Old Town, Calhoun County, Mississippi

Old Town (originally Hartford) is a ghost town in Calhoun County, Mississippi, United States.

For Old Town in Lee County, see Old Town (Mississippi).
Old Town, Mississippi
Ghost town
Location of Old Town, Mississippi
CountryUnited States
StateMississippi
CountyCalhoun
Elevation
266 ft (81 m)
Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
GNIS feature ID683376

Old Town was located along the Skuna River, and was the first county seat of Calhoun County.[1]

History

Chocchuma and Chickasaw Indians first occupied the territory and had a village at Old Town. After the Indian removals in the 1830s, white settlers arrived and the village grew.

A letter from Chickasaw County legislator J.A. Orr described the "aspiring little city" as the "head of navigation on the Loosa Scoona river from which many keel boat bore hundreds of bales of cotton to New Orleans."[2]

Some of the first settlers were the Enochs, Murphrees, Swoffords, Reagans, and Maxeys.

The Enochs owned a boat company, and keel boats and flat boats carried cotton from Old Town down the Skuna River to Greenwood and as far as New Orleans. There was a post office, a store, and a pottery which made plates, bowls, and churns. The first church was at "The Old Burnt Meetin’ House Place"; it burned down in 1845. Old Town also had a camp ground and a Methodist church.

Calhoun County was organized in 1852, and the first courts and meetings of the Board were held at Old Town. That same year, the first meeting of the Board of Supervisors was held in the Methodist Church, and it was decided to move the county seat to Pittsboro. The town gradually declined following that.[3][4]

The Old Town Church and Old Town Cemetery remain, and there are homes and farms along nearby roads.

A post office operated under the name Hartford from 1852 to 1854 and under the name Oldtown from 1896 to 1912.[5]

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References
  1. Sandy, Milton (2012). "Calhoun County: Mississippi & Skuna Valley Railroad". Mississippi Association of Drainage District Authorities.
  2. McNeece, Joel (August 17, 2011). "Courthouse Demolition Bittersweet for Many in Calhoun County". Calhoun County Journal.
  3. "A Bit of History About the First Calhoun Village: Oldtown". Rootsweb. Nov 25, 1920.
  4. Young, Monette Morgan (2000). The Cherry-Hill - Poplar Springs - Reid Community in Calhoun County, Mississippi. James M. Young.
  5. "Calhoun County". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved 6 May 2020.

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