Rodney, Mississippi
Ghost town in Mississippi, United States / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Rodney, Mississippi?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
Rodney is a ghost town in Jefferson County, Mississippi, United States.[1] Most of the buildings are gone, and the remaining structures are in various states of disrepair. The town floods regularly, and some of the buildings have extensive flood damage. The Rodney History And Preservation Society is restoring Rodney Presbyterian Church. Damage to the church's facade from the American Civil War has been maintained as part of the historical preservation including a replica cannonball embedded above the balcony windows. The Rodney Center Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[2]
Rodney, Mississippi | |
---|---|
Nickname(s): "Petite Gulf", "Little Gulf"[1] | |
Coordinates: 31°51′40.6″N 91°11′59.4″W | |
Country | United States |
State | Mississippi |
County | Jefferson |
Founded | 1828 |
Elevation | 82 ft (25 m) |
Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
GNIS feature ID | 676809[1] |
The town is approximately 32 miles (51 km) northeast of Natchez. It is currently about two miles inland from the Mississippi River. Between the town and the Mississippi are wetlands, including a lake that roughly follows the former course of the river. Atop the loess bluffs behind Rodney are its cemetery and Confederate earthworks from the Civil War.
In 1817, it was three votes away from becoming the capital of Mississippi.[3] In the 1800s, a hybrid strain of cotton and innovations to the cotton gin were developed in Rodney by Rush Nutt. Rodney was incorporated in 1828, and became a major port for shipping cotton with a population in the thousands. By 1860, it had a variety of businesses including multiple major newspapers and Mississippi's first opera house. During the Civil War, Confederate States Army cavalry captured the crew of a Union Army ship who were attending service in Rodney Presbyterian Church, resulting in the shelling of the city. After the war, the Mississippi River changed course, the railroad bypassed the area, and nearly all buildings burned down. The population declined until the town was disincorporated in 1930.[4] In 2010, only "a hand full of people" were reported to live in Rodney.[5]