Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Rocky Springs on the Natchez Trace

This church building is all that remains of the town of Rocky Springs -- a once thriving rural community.  First settled in the late 1790s, the town grew from a watering place along the Natchez Trace and took its name from the source of its water, the Rocky Spring.  In 1860 a total of 2,616 people lived in the area covering about 25 square miles.  The population of the town proper included three merchants, four physicians, four teachers, three clergy and thirteen artisans; while the surrounding farming community included 54 planters, 28 overseers and over 2,000 slaves who nurtured the corp that made the town possible -- cotton.

Poor land management, erosion, and disease led to the town's demise.   Although the church continued to have an active congregation in more recent years, it finally ceased to exist as a congregation in 2010 and the building is now being maintained by a local organization. the friends of Rocky Springs.