Jefferson County, Mississippi

Jefferson County, Mississippi
Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi; its western border is formed by the Mississippi River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,260, making it the fourth-least populous county in Mississippi. Its county seat is Fayette. The county is named for U.S. President Thomas Jefferson.
Originally developed as cotton plantations in the antebellum era, the rural county has struggled with a declining economy and reduced population since the mechanization of agriculture and urbanization of other areas. In 2020, its population of 7,260 was roughly one-third of the population peak in 1900. Within the United States, in 2009 rural Jefferson County had the highest percentage of African-Americans of any county. It was the fourth-poorest county in the nation.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.4%) is water.
Major highways
U.S. Highway 61
Mississippi Highway 28
Mississippi Highway 33
Adjacent counties
Claiborne County (north)
Copiah County (northeast)
Lincoln County (southeast)
Franklin County (south)
Adams County (southwest)
Tensas Parish, Louisiana (west)
National protected areas
Homochitto National Forest (part)
Natchez Trace Parkway (part)
Demographics
As of the 2020 United States Census, there were 7,260 people, 2,448 households, and 1,488 families residing in the county.
Education
Jefferson County School District operates public schools in all of the county.
Communities
City
Fayette (county seat)
Unincorporated communities
Cannonsburg
Church Hill
Coon Box
Harriston
Lorman
McBride
Red Lick
Union Church
Ghost towns or defunct
Ashland (or Ashland Landing)
Gum Ridge
Old Greenville
Rodney
Uniontown
Politics
Jefferson County is overwhelmingly Democratic, and has supported Democratic candidates in presidential elections with at least 80% of the vote since Bill Clinton in 1992, who won 79%. Republicans have not garnered even 25% of the vote in presidential elections since 1972 (when Jefferson was one of only three counties in Mississippi to vote for George McGovern).
The last Republican to win the county was Barry Goldwater. Although Goldwater lost nationally in a landslide, he carried the state of Mississippi (and also Jefferson County) in a landslide, winning over 87% of the vote and carrying every county. Jefferson County supported him with 95% of the vote. Goldwater's lopsided victory was the result of Mississippi's decades-long suppression of the voting rights of African Americans, which only began to be reversed with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Notable people
Abijah Hunt, merchant who lived in Old Greenville during the Territorial Period, and owned a chain of stores and public cotton gins along the Natchez Trace
David Hunt, Antebellum planter who lived on Woodlawn Plantation in Jefferson County, and became one of 12 planter millionaires in the Natchez District before the American Civil War.
Zachary Taylor, U.S. president, planter, and soldier who often stayed on his plantation, Cypress Grove in Jefferson County, between 1840 and 1848.
See also
Cypress Grove Plantation
National Register of Historic Places listings in Jefferson County, Mississippi
Prospect Hill Plantation
Springfield Plantation (Fayette, Mississippi)
Woodland Plantation (Church Hill, Mississippi)
Wyolah Plantation
References
External links
Mississippi counties
Populated places established in 1799
Mississippi counties on the Mississippi River
1799 establishments in Mississippi Territory
Black Belt (U.S. region)
Majority-minority counties in Mississippi