Plymouth was an early settlement in

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

in present-day Lowndes County. Plymouth was located on the west bank of the

Tombigbee River The Tombigbee River is a tributary of the Mobile River, approximately 200 mi (325 km) long, in the U.S. states of Mississippi and Alabama. Together with the Alabama, it merges to form the short Mobile River before the latter empties i ...

at the mouth of

Tibbee Creek Tibbee Creek is a stream in the U.S. state of Mississippi. ''Tibbee'' is a name derived from the Choctaw language The Choctaw language (Choctaw: ), spoken by the Choctaw, an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, US, is a member of ...

History

Local tradition holds that

Hernando de Soto Hernando de Soto (; ; 1497 – 21 May 1542) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire in Peru, ...

camped near the site Plymouth and

Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville (; ; February 23, 1680 – March 7, 1767), also known as Sieur de Bienville, was a French-Canadian colonial administrator in New France. Born in Montreal, he was an early governor of French Louisiana, appo ...

erected a fort here in his campaign against the

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...

. The community of Plymouth was formed around 1819, developing around the fortified house of John Pitchlynn, the U.S. interpreter for the

Choctaw The Choctaw ( ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States, originally based in what is now Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choct ...

Agency. Pitchlynn's home was surrounded by a stockade during the

Creek War The Creek War (also the Red Stick War or the Creek Civil War) was a regional conflict between opposing Native American factions, European powers, and the United States during the early 19th century. The Creek War began as a conflict within th ...

and was known as Fort Smith, in honor of Captain George Smith. Smith served under Colonel John McKee, who used Fort Smith as a base to carry out attacks on the

Red Sticks Red Sticks (also Redsticks, Batons Rouges, or Red Clubs)—the name deriving from the red-painted war clubs of some Native American Creek—refers to an early 19th century traditionalist faction of Muscogee Creek people in the Southeastern Uni ...

who lived along the

Black Warrior River The Black Warrior River is a waterway in west-central Alabama in the southeastern United States. The river rises in the extreme southern edges of the Appalachian Highlands and flows 178 miles (286 km) to the Tombigbee River, of which the ...

. Multiple stores and cotton warehouses were built in Plymouth. The low-lying site of the village was prone to repeated flooding. While both Plymouth and its sister town of

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, the capital city of the U.S. state of Ohio * Columbus, Georgia, a city i ...

across the river had high bluffs, Plymouth's landing site did not have easy access to the bluff heights. The community was incorporated in 1836 and reached a peak population of 200. After incorporating, street grids were laid off into squares. By the 1840s, the village site was abandoned, as most of the residents had moved across the river to the better site of Columbus. A post office operated under the name Plymouth from 1833 to 1855. The Plymouth Academy operated in Plymouth from 1837 to 1866. Today, the site of Plymouth is just west of

John C. Stennis Lock and Dam The John C. Stennis Lock and Dam, formerly named Columbus Lock and Dam, is one of four lock and dam structures on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway that generally lie along the original course of the Tombigbee River. It is located near Columbus, M ...

on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. A area was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1980. It includes a village site and a cemetery.

Plymouth Bluff

Plymouth Bluff, just downstream of the village site, is now occupied by the Plymouth Bluff Environmental Center, operated by the

Mississippi University for Women Mississippi University for Women (MUW or "The W") is a coeducational public university in Columbus, Mississippi. It was formerly named the "Industrial Institute and College for the Education of White Girls" and later the "Mississippi State Coll ...

. It occupies land owned by the Army Corps of Engineers. The complex serves as the local center for ecological studies, as well as a retreat and conference center. Multiple fossils have been found in the Bluffs, including a

hadrosaur Hadrosaurids (), also hadrosaurs or duck-billed dinosaurs, are members of the ornithischian family Hadrosauridae. This group is known as the duck-billed dinosaurs for the flat duck-bill appearance of the bones in their snouts. The ornithopod fami ...

References

{{Lowndes County, Mississippi Geography of Lowndes County, Mississippi National Register of Historic Places in Lowndes County, Mississippi 1819 establishments in Mississippi Populated places on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi