Old Greenville, Mississippi

This article is about the ghost town in Jefferson County, Mississippi. For the city in Washington County, Mississippi, see Greenville, Mississippi.

Old Greenville, Mississippi
Ghost town
1823 map of Jefferson County, Mississippi (David Rumsey Map Collection 5388.022)
1823 map of Jefferson County, Mississippi (David Rumsey Map Collection 5388.022)
Old Greenville is located in Mississippi
Old Greenville
Old Greenville
Old Greenville is located in the United States
Old Greenville
Old Greenville
Coordinates: 31°44′47″N 91°08′24″W / 31.74639°N 91.14000°W / 31.74639; -91.14000
CountryUnited States
StateMississippi
CountyJefferson
Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
GNIS feature ID1782013[1]

Old Greenville is a ghost town in Jefferson County, Mississippi, United States. The town was located along the old Natchez Trace and was once the largest town along the Trace. Nothing exists at the site today except the town's cemetery.[2]

History

Old Greenville was located on Coles Creek, approximately 28 mi (45 km) northeast of Natchez. The area around Old Greenville was settled prior to 1798 and was originally known as Greenbay in honor of a local landowner, Henry Green.[citation needed] The name was legally changed to Greenville in 1805.[3] It was also known as Huntley or Huntston,[4] in honor of Abijah Hunt, who operated a store and the first cotton gin in Jefferson County in the area. The landmarks of the town in early days were "Cable's Tavern and Hunt's store."[3] According to one history, "Abijah Hunt was the pioneer of the Hunt family. The upper part of old Greenville was called Huntley, after him. He was a merchant there and erected the first gin in the county, to which all the surrounding planters resorted with their cotton. He fell in a duel with George Poindexter in 1811, and as he was a bachelor, his nephew, David Hunt, inherited his stores and gin and subsequently amassed a large fortune."[5] In 1803, multiple landowners (including Ferdinand Claiborne), donated land that became part of the town of Greenville, named in honor of General Nathanael Greene.[citation needed]

Old Greenville became the county seat of Jefferson County and remained the county seat until it was moved to Fayette in 1825.[6] According to one account "The general assembly of Mississippi passed an act on the first day of February, 1825, authorizing the selection of a location for the seat of justice for Jefferson county. A place to be called Fayette, in honor of Gen. Lafayette, who was then the guest of the United States, was chosen. Greenville had been a favorite in this election, but the night before it took place a mob wrecked the court house."[7]

Andrew Jackson allegedly married Rachel Jackson in 1791 at the home of Thomas Green near Old Greenville.[8]

After being captured in 1803, the highwayman Samuel Mason was shot while trying to escape. Two of his gang members, Peter Alston and Wiley Harpe, attempted to bring his head in to claim the bounty that Governor William C. C. Claiborne had placed on Mason. Alston and Harpe were recognized, captured, and hung in Old Greenville.[8]

Old Greenville was at one point home to a large number of men who would hold important roles in the future state of Mississippi. David Hunt and George Poindexter both owned plantations near Old Greenville.[6][9] According to a 1904 history of Old Greenville, "Courts were held on the fourth Mondays of April and October of each year. It grew to be a town of several hundred inhabitants, was the center of the intelligence and wealth of the county at that time. Gov. David Holmes lived on his plantation on Coles Creek, about two miles west, and Governor Cowles Mead on Chubby's Fork [of Bayou Pierre], four miles north. Cato West, Territorial Secretary, and at one time acting Governor, lived, died and was buried on his plantation, Sunshine, on Coles Creek."[3] Joseph Emory Davis, older brother of Jefferson Davis, practiced law in Old Greenville and Natchez. While his elder brother lived in Old Greenville, Jefferson Davis spent summers on his plantation.[10] General Thomas Hinds spent a large part of his life in Old Greenville, where he "owned a farm Home Hill, one mile and a half south of Greenville on the Stampley town road, where he was quietly leading the life of a farmer" until the Creek War broke out.[3] He died there in 1840.[8] Other notable residents included John M. Whitney, Dr. John H. Duncan, Robert Cox and Frank A. Montgomery.[3]

The English travel writer Fortescue Cuming, visited Old Greenville in 1808 and wrote that the community consisted of forty houses (many unoccupied), a small church, courthouse, two stores, two taverns, drug store, a prison, and a pillory.[11]

A post office operated under the name Greenville from 1803 to 1834.[12]

There was a racetrack near what is now East Fayette on land that had been owned at one time by the Platner family.[3]

Decline

Greenville did not warrant inclusion on a map of Jefferson County, Mississippi printed in 1839

After the county seat was moved, Old Greenville rapidly declined.[13] By 1835, the main street was bordered by dilapidated houses and the town was practically abandoned.[2] In 1849 a local historian commented that Greenville "was the seat of justice, and was the head quarters of the first lawyers and physicians, of the State—men who subsequently distinguished themselves at the bar, in the halls of Congress and in the Senate of the United States. It was a beautiful village, and continued to be a place of some note, until the courthouse was removed to Fayette, in 1825. It then sunk to rise no more, and is now so wholly deserted that the traveler often pauses at McCullum's blacksmith shop to enquire the distance to Greenville."[14]

The last remaining building in Old Greenville was "the ancient Cable Hotel," which burned down around 1890.[6][7]

A historical marker describing the community is located on Mississippi Highway 553 six miles west of U.S. Route 61.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Old Greenville (historical)
  2. ^ a b "The rise & fall of old Greenville". Concordia Sentinel. May 20, 2015. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Jones, E. R. (1904). "News & Newspapers of Jefferson County, Mississippi". www.msgw.org. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  4. ^ Map of the State of Louisiana With Part Of The Mississippi Territory, from Actual Survey By Wm. Darby. Entered ... 8th day of April 1816 (Map).
  5. ^ "JEFFERSON COUNTY, CHAPTER XLVI, pages 749–753, Mississippi The Heart of the South - By Dunbar Rowland, LL.D - Director of the Mississippi State Department of Archives and History. Vol. II Illustrated. Chicago-Jackson; The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1925". msgw.org. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c Rowland, Dunbar (1907). Mississippi: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form. Vol. 1. Southern Historical Publishing Association. pp. 802–3.
  7. ^ a b "Lost Villages of Mississippi". Jackson Daily News. August 5, 1906. p. 15. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  8. ^ a b c Rowland, Dunbar (1921). Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, Volume IV. Jackson, Mississippi: Mississippi Historical Society. pp. 14–16.
  9. ^ a b "Old Greenville". Mississippi Markers. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
  10. ^ Everett, Frank Edgar (1971). Brierfield: Plantation Home of Jefferson Davis. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi. pp. 7–8. ISBN 9781604733754.
  11. ^ Cuming, Fortescue (1810). Cuming's Tour to the Western Country. Applewood. p. 316. ISBN 9781429000406.
  12. ^ "Jefferson County". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved October 17, 2021.
  13. ^ Rowland, Dunbar (1912). The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi. Jackson, Mississippi: State of Mississippi. p. 264.
  14. ^ "Mississippi Sketches". The Port Gibson Herald, and Correspondent. December 21, 1849. p. 1. Retrieved December 16, 2024.

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