The Old Augusta Historic Site contains the remnants of Augusta, Mississippi, a town that was founded along the Leaf River in 1812 and abandoned between 1902 and 1906. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and was designated a

Mississippi Landmark The following is a list of Mississippi Landmarks officially nominated by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and approved by each county's chancery clerk. The Mississippi Landmark designation is the highest form of recognition bestow ...

in 1999.

History

From 1818 until 1906, the town of Augusta served as the county seat for Perry County, Mississippi. It was considered a major commercial and administrative center because a General Land Office was located there. In October and November 1833, the first public sale of

Choctaw The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are ...

cession lands occurred in Augusta,

Clinton Clinton is an English toponymic surname, indicating one's ancestors came from English places called Glympton or Glinton.Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. ''A Dictionary of Surnames''. Oxford University Press, 1988 Clinton has frequently been used as a given ...

, and Chocchuma. In the 1850s, Augusta was the site for the trial and hanging of the outlaw James Copeland. In the 1890s, Davis Hawthorne was hanged in Augusta for the murder of his wife. When the Mobile, Jackson, and Kansas City RailroadMississippi Rails
Retrieved 2014-11-15 was constructed south of Augusta, the town was moved to the railroad and developed as

New Augusta New Augusta is a town in Perry County, Mississippi. It is part of the Hattiesburg, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 644 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Perry County. New Augusta is located about two miles ...

. In 1983,

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constructed the Old Augusta Railroad to haul products from the Leaf River Cellulose mill that was built adjacent to the site of Old Augusta.

Historic Site

When the site was evaluated for the National Register of Historic Places during the 1970s, it was determined that the town had been divided into three spatial units—a government district, a business district, and a residential district. But there was little more than brick and concrete rubble where buildings had once stood, and the area had reverted to woodland.

References

{{authority control Former populated places in Mississippi Mississippi Landmarks National Register of Historic Places in Perry County, Mississippi Populated places on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi Former county seats in Mississippi