Pontotoc County, Mississippi

Pontotoc County Education, Geography, and History

Pontotoc County is a county located in the state of Mississippi. Based on the 2010 census, the population was 29,957. Its county seat is Pontotoc. It was created on February 9, 1836 from lands ceded to the United States under the Chickasaw Cession. Pontotoc is a Chickasaw word meaning "land of hanging grapes". The original Natchez Trace and the current-day Natchez Trace Parkway both pass through the southeast corner of Pontotoc County.

Pontotoc County is part of the Tupelo, MS Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Etymology - Origin of Pontotoc County Name

Pontotoc is named for a Chickasaw Native American leader called Pontotoc. The name pontotoc is an Indian word signifying "weed prairie,"and was the name of a Chickasaw chief, though historians give it other meanings.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: CensusBureau Quick Facts

Pontotoc County History

Pontotoc County is one of the twelve large counties created February 9, 1836, out of the Chickasaw cession of 1832, and is situated in the northeastern part of the State. It originally embraced parts of the present counties of Lee and Union. In 1866, it contributed from its eastern territory several townships to assist in forming the county of Lee, and in 1870 it was shorn of other parts when Union County was organized. The name pontotoc is an Indian word signifying "weed prairie,"and was the name of a Chickasaw chief, though historians give it other meanings.

It was in the southeastern part of this county, near the little creek Chowappa, that the treaty of Ponotoc was concluded, whereby the Chickasaws relinquished all their remaining lands in the State. In the year 1834, T.C. McMackin, who had kept a hotel at the original location of the Pontotoc land office, came into possession of the present site of Pontotoc town. He laid off the town and was of sufficient influence to move the old town of Pontotoc to the present site. Emigrants from Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, north Alabama and Georgia, as well as from the older parts of Mississippi, rapidly settled the region, attracted by the cheap and fertile lands of the new cession. It was long regarded as the "garden spot"of the South by the pioneers seeking homes in the new Southwest. Pontotoc is the county seat, was incorporated in 1837. The United States land office was located in that place and the town was fairly established at an early day

Geography: Land and Water

As reported by the Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 501 square miles (1,298 km²), of which, 497 square miles (1,288 km²) of it is land and 4 square miles (9 km²) of it (0.73%) is water.

Neighboring Counties

Bordering counties are as follows:

• Union County (north)
• Lee County (east)
• Chickasaw County (south)
• Calhoun County (southwest)
• Lafayette County (west)
  

Education

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