Pigeon Roost is a ghost town in Choctaw County, Mississippi. Once home to a Chief of the

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 ...

people, and an important stop along the Old Natchez Road, nothing remains of the former settlement.

History

Pigeon Roost - Natchez Trace Parkway - 2

Pigeon Roost was located along the Old Natchez Road where it crossed the Big Black River. The settlement was named for the millions of passenger pigeons that once roosted there. Nathaniel Folsom of New England moved there in 1790, and opened "Folsom's Stand and Trading Post", within the Choctaw territory. Pigeon Roost became part of the Natchez-Nashville Mail Route in 1821, which passed "from Nashville to Florence, thence to Columbus, from there to Pigeon Roost, thence to Natchez". Nathaniel married a Choctaw woman named Ai-ni-chi-ho-yo ("one to be preferred above others"), who was a direct descendant of a long line of Choctaw chiefs. Their son, David Folsom, assisted with the operation of the trading post, and was notable for his many accomplishments. David Folsom assisted the Americans in the Seminole Wars in Florida, and became a colonel. David also enabled the first wagons to travel from the Tombigbee River in eastern Mississippi, to the navigable waters of the Yazoo River in the

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo ...

, by assisting early missionaries clear a wagon road from Pigeon Roost their mission at Elliott. David became influential within the Choctaw people, and met with Chief

Mushulatubbee Mushulatubbee ( Choctaw ', "Determined to Kill") (born c. 1750–1770, died c. 1838) was the chief of the Choctaw ''Okla Tannap'' ("Lower Towns"), one of the three major Choctaw divisions during the early 19th century. When the Principal Chief Gr ...

at Pigeon Roost in 1822. Noted Christian missionary

Cyrus Byington Cyrus Byington (March 11, 1793 – December 31, 1868) was a Christian missionary from Massachusetts who began working with the Choctaw in Mississippi in 1821. Although he had been trained as a lawyer, he abandoned law as a career and became a ...

lived with David Folsom in Pigeon Roost in 1823, where David—a strong believer in Christianity—taught Byington the Choctaw language. In 1826, David Folsom was named Chief of the Choctaw Nation in its northern district. By the late 1820s, a school for Choctaw children was located at Pigeon Roost, and the community became central to many of the affairs of the Choctaw people. Pigeon Roost Cemetery was also located there. A post office operated under the name Pigeon Roost from 1842 to 1871. In 1830, Pigeon Roost ceased to exist following the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, which forced the removed of the Choctaw people from Mississippi. A marker located at mile 203.5 on the

Natchez Trace Parkway The Natchez Trace Parkway is a national parkway in the southeastern United States that commemorates the historic Natchez Trace and preserves sections of that original trail. Its central feature is a two-lane road that extends 444 miles (715 ...

near Pigeon Roost Creek recognizes the former community.

References

External links

Map from 1836 showing the location of Pigeon Roost
{{authority control Former populated places in Choctaw County, Mississippi Natchez Trace Choctaw Ghost towns in Mississippi