantzler Lumber Company acquired the property, and the houses and other buildings, that were part of Brewton, collapsed from disrepair. The name changed once again and the area became known as White’s Camp.
Remarks:
Over the years, Brewer’s Bluff passed through several owners and became known as Rice’s Bluff, where a turpentine still operated just before the American Civil War. In the late 19th century, Brewton prospered as a sawmill town, converting trees from the virgin pine forests into lumber. Besides the sawmill, Brewton had houses, a church, a school, a hotel, and a post office. Owners of the sawmill selected the name Klondike in hopes of improving their fortune, but the name did not stick. Ownership of the sawmill changed several times, but bad luck plagued the mill and it burned twice. Once the virgin timber was gone, residents of Brewton had no reason to stay.
Camargo, MS
County:
Monroe
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
34°04′15″N 88°38′55″W / 34.07083°N 88.64861°W / 34.07083
Elevation:
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Camargo is a ghost town in Monroe County, Mississippi, United States.
Remains:
Camargo was located at 34°04’15 N 88°38’55 W on the banks of Town Creek.
Current Status:
Remarks:
Carmargo was named by veterans of the Mexican-American War for Camargo, Tamaulipas, a mustering point.
Colony Town, MS
County:
Leflore
Zip Code:
38941
Latitude / Longitude:
33°27′17″N 90°24′37″W / 33.45472°N 90.41028°W / 33.45472
Elevation:
138 ft (42 m)
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Colony Town is a ghost town in Leflore County, Mississippi. Colony Town is approximately 7 miles (11 km) west of Itta Bena and approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Moorhead.
Remains:
Current Status:
Remarks:
Commerce, MS
County:
Tunica
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
34°49′10″N 90°22′49″W / 34.81944°N 90.38028°W / 34.81944
Elevation:
200 ft (61 m)
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Commerce is a ghost town in Tunica County, Mississippi, United States. Commerce Landing was the town’s port. Commerce is located on the Mississippi River, 4 mi (6.4 km) west of Tunica Resorts.
Remains:
Once a thriving river port, Commerce today is farmland surrounded by large casinos. Little remains of the original community.
Current Status:
In 1955, a tornado touched down on the Abbay & Leatherman plantation, killing 28. It cut a 200 ft (61 m) wide path and destroyed a row of tenant houses, a school, a church, and a cotton gin. The school was in session, and most of the dead were children and their teachers.
Remarks:
Commerce Landing is one of two hypothesized locations where Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto may have crossed the Mississippi River (the other is Friars Point, Mississippi). Archeological sites at Commerce have dated to around 1541, and three archeological sites near Commerce have been found to contain Late Mississippian ceramics, which corresponds to records left by the Spanish describing three Quizquiz Indian villages they encountered near the Mississippi River. During the 1820s, both Commerce and Mound City, Arkansas were considered commercial rivals of Memphis, Tennessee, and by 1839, Commerce had a larger population than Memphis (located 40 mi (64 km) north on the Mississippi River).
Cotton Gin Port, MS
County:
Marion
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
33°58′15″N 88°32′35″W / 33.97083°N 88.54306°W / 33.97083
Elevation:
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Cotton Gin Port is a ghost town in Monroe County, Mississippi, United States.
Remains:
Cotton Gin Port was the first town in north Mississippi, although initially, it was part of Marion County in the Alabama Territory. The new demarcation lines of 1820-21 put it in Mississippi. The site was located on the east bank of the Tombigbee River at a crossing of vital Indian trails. It was a base of expeditions of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville in 1736 and Vaudreuil in 1752. The Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham Railroad caused extinction as the townfolk moved to the new town of Amory.
Current Status:
The ruins of the old town can still be found between the Tenn-Tom Waterway and the Tombigbee River, and relics from the old settlement can be seen at the Amory Municipal Museum. Chief Levi Colbert is said to have lived on the bluff west of Cotton Gin Port, near the old cotton gin where there was a large spreading oak known as the council tree.
Remarks:
The early U.S. government built a cotton gin in 1801 at Cotton Gin Port as part of a “plan of civilization” for the local Chickasaw Indians, and soon became recognized as a Chickasaw Indian trading post. A road, Gaines Trace, was built to the town in 1811 and 1812. This road ran from close to Muscle Shoals on the Tennessee River to Cotton Gin Port, where it crossed the Tombigbee; it then proceeded south to Fort Stoddert.
