The Port Gibson reveille. [volume] (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1890-current, 1912-03-21
A BIRDs'-EYE VIEW.
Claiborne and Jefferson Counties
a Century Ago.
tcoDtinued From Last week,l


Proceeding on his horseback
Journey to Natchez and Baton
Rouge, Cunning reached the bor-
ders of Jefferson county where he
says that he passed through "Some
beautiful open woods, beyond
which | crossed, up to my horses
knees, the north fork of Coles
creek, which was now pretty lit
tie transparent sandy bottomed
stream; but after heavy rains it
becomes a frightful and deep tor
rent, sometimes impossible for sev.
eral days. Turning to the left, be-
yond the creek, I rode one mile to
an old deserted field, now an arid
plain, afording very scanty pas
turage of poor grass to few lean
CATTLE"
Mote. The neighborhood de-
Iscribed had been settled a very
short time before, certainly not
over twenty years, and, like all the
land adjoining Coles creek, was
originally very fertile, yet so early
as 1903, this traveller found here a
worn out and abandoned feldl So
ruinous were the methods of culti-
vation from the very first settle
ment of the state, and down to the
present time.
Cunning soon reached the little
village of Greenvilie, then, We be-
lieve, the capital of Jefferson coun-
ty. It soon fell into decay, and
become utterly extinct. Our En-
glishman says:
"Greenville Cor Huntstown, its
old name) is very handsomely sit
uated on dry sandy plain, near
the middle branch of Coles Greek.
1t is surrounded at little distance
by small farms and woods, which
add beauty and vanity to its ap-
pearance. 1t consists of one wide
straight street, nearly half mile
long, intersected by two small
cross ones, containing in all forty
tolerably good houses, many OF
which are now unoccupied and of
fered for sale at little more than a
quarter of their cost. It has a
small church for general use of all
Christian sects, a small school
house, a gaol jail] and pillory,
a postofice, two stores, two tav-
erns, and an apothecary's shop.
The town is watered by wells dug
to about thirty feet"
i He remarked that Greenville was
rather unhealthy, especially in the
fall, and attributed its decay to
this fact, together with the diff
Guilty OF approaching it during
floods in Coles creek which iso
1 lated II after every rain.
] His narrative continues:
1.-TWO miles further after pass
r ing Vests plantation] / passed
e Parker Carradine's delightfully."- sit
q uated plantation, with an excellen
], dwelling house, and good appl'
0 and peach orchards, with the soutl
n branch of Coles creek winding
) round on the right below. Til
if soil, however, is very light, and
6 soon washed off and worn out
y where it has been cultivated a fey
} years, on the whole tract betwee
IF Greenville and Natchez."
!. He reached Natchez Augu:
IS 24th and visited Harmon Blennel
y hassett, who was tnen living in
IS shanty three miles from the tow
t. on a plantation rented from Nj
Forman.
IN ~ was received by Mr.. Blenne
it hassett and his amiable and a
e complished lady with the utmo
be kindness and politeness. I cou
u not help contrasting their preseI
RS temporary residence in a decay'
n cabin with their splendid habit
so ton on the Ohio,-blest, howeve
in- in each other, with kindred sou
ne and similar tastes, possessing
lat noble library and still a sufhcien
we left. after all their losses tor |