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Shankstown, Mississippi is an extinct settlement that was located two miles northeast of Coonbox and six miles north of Old Greenville in
Shankstown, Mississippi is an extinct settlement that was located two miles northeast of Coonbox and six miles north of Old Greenville in Jefferson County, Mississippi
Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi; its western border is formed by the Mississippi River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,260, making it the fourth-least populous county in Mississippi. Until 182 ...
. Shankstown stood along the Natchez Trace
The Natchez Trace, also known as the Old Natchez Trace, is a historic forest trail within the United States which extends roughly from Nashville, Tennessee, to Natchez, Mississippi, linking the Cumberland River, Cumberland, Tennessee River, ...
. Shankstown was established by tavern keeper John H. Shanks around 1810, and that town was originally incorporated as Louisville, Mississippi in 1825, but was still commonly called Shankstown. The settlement had a U.S. post office and a number of businesses in the first half of the 19th century. There was a stagecoach
A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...
route between Port Gibson
Port Gibson is a city and the county seat of Claiborne County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,567 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is bordered on the west by the Mississippi River.
The first European settlers i ...
and Natchez Natchez may refer to:
Places
* Natchez, Alabama, United States
* Natchez, Indiana, United States
* Natchez, Louisiana, United States
* Natchez, Mississippi, a city in southwestern Mississippi, United States
** Natchez slave market, Mississippi
* ...
that stopped at Shankstown three times a week.
According to the Mississippi Historical Society
The Mississippi Historical Society (MHS) is a historical society located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The society was established in 1858 but was terminated soon after because of the outbreak of the American Civil War. It remained in hiatus u ...
in 1901, Shankstown was "named for a gentleman, Mr. Shanks, who had a hotel at this place at an early date. This town was not laid off into blocks, though it contained a large number of houses, a store or two, a cabinetmaker's shop, a blacksmith's shop, etc. The place is now owned and occupied by colored people." A few "sheds" still stood at the site of Shankstown into the 1950s. In 1963, there were plans for a nature trail past the site of Shankstown.
All that remains of Shankstown today is a cemetery, believed to have about 20 graves, but only one has a grave marker.
The name survives in Shankstown Creek.
References
{{Jefferson County, Mississippi Former populated places in Jefferson County, Mississippi Natchez Trace