Golddust is a rural

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Lauderdale County, Tennessee, United States. It is located on the banks of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. Golddust is one of the earliest European-American settlements in Lauderdale County. In 1864, the Battle of Fort Pillow was fought approximately south of Golddust.

History

Establishment

Golddust was founded in the 1820s. It is one of the earliest European-American settlements in Lauderdale County."Golddust"
''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture''

Battle of Fort Pillow

In 1861, the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

built extensive fortifications south of Golddust and named the site for General Gideon J. Pillow. Because of its strategic location overlooking the Mississippi River, the Union Army took control of the fort in 1862 after the Confederates left. The Union Army occupied Tennessee through the end of the war. The Confederates under Major General

Nathan Bedford Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was an List of slave traders of the United States, American slave trader, active in the lower Mississippi River valley, who served as a General officers in the Confederate States Army, Con ...

returned to this site in 1864 in the Battle of Fort Pillow, defeating Union troops and massacring a majority of the black troops among them. Forrest briefly held the fort before leaving again. Fort Pillow State Park is located approximately south of Golddust.

Geography

Island No. 30 of the Mississippi River is located approximately west of Golddust. The landscape of the area is dominated by the

valley, flood plains and cotton fields. Most dwellings in the area are built on stilts to withstand floods. Golddust is situated on the southeastern edge of the New Madrid Seismic Zone, an area with a high earthquake risk.

Economy

Agriculture is the chief source of income in the area surrounding Golddust, especially the cultivation of cotton. After the

abolition of slavery Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was France in 1315, but it was later used in its colonies. T ...

sharecropping Sharecropping is a legal arrangement in which a landowner allows a tenant (sharecropper) to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping is not to be conflated with tenant farming, providing the tenant a ...

was the primary means of income for both black and white families in the area. Sharecroppers cultivated a portion of land in return for a share of the crop when the landowner sold the cotton. Since the early 20th century, mechanization of agriculture caused the loss of many farm worker jobs. Modern machines such as the cotton picker have made manual cultivation obsolete. In the 21st century, most cotton in this area and other crops are cultivated on large industrial farms. As of 2007, there were no industries in Golddust. Dwellings are scattered, some of them abandoned. The borders of the community are unmarked.

Infrastructure

Tennessee State Route 19 starts at the Mississippi River in Golddust, heading east through Ripley (Lauderdale County), Nutbush and Brownsville (both in Haywood County) to

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...

.Lauderdale County, TN Highway Map
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Notable people

Linda Taylor Linda Taylor (born Martha Louise White; January 1926 – April 18, 2002) was an American woman who committed extensive welfare fraud and, after the publication of an article in the ''Chicago Tribune'' in fall 1974, became identified as the "wel ...

, criminal and

welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...

abuser referred to as the "welfare queen" in the 1980s

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Lauderdale County, Tennessee Unincorporated communities in Tennessee Tennessee populated places on the Mississippi River