Fort Adams, MS
County:
Wilkinson
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
31° 5′ 12 N, 91° 32′ 53 W
Elevation:
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
1798
Disestablished:
Comments:
Fort Adams is a small, river port community in Wilkinson County, Mississippi, United States, about 40 miles south of Natchez. It is notable for having been the U.S. port of entry on the Mississippi River, before the acquisition of New Orleans; it was the site of an early fort by that name. The town was called Wilkinburg and was incorporated in 1798. Prior to that time, the community was known as Loftus Heights and formerly had been a Jesuit mission called the Rock of Davion, first settled as such circa 1689-1700.
Remains:
Around 1700, a French priest named Father Albert Davion established a mission on the Mississippi River bluffs at or near the site of Fort Adams. The mission, which was established to bring Christianity to local Indians, became a landmark and stopping place for people traveling on the river or on the overland trails that connected Natchez with New Orleans. Davion left the mission by 1720, but the site continued to be called Roche Davion (Davion’s Rock) for many years thereafter. It acquired the name Loftus Heights in 1764 when a British expeditionary force led by Major Arthur Loftus was ended after being attacked by Indians at this site.
Current Status:
The site became Fort Adams after the United States and Spain settled a boundary dispute over parts of what is now southern Mississippi. The Treaty of San Lorenzo (Pinckney’s Treaty), signed in 1795, established latitude 31 N as the boundary between Spanish West Florida and Mississippi Territory. U.S. General James Wilkinson selected Loftus Heights for a military post in 1798 on the advice of Captain Isaac Guion. The site, on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River about six miles upriver from the new international boundary, was judged to be a good position for observing and thwarting military movements on the river and was described by Wilkinson as the “most southerly tenable position within our limits.” The new fort was named for the sitting U.S. President, John Adams.
Remarks:
In subsequent years, the river channel shifted away, leaving Fort Adams far from the Mississippi River. As of 1993, Fort Adams was a small community and the site of businesses that provided supplies to hunting and fishing camps in the region.
Gainesville, MS
County:
Hancock
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
30°21’04 N 89°38’23 W
Elevation:
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
1790
Disestablished:
Comments:
Gainesville is a ghost town located in Hancock County, Mississippi. Formerly a thriving port on the Pearl River, the town experienced a decline due to the emergence of railways in the mid-19th century. The land was acquired by NASA in 1962, later becoming home to the Stennis Space Center.
Remains:
The land where Gainesville would be founded as part of the Piney Woods region, known to be used by natives for timber purposes- mainly wooden structures and canoes- carved by primitive tools from an abundance of longleaf pines. It was these same tall standing and sturdy trees that drew the attention of early European explorers to the area as a source for ship masts. The earliest recorded European settlement of the areas was circa 1790, as a port for cotton (later timber) shipments headed downstream to New Orleans. This first settlement was known as Cottonport.” Documents indicate that, in later years, the settlement was also known as “English Bluff.”
Current Status:
Gainesville began to experience a decline in the latter half of the 19th Century, due largely to the emergence of railroads as a means for timber transportation. When a major rail-line bypassed the town by ten miles, residents began to leave the area in search of better jobs. In 1961, NASA first began considering the area for a research and development center, which would later become the Stennis Space Center. Several of Gainesville’s abandoned buildings were utilized by NASA in the early days of its ownership.
Remarks:
In 1810, an official Spanish land grant of approximately 500 acres was acquired by Dr. Ambrose Gaines, who subsequently named the settlement “Gainesville.” In 1813, Andrew Jackson’s Union forces marched through Gainesville just prior to the Battle of New Orleans. The Pearl River Lumber Company was founded in Gainesville in 1832, becoming the largest lumber company in the South at the time, and helping to establish Gainesville as one of the most prosperous pre-Civil War settlements in Mississippi. The town of Gainesville was officially incorporated in 1843 and served as the seat of Hanckcock County for nearly a decade until the courthouse burned.
Grand Gulf, MS
County:
Claiborne
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
32°2′39.7932″N 91°3′4.6692″W / 32.044387000°N 91.051297000°W / 32.044387000
Elevation:
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Grand Gulf Military State Park is a Mississippi state park located 10 miles northwest of Port Gibson in the unincorporated area that is now the ghost town of Grand Gulf, in Claiborne County. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a Mississippi Landmark.
