Old Greenville, Mississippi Ghost Town: History, Map and Directions

Overview

The county seat that lost its courthouse

**Greenville in Jefferson County, north of Union Town, on John Melish's map of Mississippi, 1819** · Photo: John Melish, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Greenville stood on the old Natchez Trace in western Jefferson County, about 28 miles northeast of Natchez by Wikipedia's count; the 1902 account puts it halfway between Natchez and Port Gibson, 24 miles from each. It was already a going concern when the United States took over the territory in 1798, and it went by several names, among them Pinckneyville, Orchardsville and Huntley, before an act of 1805 settled on Greenville, for General Nathanael Greene. When Pickering County, later Jefferson, was organized, Greenville became its seat. Wikipedia calls it the largest town on the Trace.

It was a lively place for a while. The territory's leading men lived here or nearby, including Governors David Holmes and Cowles Mead and General Thomas Hinds. Two outlaws who brought in their leader's head for the reward were recognized and hanged here (Wikipedia calls the leader Samuel Mason; the 1902 account names the gang differently), and the merchant Abijah Hunt was killed in a duel in 1811. A traveler in 1808 counted about forty houses, many of them empty, along with a church, a courthouse, two stores, two taverns, a prison and a pillory.

In 1825 the legislature moved to pick a new seat. The night before the vote, by the 1902 account, a mob that wanted a more central site wrecked the frame courthouse; a 1964 history held by the state archives says the courthouse was burned. The seat went to Fayette, about eight miles east, and Greenville emptied. By 1835 its street was lined with decaying houses, and the town was left off a county map of 1839. Today, Wikipedia says, only the cemetery remains.

Timeline

What we know

Before 1798A settlement is already thriving on the Natchez Trace when the United States takes over the territory, by the 1902 account in the Mississippi Historical Society's Publications.
1802Greenville becomes the seat of Pickering County, later renamed Jefferson. Wikipedia dates the start to 1802; the 1902 account says it was the county's first seat of justice.
1803The post office opens, by Wikipedia's account. The outlaw Samuel Mason, captured that year, is shot trying to escape. Two men who bring his head to Greenville for the reward are recognized and hanged there: Wikipedia names them as his gang members Peter Alston and Wiley Harpe, the 1902 account as May and Sutton of the "Murrill gang."
Feb 21, 1805An act of the General Assembly fixes the name Greenville, for General Nathanael Greene. Earlier names in the sources include Pinckneyville, Orchardsville, Huntley and Greenbay.
1808The English writer Fortescue Cuming counts about forty houses, many empty, with a church, courthouse, two stores, two taverns, a drug store, a prison and a pillory.
1811The merchant Abijah Hunt, who built the county's first cotton gin, dies in a duel with George Poindexter.
1819The town is incorporated. The 1902 account says it had 300 or more people at one time.
1825An act of February 1 provides for a new county seat. The night before the vote, by the 1902 account, a mob wrecks the frame courthouse. The seat goes to Fayette.
1834–1835The post office closes in 1834, and by 1835 the main street is lined with run-down houses, by Wikipedia's account.
About 1890sThe Cable Hotel, the last building, burns. Wikipedia says about 1890; the 1902 account says about five years before it was written.
1902A blackened chimney stands in a cultivated field.
1970sA cistern survives at a former homesite, by Wikipedia's account.

Legend and record

A wedding near Greenville

Wikipedia reports, as an allegation, that Andrew Jackson married Rachel in 1791 at the home of Thomas Green, near the later town. That is years before Greenville had its name, and we found no other source for the story here. Treat it as a local tradition.

Site map

Where the town stood

**Old Greenville between Port Gibson and Natchez on a 1921 map of the territory's western counties** · Photo: Dunbar Rowland, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

The GNIS point for Old Greenville sits on MS 553 about 5.8 road miles west of Fayette, near Mud Island Creek. Wikipedia puts the town on Coles Creek, and the 1953 USGS sheet in the historic maps below shows Mud Island Creek flowing northwest toward Coles Creek, so the two fit loosely, but none of our sources gives an exact spot. The 1953 sheet labels the place Humble Community, beside an oil and gas field. The 1988 sheet shows only scattered houses, two small cemeteries (one of them Bell Grove Cemetery) and Taylor Chapel along the highway here. We couldn't tell which, if any, is the Greenville cemetery.

