Mississippi is no stranger to the bizarre, so it’s understandable that we have quite a few options to discuss when we talk about the strange and unusual. Today, though, we’re going to discuss a haunting reminder of a time long past. Read on for more information on the ghost town of Rodney:
Rodney used to be a city located in Jefferson County, Mississippi. Today the Rodney Center Historic District sits on the National Register of Historic Places.
These are the remains of the Old Rodney Hotel.
There are still a few inhabitants in the area, but the town is no longer recognized as an entity by the census, so we’re not actually sure how many people still live there.
Common knowledge seems to indicate a population somewhere between "a handful" and a basketball team.
The 1850s were really Rodney’s heyday. It was an important port town on the Mississippi River. The Zion Baptist Church was added in this era.
Here it stands, though it's not quite what it used to be.
The main attraction in Rodney is the part where no one lives—the part where nature is creeping in to take down the structures built by the long-dead people of Rodney.
How did Rodney become a ghost town? In 1870, nature closed down the town of Rodney. An enormous sand bar formed and moved the course of the Mississippi River west by two miles, destroying Rodney’s port. Industry drifted away from Rodney, and so did the people. They left in hope of better prospects.
The Old Rodney Presbyterian Church, which was dedicated in 1832, makes for a striking sight against the green all around. It holds a cannonball above its middle window, an authentic period cannonball placed in the hole made during a battle that took place there.
The Windsor Ruins present a striking, if somewhat imposing and—let’s face it—terrifying presence. The columns of the antebellum mansion still stand tall, even if the rest burned and rotted away.
In 1930 the governor of Mississippi declared that Rodney was no longer a town, leaving the buildings of Rodney to be be reclaimed by nature and providing us with one of the weirdest places to explore here in our home state.
Have you visited the ghost town of Rodney? We’d love to hear about your experiences in the comment section! Did you have another bizarre place in mind when you read this article title? You can tell us about it on our nomination page.
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