Remains:
The 400-acre landmark includes Fort Cobun and Fort Wade, the Grand Gulf Cemetery, a museum, campgrounds, picnic areas, hiking trails, an observation tower, and several restored buildings dating back to Grand Gulf’s heyday.
Current Status:
Grand Gulf was originally a port on the Mississippi River, and in the 19th century before the war shipped thousands of bales of cotton that arrived by rail from Clinton, Mississippi in Hinds County. Its population in 1858 was 1,000 to 1500, and the community had two churches, a hospital, theater, town hall, cotton press, steam saw, and grits mill. It became isolated later after the Mississippi River changed its course to the west, and the town died without access to the river. It became a ghost town after the turn of the 20th century.
Remarks:
Holcut, MS
County:
Tishomingo
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
34° 43′ 48 N, 88° 18′ 20 W
Elevation:
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
1976
Comments:
Holcut was a small town located in Tishomingo County, Mississippi, United States. In 1976, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers bought out and then completely demolished the town because it lay directly in the path of the Divide Cut, a 29-mile (47 km) artificial canal section of the Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway, which was constructed between 1972 and 1984.
Remains:
Current Status:
Completely demolished 1976
Remarks:
After the town was demolished, the Corps of Engineers established a Holcut memorial on the site of the town.
Holmesville, MS
County:
Pike
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
31°12′13″N 90°18′31″W / 31.20361°N 90.30861°W / 31.20361
Elevation:
299 ft (91 m)
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Holmesville is an Unincorporated community in Pike County, Mississippi, United States. It is located on the west bank of the Bogue Chitto, approximately 11 mi (18 km) southeast of McComb.
Remains:
Holmesville was named December 11, 1816, in honor of Major Andrew Hunter Holmes by commissioners who were appointed to select a spot for the seat of justice in the geographical center of the newly formed Pike County. This was the center of trade and business for the county for many years. In 1857 the Illinois Central Railroad was built 9 mi (14 km) west bypassing Holmesville and the more populated area of the County. This shifted the population from the river town of Holmesville to the new railroad towns of Magnolia, Summit, and Osyka. In 1873, Magnolia was voted in as the new county seat and in 1876 a new courthouse was erected. In 1881, the newly built courthouse was destroyed by fire, and most records of Holmesville and Pike County were lost. Within 20 years, most businesses moved out of Holmesville and the people followed.
Current Status:
An effort was made to maintain the buildings in Holmesville, but one by one they were torn down or left to decay. Few old structures remain. In January 1816, J.Y. McNabb was elected clerk of the Inferior and Superior Courts, and David Cleveland was elected sheriff, and they entered into a bond on the 29th day of January 1816. In August 1817, Laban Bacot was sheriff, under the new State regime. In the fall election of 1818, Henry Quin was elected clerk and Laban Bacot sheriff.
Remarks:
Holmesville became a great resort, and through the summer months was often crowded with people seeking rest and relief from the unhealthful atmosphere of New Orleans and the dangers of cholera and yellow fever which often prevailed there. Its healthfulness, picturesque scenery, pure water, facilities for outdoor sports and quiet pleasures, made it a desirable place for a summer vacation.
Hopewell, MS
County:
Covington
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
34° 58′ 5 N, 89° 2′ 53 W
Elevation:
407 ft (124 m)
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Hopewell is an unincorporated community in Covington County, Mississippi, United States. One of the oldest settlements in Covington County, one of Hopewell’s earliest settlers was Thomas Ates, who bought land from the Choctaw Natives. Ben and Mary Duckworth were also early settlers, and named the town after the Biblical account of Moses’ and Abraham’s definition of hope: “to trust, expect, await, and endure”. Many emancipated slaves settled in Hopewell after the Civil War.
Remains:
The New Hopewell School was constructed in 1885 and was located several miles north of the town, at the present site of the New Hopewell Church and Cemetery. The school operated until 1950.
Current Status:
In the 1920s, a second school was constructed in Hopewell. It was built as a Rosenwald School and is still in operation, now called Hopewell Elementary School. In 1966, a desegregation lawsuit was filed alleging that the school district had failed to integrate the predominantly black Hopewell Attendance Center with predominantly white Seminary Attendance Center. The lawsuit languished until 2006 when the school board and the U.S. Department of Justice agreed on a plan which angered both blacks and whites because of the increased distances students would need to travel. Several citizens went to court to contest the 40-year-old desegregation order.
