unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
in
Bolivar County
Bolivar County ( ) is a County (United States), county located on the western border of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 30,985. Its county seats are Rosedale, Mississippi, Roseda ...
,
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
, United States.
History
The Dahomey Plantation was founded in 1833 by F.G. Ellis, who named it after
Dahomey
The Kingdom of Dahomey () was a West African kingdom located within present-day Benin that existed from approximately 1600 until 1904. Dahomey developed on the Abomey Plateau amongst the Fon people in the early 17th century and became a region ...
, the homeland of his slaves. The plantation became the largest cotton plantation in the world.
The settlement of Dahomy was likely established when the
Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railway
The Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railway was built between 1888 and 1890 and was admitted to the Illinois Central Railroad system in 1892. It ran between Memphis, Tennessee, and New Orleans, Louisiana, through Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Baton ...
was completed through the plantation in the 1880s.
A post office was established prior to 1907 and closed in 1937.
In 1991, of the original Dahomey Plantation was used to established the
Dahomey National Wildlife Refuge
Dahomey National Wildlife Refuge is located southwest of Cleveland, Mississippi, and east of the settlement of Dahomy. It was established in 1990 when the Nature Conservancy (TNC) purchased and leased the land back to the United States Fish an ...