The celebration of Mississippi turning 200 years-old reminds us that the counties, cities, and communities we now adore within our state lines, all had a beginning.
What is now well mapped out areas we call home was once just uncharted territories quietly awaiting settlers to pitch a tent and mark their spot.
That is exactly how the community of Shiloh Mississippi got started. According to the Shiloh United Methodist Church’s website, in the late 1820’s, a small resolute band of pioneer pilgrims slowly made its way westward through the primitive wilds of Georgia and Alabama into the new eleven-year old State of Mississippi from the Orangeburg District of South Carolina. This little party was composed almost exclusively of devout Dutch-American Methodists. They arrived by covered wagons pulled by oxen.
Rankin County had not yet been formed when these settlers entered what was soon to be its eastern border, following the narrow winding paths through the virgin wilderness previously worn by years of use by migrating animals and roving Indian tribes. Indians still lived in the area when these pioneers stopped to rest by the cooling waters of a clear little spring next to huge oak trees.
Four families settled in what is now know as the community of Shiloh. Descendants from those original four still thrive in the same spot nearly 200 years later.
Hear more about this unique community and the little girls that started it all from a 6th generation family member from the original founders.
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