Nashville, Mississippi

Last updated
Nashville, Mississippi
USA Mississippi location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Nashville
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Nashville
Coordinates: 33°19′35″N88°19′25″W / 33.32639°N 88.32361°W / 33.32639; -88.32361 Coordinates: 33°19′35″N88°19′25″W / 33.32639°N 88.32361°W / 33.32639; -88.32361
Country United States
State Mississippi
County Lowndes
Elevation
151 ft (46 m)
Time zone UTC-6 (Central (CST))
  Summer (DST) UTC-5 (CDT)
GNIS feature ID687875 [1]

Nashville is a ghost town in Lowndes County, Mississippi, United States.

Contents

Located 1.4 mi (2.3 km) west of the Alabama state line, on the east bank of the Tombigbee River, Nashville was once an important shipping port and river crossing location. [2]

History

The site was settled by Daniel Young, a blacksmith, in 1824, and the place became known as "Young's Bluff". [3]

In 1833, a road was constructed west from Young's Bluff to intersect the Robinson Road (which connected the cities of Columbus, Jackson, and Natchez, and is the second oldest road in Mississippi [4] ), and another was constructed east into Alabama. Road traffic passed through the community and then crossed the river on a ferry owned by Young. [3]

Another early settler, Nimrod N. Nash, opened a store there, and then purchased Young's property in 1834. He renamed the town "Nashville", and sold lots to settlers.

In addition to the successful ferry service, Nashville's stores supplied local farmers with goods, it had a post office established in 1837, and its port had facilities to store cotton until steamboats arrived in the late autumn-early winter, when water level would rise. [3] Despite this, Nashville never experienced significant growth, and the town did not incorporate. It never had more than two stores, and in census of 1840, the population was about 55 whites, and an undetermined number of slaves. [3]

Decline

A river flood devastated the low-lying town in 1847, and by 1850, there was one store left. The post office closed in 1852, and the Nashville voting precinct ended the following year. Many of the homes were soon abandoned. [3]

Nashville continued to serve as a minor shipping port until the Civil War, and the Nashville Ferry continued to operate until between 1967 and 1973. [3]

The river at this site is now part of the Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway, and numerous cottages line the east bank. A private boat launch known as "Nashville Ferry" is located there, and roads leading to the waterway on both shores are named "Nashville Ferry Road". [5]

Related Research Articles

Demopolis, Alabama City in Alabama, United States

Demopolis is the largest city in Marengo County, Alabama, in west central Alabama. The population was 7,483 at the time of the 2010 United States Census.

Epes, Alabama Town in Alabama, United States

Epes is a town in Sumter County, Alabama, United States. Initially called Epes Station, it was incorporated as Epes in 1899. At the 2010 census the population was 192, down from 206 in 2000.

Columbus, Mississippi City in Mississippi, United States

Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County, on the eastern border of Mississippi, United States, located primarily east, but also north and northeast of the Tombigbee River, which is also part of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. It is approximately 146 miles (235 km) northeast of Jackson, 92 miles (148 km) north of Meridian, 63 miles (101 km) south of Tupelo, 60 miles (97 km) northwest of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and 120 miles (193 km) west of Birmingham, Alabama.

Aberdeen, Mississippi City in Mississippi, United States

Aberdeen is the county seat of Monroe County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,612.

Tombigbee River

The Tombigbee River is a tributary of the Mobile River, approximately 200 mi (325 km) long, in the U.S. states of Mississippi and Alabama. Together with the Alabama, it merges to form the short Mobile River before the latter empties into Mobile Bay on the Gulf of Mexico. The Tombigbee watershed encompasses much of the rural coastal plain of western Alabama and northeastern Mississippi, flowing generally southward. The river provides one of the principal routes of commercial navigation in the southern United States, as it is navigable along much of its length through locks and connected in its upper reaches to the Tennessee River via the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.

Black Warrior River River in Alabama, United States

The Black Warrior River is a waterway in west-central Alabama in the southeastern United States. The river rises in the extreme southern edges of the Appalachian Highlands and flows 178 miles (286 km) to the Tombigbee River, of which the Black Warrior is the primary tributary. The river is named after the Mississippian paramount chief Tuskaloosa, whose name was Muskogean for 'Black Warrior'. The Black Warrior is impounded along nearly its entire course by a series of locks and dams to form a chain of reservoirs that not only provide a path for an inland waterway, but also yield hydroelectric power, drinking water, and industrial water.

