A Brief History of Woodville
By The Late John South Lewis, Publisher Emeritus, The Woodville
Republican.
Woodville was first settled near
the turn of the Nineteenth century and was incorporated as a town in
1811. A short time later it was chosen as the county seat of
Wilkinson County, which was formed in 1802 in the extreme southwest corner
of Mississippi from an old territory originally know as the county of
Bourbon, and later as Adams County. Interestingly, the 1990 census
figures reveal the the population of the county is virtually the
same as it was 160 years before, in 1830.
The original Natchez Trace may
have had its points of origin at Fort Adams on the Mississippi River near
Woodville when the commander-in-chief of the United States Army, General
James Wilkinson, fro whom the county was named, completed a treaty with
the Choctaw Indians to open a thoroughfare from Fort Adams northeast in
order that supplies and soldiers could safely be moved to the fort located
there. It was at Fort Adams that the scene of "The Man
Without a Country" , by Edward Everett Hale, was located.
The Woodville business district,
like that of so many old southern towns, is built around a square in
the center of which stands the courthouse, the third structure to be
located there. Surrounding this imposing building are many stately
live oak trees. Because of its size and age there stands among these
one tree in the southwest corner that has the distinction of being a
member of the American Society of Live Oaks. It bears the name of
"The Jefferson Davis Oak", and stands as a living memorial to
the first and only president of the Confederacy whose boyhood home was at
Rosemont Plantation located a short distance from Woodville.
Near the southwest corner of the
Court Square is located the old Bank of the State of Mississippi,
organized 173 years ago. The repudiation of the bonds of the
subsequent owner of the building, Planters Bank of the State of
Mississippi, more than 150 years ago, caused international controversy and
litigation in the Supreme Court of the United States. The building,
now owned by the Woodville Civic Club, is being restored for occupancy by
that organization.
Woodvillians are justly proud of
their rich heritage of southern culture and traditions, as well as of the
many old antebellum homes and gardens within its limits and in the
immediate vicinity. it is with pleasure that our people welcome
visitors to the community.