Remarks:
In 1922, Covington County authorities created the Hopewell Colored Separate School District in response to petitions by black citizens for improved educational opportunities. Two years later, Hopewell’s black residents sued Covington County after they realized they were being “doubly taxed” by the county. The boundaries of the Colored district encompassed only black-owned properties, while the larger boundaries of the white school district–created over a decade earlier–encompassed both white and black-owned properties. The citizens lost their lawsuit; the judge ruling that it was happenstance that all blacks but no whites lived in both school districts. Furthermore, any whites who bought the property in the Hopewell district would also bear this double burden.
Inwood, MS
County:
Sunflower
Zip Code:
38778
Latitude / Longitude:
33°30′21″N 90°31′29″W / 33.50583°N 90.52472°W / 33.50583 -90.52472
Elevation:
131 ft (40 m)
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Inwood is a ghost town located in Sunflower County, Mississippi, on Mississippi Highway 3.
Remains:
Inwood was a station on the Yazoo Delta Railroad (the “Yellow Dog”), established between Moorhead and Ruleville during the 1890s.
Current Status:
Remarks:
Logtown, MS
County: Hancock
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
Elevation:
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Remains:
Current Status:
Remarks:
Napoleon, MS
County:
Hancock
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
30°19′35″N 89°37′39″W / 30.32639°N 89.62750°W / 30.32639
Elevation:
16 ft (5 m)
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Napoleon is an unincorporated community in Hancock County, Mississippi, United States.
Remains:
Current Status:
Remarks:
Old Town, MS
County:
Lee
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
34° 18′ 10 N, 88° 43′ 30 W
Elevation:
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Old Town was a Chickasaw village in northeast Mississippi in present-day Lee County.
Remains:
Current Status:
Remarks:
Palo Alto, MS
County:
Clay
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
33°40′50″N 88°48′0″W / 33.68056°N 88.80000°W / 33.68056
Elevation:
279 ft (89m)
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Palo Alto (also Savannah) is a ghost town in Clay County, Mississippi. Established c. 1846, it is located at 33°40’50 N 88°48’0 W (33.6806738, -88.8000525) at an elevation of 279 feet (85 m).
Remains:
In 1876, Palo Alto was the site of an incident in which a group of heavily armed white men brought a piece of field artillery and broke up a meeting of the Republican Club in order to suppress black voters.
Current Status:
In 1987, the townsite was listed on the National Register of Historic Places under the name of “Town of Palo Alto.” Nearly 200 acres (81 ha) were listed on the Register as part of the community.
Remarks:
Prentiss, MS
County:
Bolivar
Zip Code:
39474
Latitude / Longitude:
33°46′19″N 91°5′9″W / 33.77194°N 91.08583°W / 33.77194
Elevation:
121 ft (37 m)
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Prentiss is a town in Jefferson Davis County, Mississippi. The population was 1,158 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat. Prentiss is located on the Longleaf Trace, Mississippi’s first recreational rail trail. Originally part of Lawrence County, the town was first named “Blountville”, after William Blount, an early settler and merchant. Blountville High School was established in 1885 on 10 acres (4.0 ha) of land.
Remains:
A depot was established in Blountville when the Pearl & Leaf Rivers Railroad (later Illinois Central Railroad) was completed in 1903. That same year the town was officially established and named “Prentiss”, possibly after Seargent Smith Prentiss, a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives and U.S. Representative from Mississippi, or after Prentiss Webb Berry, a prominent landowner in the area. When Jefferson Davis County was created in 1906, a special election determined that Prentiss would serve as the county seat.
Current Status:
Local attractions include the Holloway-Polk house – the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in Jefferson Davis County. Lake Jeff Davis – a campground and picnic area southeast of Prentiss. Mt. Zion Church and Cemetery – the second-oldest African American church and cemetery in Jefferson Davis County. Spring Hill Missionary Baptist Church and Cemetery (c. 1847) – the oldest African American Baptist Church and cemetery in Jefferson Davis County.