Cotton Gin Port, Mississippi United States historic place

Cotton Gin Port is a ghost town in Monroe County, Mississippi, United States.

Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway Links two major river systems in the United States

The Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway is a 234-mile (377 km) man-made U.S. waterway built in the 20th century from the Tennessee River to the junction of the Black Warrior-Tombigbee River system near Demopolis, Alabama. The Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway links commercial navigation from the nation's midsection to the Gulf of Mexico. The major features of the waterway are 234 miles (377 km) of navigation channels, a 175-foot-deep (53 m) cut between the watersheds of the Tombigbee and Tennessee rivers, and ten locks and dams. The locks are 9 by 110 by 600 feet, the same dimension as those on the Mississippi above Lock and Dam 26 at Alton, Illinois. Under construction for 12 years by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway was completed in December 1984 at a total cost of nearly $2 billion.

The Gaines Trace was a road in the Mississippi Territory. It was constructed in 1811 and 1812 from the Tennessee River to Cotton Gin Port on the upper Tombigbee River and on to Fort Stoddert on the lower Tombigbee. The portion from the Tennessee River to Cotton Gin Port was surveyed in 1807 and 1808 by Edmund P. Gaines, the road's namesake and a career United States Army officer.

St. Stephens, Alabama CDP in Alabama, United States

St. Stephens is an unincorporated census-designated place in Washington County, Alabama, United States. Its population was 580. Located near the Tombigbee River in the southwestern part of the state and 67 miles north of Mobile, it is composed of two distinct sites: Old St. Stephens and New St. Stephens. The Old St. Stephens site lies directly on the river and is no longer inhabited. It was the territorial capital of the Alabama Territory. Now encompassed by the Old St. Stephens Historical Park, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Plymouth, Mississippi United States historic place

Plymouth was an early settlement in Mississippi in present-day Lowndes County. Plymouth was located at 33°31′23″N88°30′06″W on the west bank of the Tombigbee River. It was formed around 1819, developing around the fortified house of John Pitchlynn, the U.S. interpreter for the Choctaw Agency. The low-lying site of the village was prone to repeated flooding. While both Plymouth and its sister town of Columbus across the river had high bluffs, Plymouth's landing site did not have easy access to the bluff heights. By the 1840s, the village site was abandoned, as most of the residents had moved across the river to the better site of Columbus.

Claiborne, Alabama Place in Alabama, United States

Claiborne is a ghost town on a bluff above the Alabama River in Monroe County, Alabama.

Tombigbee District

The Tombigbee District, also known as the Tombigbee, was one of two areas, the other being the Natchez District, that were the first in what was West Florida to be colonized by British subjects from the Thirteen Colonies and elsewhere. This later became the Mississippi Territory as part of the United States. The district was also the first area to be opened to white settlement in what would become the state of Alabama, outside of the French colonial outpost of Mobile on the Gulf Coast. The Tombigbee and Natchez districts were the only areas populated by whites in the Mississippi Territory when it was formed by the United States in 1798.

Prentiss, Bolivar County, Mississippi Ghost town in Mississippi, United States

Prentiss is a ghost town in Bolivar County, Mississippi, United States.

Van Buren, Mississippi Ghost town in Mississippi, United States

Van Buren is a ghost town located in Itawamba County, Mississippi.

Wheeling, Mississippi Ghost town in Mississippi, United States

Wheeling is a ghost town located in Itawamba County, Mississippi.

Agency, Mississippi Ghost town in Mississippi, United States

Agency is a ghost town located in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States.

Bigbee Valley, Mississippi Unincorporated community in Mississippi, United States

Bigbee Valley is an unincorporated community in Noxubee County, Mississippi, United States. Variant names are "Bigbeevale", "Nances Mill", and "Whitehall".

Moores Bluff, Mississippi Ghost town in Mississippi, United States

Moores Bluff is a ghost town in Lowndes County, Mississippi, United States.

Fort Carney United States historic site in Alabama

Fort Carney was a stockade fort built in 1813 in present-day Clarke County, Alabama during the Creek War.

References

  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Nashville (historical)
  2. Rowland, Dunbar (1907). Mississippi: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form. 2. Southern Historical Publishing Association. pp. 288, 289.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Elliott, Jr., Jack D. "Nashville, Mississippi". Mississippi Genealogy & History Network. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  4. Cole, James S. (2000). Oktibbeha County. Arcadia. p. 111. ISBN   9780738505664.
  5. "Aliceville Lake". Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. Retrieved 13 May 2014.