Winchester Road

As Figure 1 illustrates, Winchester Road ran from the town of Winchester in Wayne County to Jackson in Hinds County. The road passed through Wayne, Clarke, Jasper, Newton, Scott, Rankin and Hinds Counties in Mississippi. The length was 147 miles. Per the United States original surveyors, the road was wagon sized.

As to Winchester Road's origins, Wayne County was founded in 1809 from the Mississippi Territory by way of Choctaw lands acquired by the United States via the Treaty of Mount Dexter. The first road in Wayne County was the St. Stephens to Natchez Road which was part of the "Three-Chopped Way." It was in service in 1808. This road ran through Wayne County's northern townships. Winchester, which was situated south of contemporary Waynesboro, was settled soon after the county founding. The people of Winchester built a fort, Patton's Fort, for protection against the Creek peoples after the massacre at Fort Mims in the summer of 1813. Winchester was incorporated in 1818. Sometime shortly thereafter the Winchester Road was built.

Given the above, the county was surveyed about 1810-1811 which was before Winchester Road was built. Therefore, the location of the road in Wayne County must be gleaned from early Mississippi maps like Lucas and Melish maps. That is not the case for the remainder of the Winchester Road which was well located by the original United States surveyors after the road was constructed. Note Winchester was east of the Chickasawhay River about a mile. A ferry, likely Patton's Ferry, permitted dry passage of the Chickasawhay River. As Figure 1 indicates from there, the road ran northwest then west north west to Hinds County.

The road crossed the Pearl River via a ferry in Rankin County Township T7N R3E Section 7. The ferry was likely Calhoun's Ferry although it was not called out by the original United States surveyor in 1821. The route in Hinds County used parts of General Carroll's Road which was blazed in the 1815 following the Battle of New Orleans. The United States surveyors of the Winchester Road noted several names for the road including "Jackson to Winchester Road," "Road from Jackson to Winchester," "Road to Wayne County" and "Brandon Road." Yes, the road had a diversion in Rankin County south to Brandon which was founded in 1831. It is interesting that in Rankin County there is a reference to the road as "Six Town Road" which was the name of the southernmost group of Choctaw villages beginning in the French period.

Following the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, Winchester Road would have permitted land speculators and settlers from the east.