Remarks:
In 1907, Jonas Edward Johnson and his wife Bertha LaBranche Johnson established the Prentiss Institute. Situated on 40 acres (16 ha) of land, with remnants of slave quarters on the property, it was considered one of the finest schools for African Americans in Mississippi. The school at first taught only the elementary grades and began with 40 students whose tuition was often paid with chickens, eggs and produce. A Rosenwald classroom was built on the campus in 1926, and by 1953 the “Prentiss Normal and Industrial Institute” included a high school and junior college, had 44 faculty and more than 700 students, and included 24 buildings and 400 acres (160 ha) of farmland, pasture, and forest. In 1955, Heifer International donated 15 pure-bred cows to the school with the intention that the offspring be donated to needy farm families. It is noteworthy that the school gave some of the animals to poor white families. The school closed in 1989 and was designated an official Mississippi landmark in 2002.
Princeton, MS
County: Washington
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
Elevation:
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established: 1820
Disestablished: 1858
Comments:
Remains: The town began to sink because of the river. People left in droves, and S. B. Lawson sold what was left of some structures and the land for $125 to the first slave who made him an offer.
Current Status: Today this ghost town is within the Princeton State Wildlife Management Area.
Remarks:
Rocky Springs, MS
County:
Claiborne
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
32° 5′ 20 N, 90° 48′ 54 W
Elevation:
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Rocky Springs is a ghost town and historic site located in Claiborne County, Mississippi, United States, between Old Port Gibson Road and the Natchez Trace Parkway (milepost 54.8). The old townsite can be viewed by the public during daylight hours. Rocky Springs and the surrounding area are maintained by the National Park Service.
Remains:
Rocky Springs was established in the late 1700s as a popular watering place for travelers along the old Natchez Trace, near a natural spring and rock outcropping from which the budding community would take its name. In 1796, Mayburn Cooper settled in the area and was recorded in the 1816 census as a landowner. In 1829, the Rocky Springs election precinct received 90 votes. A Methodist church was erected in 1837. The first private school, Rocky Springs Academy, opened in 1838. By 1860, the community of Rocky Springs had reached a maximum population of 2,616 inhabitants, plus approximately 2,000 slaves, all living in a 25-square-mile (65 km2) area. According to the NPS, at its height, the town proper contained three merchants, four physicians, four teachers, three clergy, and 13 artisans. Cotton farming was the main economic driver.
Current Status:
Today, the old townsite of Rocky Springs can be viewed by the public during daylight hours. The Methodist church built in 1837 is the only remaining structure, which continued to hold regular Sunday services until 2010 when its congregation became too small to sustain worship. Some remnants of the town can be viewed along a short loop trail, including a post office safe and a cistern. Placards placed along the trail by the NPS offers historical information about the town’s growth and decline. A small graveyard adjacent to the church is maintained and is the gravesite of some of the original settlers.
Remarks:
Rodney, MS
County:
Jefferson
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
31°51′41″N 91°11′59″W / 31.86139°N 91.19972°W / 31.86139
Elevation:
82 ft (25 m)
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
1828
Disestablished:
Comments:
Rodney is a former city in Jefferson County in southwest Mississippi, approximately 32 miles (51 km) northeast of Natchez. Rodney was founded in 1828, and in the 19th century, it was only three votes away from becoming the capital of the Mississippi Territory. Its population declined to nearly zero after the Mississippi River changed course. The Rodney Center Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Remains:
Alston’s Grocery Store, actually a country general store, closed many years ago but the building still stands. In the northeast corner of the town is a small park where regular band concerts were held by the Jefferson County Band. On the northwest corner are the remains of a wooden drugstore. West of Alston’s Grocery is the one surviving structure on Batchelor Street. Located at the southwest corner is a two-story brick structure. At the western end of Batchelor St. is Mt. Zion No. 1 Baptist Church, a white frame structure combining several styles of architecture which was constructed in 1850. The Presbyterian Church has a solid shot above the middle window which appears to have been fired by a 12 lb. Napoleon. It hit the facade of the church when a group of officers from the USS Rattler decided to attend services one Sunday and a unit of Confederate cavalry from Grand Gulf began the process of arresting them all as prisoners of war. Shooting started and the Rattler returned fire striking the Church (Note: The shell one sees lodged in the facade of the church today is not the original round. That particular missile has been lost to history. The current round, cemented in place for safety, was placed there during a restoration in the 1990s). The minister, a known Union sympathizer, left town shortly thereafter.