Town cemetery (location not confirmed)
Historical marker on MS 553
A cistern, reported into the 1970s

USGS topographic map around the Old Greenville point: MS 553 crossing west to east, Maple Ald Road heading north, small ponds and Mud Island Creek to the east — **USGS The National Map, topo.** MS 553 crosses the frame, with Maple Ald Road running north, two ponds and Mud Island Creek winding in from the northeast.

Aerial view of the same area: pasture and woods, a highway across the middle with a few houses, and a dark pond at lower left — **Aerial imagery, same area.** Pasture and woods along the highway, a few houses near the junction and a pond at lower left.

Historic maps

Old Greenville on USGS maps, 1953–1991

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Old Greenville, 1953 — **Natchez sheet, 1953, 1:250,000** · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Fayette, the town that took Greenville's county seat, is ten minutes away. From Jackson, take I-20 west and US 61 south, then turn west on MS 553 near Fayette. The routes end on MS 553 at the GNIS point, which is approximate; the route puts it 5.0 miles west of US 61, where Wikipedia puts the marker about six. They were computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us.

USGS topographic map between Fayette and the Old Greenville point on MS 553, with the route drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From downtown Fayette5.8 miabout 10 min

From Gilchrist Street, turn right on Poindexter Street, then left on Main Street.0.2 mi
Turn right on Rodney Street (MS 553). It becomes Rodney Road; follow it west to the site.5.6 mi

Google Maps directions Apple Maps OpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

MS 553 is a state highway, but we haven't driven it. The map point is approximate, so look for the historical marker.
We found no source on ownership or cemetery access. Stay on the road shoulder unless you have the landowner's permission.

Photos

Old maps

Visitor reports

Been to Old Greenville?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

Nearby

Other sites near Old Greenville

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Mississippi index.

Uniontown2.1 mi NW · Jefferson
Rodney8.7 mi NW · Jefferson
Bruinsburg13.6 mi N · Claiborne
Grand Gulf20.5 mi N · Claiborne
Rocky Springs30.4 mi NE · Claiborne
Coars Springs51.4 mi E · Copiah
Woolworth51.5 mi E · Lincoln
Holmesville61.7 mi SE · Pike

Sources

Sources and credits

Wikipedia, "Old Greenville, Mississippi", retrieved October 2026: only the cemetery left (in the article since its first version of October 18, 2021, citing a May 2015 Concordia Sentinel article we couldn't open), county seat 1802–1825, the names, the 1805 renaming, Cuming's 1808 visit, Mason's men, the Hunt–Poindexter duel, residents, the Jackson story, the 1825 act, decline by 1835, the 1839 map, the Cable Hotel, the cistern, post office 1803–1834, the marker on MS 553, coordinates (GNIS).
"Extinct towns" of Jefferson County, from Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, vol. V (1902), as transcribed by the American History and Genealogy Project: the largest town on the road, 24 miles from Natchez and Port Gibson, a town before 1798, its names, the 1805 act, first seat of justice, 1819 incorporation, 300 or more people, May and Sutton, the poplar courthouse and the mob, Fayette eight miles east, the Cable Hotel and the chimney.
Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jane Hyde West Stewart manuscripts (Z 2235.000), finding aid: her October 1964 typescript history of Old Greenville and its account of the courthouse burned by a mob in 1825.
MSGenWeb, "About Jefferson County, Mississippi", undated: the county seat at Greenville until 1825, "nothing of Greenville today."
John Melish, map of Mississippi, 1819, and Dunbar Rowland's map in Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society (1921), via Wikimedia Commons (in the photos).
USGS Natchez sheets, 1953 and 1991, and Church Hill sheet, 1988 (in the historic maps below): Mud Island Creek, Coles Creek, the highway, cemeteries and Taylor Chapel.
Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

Greenville on John Melish's map of Mississippi, 1819: John Melish, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Old Greenville on a 1921 map of the territory: Dunbar Rowland, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Natchez 1953, 1:250,000; Church Hill 1988, 1:24,000; Natchez 1991, 1:100,000.