Brewton, Mississippi is a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

Jackson County, Mississippi Jackson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 139,668, making it the fifth-most populous county in Mississippi. Its county seat is Pascagoula. The county was named for Andrew Jac ...

, United States.

History

In the early 19th century, settlers were attracted to Brewer’s Bluff (Brewton) in Jackson County because of its high elevation, just west of the

Pascagoula River The Pascagoula River is a river, about 80 miles (130 km) long, in southeastern Mississippi in the United States. The river drains an area of about 8,800 square miles (23,000 km²) and flows into Mississippi Sound of the Gulf of Mexic ...

.Communities of Jackson County—Brewton
Retrieved 2013-07-25 The name was derived from a Brewer family that obtained the property through a Spanish land grant. In 1816, Brewer’s Bluff was selected as the county seat of Jackson County, with construction of a courthouse and jail around 1820. By 1826, Brewer’s Bluff had not met expectations because of its remote location, and the county seat was moved east of the Pascagoula River. Over the years, Brewer’s Bluff passed through several owners and became known as Rice’s Bluff, where a turpentine still operated just before the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. In the late 19th century, Brewton prospered as a sawmill town, where trees were harvested from the virgin pine forests and processed into lumber. Besides the sawmill, Brewton had houses, a church, a school, a hotel, and a post office. Owners of the sawmill selected the name Klondike in hopes of improving their fortune, but the name did not stick. Ownership of the sawmill changed several times, but bad luck plagued the mill and it burned twice. Once the virgin timber was gone, residents of Brewton had no reason to stay. Early in the 20th century, the L.N. Dantzler Lumber Company acquired the property. It abandoned the other structures, which had been part of Brewton, and they collapsed from disrepair. The name was changed once again and the area became known as White’s Camp.

References

Former populated places in Jackson County, Mississippi Former populated places in Mississippi {{Mississippi-stub