Current Status:
Today a small number of inhabitants remain but the area is considered a ghost town and reliable data is hard to find as the town is not listed as a separate entity by the census bureau.
Remarks:
Rodney was originally settled by the French in January 1763 and named Petit Gouffre, meaning “Little Gulf”. As a result of the French and Indian War, the area was taken by Great Britain. Spain would later control this area after taking West Florida from the British in 1781. Spain would hold the site until selling it to Thomas Calvit in 1798. The city was later renamed Rodney in 1828 in honor of Judge Thomas Rodney. The Old Rodney Presbyterian Church was dedicated in 1832. It is located in the middle section of the town, across the Rodney – Red Lick – Lorman Road from Alston Grocery Store. Formerly at the south edge of the town was Sacred Heart Catholic Church, built in 1869. On the southeast corner of Rodney lies Alston’s Grocery, operated by the Alston family since 1915.
Sand Hill, MS
County:
Attala
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
33°11′50″N 89°38′30″W / 33.19722°N 89.64167°W / 33.19722
Elevation:
469 ft (143 m)
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Sand Hill is a ghost town in Attala County, Mississippi, United States. Sand Hill was 7.8 miles (12.6 km) east of West.
Remains:
Current Status:
Remarks:
Selsertown, MS
County:
Adams
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
31°37′41″N 91°14′10″W / 31.62806°N 91.23611°W / 31.62806 -91.23611
Elevation:
400 ft (122 m)
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Selsertown is an extinct town in Adams County, Mississippi, United States.
Remains:
A Plaquemine culture platform mound is located there, once known as the Selsertown Mound but currently known as Emerald Mound. The mound is 35 feet (11 m) in height, with two secondary mounds at either end of its summit that rise even higher. It once had a total of six to eight mounds on its summit but only the two on the ends have survived. It covers 6 acres (2.4 ha). It was described as being of “extraordinary size” in the 1848 book Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley and it is the second-largest Pre-Columbian earthwork in the United States, after Monk’s Mound at Cahokia, Illinois. The mound dates from the period between 1200 and 1730 CE and is the type site for the Emerald Phase (1500 to 1680 CE) of the Natchez Bluffs Plaquemine culture chronology. It was still in use by their descendants, the historic era Natchez people, as their main ceremonial center. Emerald was abandoned by the time of the French colonial period, and the hereditary chief of the Natchez had his capital at the nearby Grand Village Site. This settlement was one of the last active expressions of the platform mound-building culture along the Mississippi River.
Current Status:
Selsertown was the third stop on Old Natchez Road. Beginning in Natchez, the road traveled northeast through Washington, Selsertown, Uniontown, and many other communities until it ended in Nashville, Tennessee. The United States required jurisdictions through which the Trace passed to commit to the development of a tavern or inn every six miles on the trace. George Selser built an inn at this site, which opened in 1780. John McCullum eventually became the owner of the inn. A sign outside of the inn, while owned by McCullum, read “Intertainment for Man and Baste.” The inn caught fire and was destroyed during the American Civil War.
Remarks:
Tocowa, MS
County:
Panola
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
34°13′25″N 90°03′35″W / 34.22361°N 90.05972°W / 34.22361
Elevation:
236 ft (71.9 m)
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Tocowa was a town located just outside Batesville in Panola County, Mississippi, United States, but it is now a ghost town.
Remains:
During the late 18th century, and well into the 19th century, the town grew around a natural spring. The spring was used as a socializing area by Native Americans who believed in the spring’s mysterious healing powers and that the water could heal braves wounded in battle.
Current Status:
In the May 25, 1867 edition of The Weekly Panola Star newspaper, the spring was described as “a fine, clear, and bold running mineral spring of known and well attested medicinal virtues”.
Remarks:
Westville, MS
County:
Simpson
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
31°51′59″N 89°56′29″W / 31.86639°N 89.94139°W / 31.86639
Elevation:
420 ft (128 m)
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
1836
Disestablished:
Comments:
Westville was an unincorporated community in Simpson County, Mississippi, United States, located approximately 1.8 mi (2.9 km) southeast of Pinola; it is now considered a ghost town.
Remains:
Westville was the county seat from 1824 to 1900 when the seat was moved to Mendenhall. In 1905, the seat was briefly returned to Westville but returned to Mendenhall the next year. Westville was incorporated in 1836.
Current Status:
The courthouse was originally built in 1827 but was destroyed by fire a few years later. It was rebuilt in brick, and burned down again, then rebuilt again out of brick
Remarks:
The settlement was named for Colonel Cato West.
Woolworth, MS
County:
Lincoln
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
31°38′00″N 90°16′24″W / 31.63333°N 90.27333°W / 31.63333
Elevation:
328 ft (100 m)
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Woolworth is a ghost town located in rural northeast Lincoln County, Mississippi, United States. Woolworth was a stop on the Mississippi Central Railroad, constructed between Brookhaven to the west and Silver Creek to the east in the early 1900s. Woolworth never incorporated, and never had a post office. Woolworth had a train depot and a 48-car rail siding.
Remains:
With the rise of automobiles, roads were built which bypassed Woolworth. The town’s sawmill closed, and the train stopped running. The only visible remains of Woolworth are the old general store and the old blacksmith shop, both next to the train tracks on the east side of the road. They are currently used for storage by the owner of the property.
Current Status:
Two houses were built after the town’s prosperity ended. The house just north of the train tracks was built by the owner of the old sawmill and was lived in until the 1980s. The house south of the train tracks was built from wood reclaimed from the old train depot and was later moved to its current location. The floor beams supporting the house were former ceiling beams from an old school in the community of Heucks Retreat, located west of Woolworth.
Remarks:
Uniontown, MS
County:
Jefferson
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
31°45′31″N 91°10′22″W / 31.75861°N 91.17278°W / 31.75861 -91.17278
Elevation:
187 ft (57 m)
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Uniontown is a ghost town in Jefferson County, Mississippi, United States. Uniontown was located south of Coles Creek, approximately 22 mi (35 km) northeast of Natchez. William Ferguson, an early settler, acquired land in the area in the late 18th century and established Uniontown.
Remains:
Established along the Natchez Trace (also called the “Old Natchez Road”) in the late 18th century, the settlement is now extinct, though “the main street is still visible running parallel to the trace”.
Current Status:
Factors contributing the Uniontown’s decline include not being selected as the county seat and the death of William Ferguson in 1801. By 1810, a traveler noted that “Uniontown is a small village of three or four houses in decay”.
Remarks:
Uniontown was platted into streets, and a cotton gin manufacturer established there about 1797. Other businesses included a tannery, public gin, wagon and plow maker, weaver, cabinet maker, boot maker, bull-whip maker, and coonskin cap maker. The Bethel Presbyterian Church was established in Uniontown in 1804.
Victoria, MS
County:
Bolivar
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
33°55′42″N 91°00′02″W / 33.92833°N 91.00056°W / 33.92833
Elevation:
Time Zone:
Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments:
Victoria is a ghost town in Bolivar County, Mississippi, United States. Victoria was a historic port on the Mississippi River, located south of Lake Concordia, approximately 3.8 mi (6.1 km) west of Gunnison.
Remains:
A bend in the Mississippi River at the location of the settlement was named “Victoria Bend”, and continues to be called that. Nothing remains of the settlement, as “changes in the river’s course doomed the village to extinction”.
Current Status:
Victoria had mail delivery from 1840 to 1871. A mail route described in official documents in 1841 included—from south to north—the Mississippi River ports of Vicksburg, Nine Mile Reach, Princeton, Egg Point (west of present-day Avon), Bachelor’s Bend (south of Greenville), Bolivar, Victoria, Port Royal, Delta, Commerce, and Memphis. A mail route from Victoria east to Locopolis (now a ghost town west of Cowart) was also documented.
Remarks:
The settlement had a tavern in 1840.
Yale, MS
County: Itawamba
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 34°19′00″N 88°13′45″W / 34.31667°N 88.22917°W / 34.31667
Elevation: 538 ft (164 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments: Yale is a ghost town in Itawamba County, Mississippi, United States. Yale was located five miles north of Tremont and one mile west of State Highway 23N.
Remains: A private academy, the Oakland Normal Institute, was located at Yale and provided a classical education in art and Latin, as well as education and business courses. The school was established in 1887, and remained open until 1904, when it became a county school.
Current Status: The population was 21 in 1900.
Remarks:
