Aviva Directory » Local & Global » North America » United States » States » Mississippi » Cities & Towns » Soso

Situated in in the northern tip of Jones County, on the road between Taylorsvile and Laurel on Mississippi Highway 28-W, Soso was originally named Woodbury. As in several other places, when the railroad came through, the tracks were laid near the town rather than through it, so businesses were moved to be closer to the railroad. When the post office was moved, the name of the town was changed to reflect a saying that most people had picked up from an early resident. Wanting to express his feeling that conditions in the town were not great, but neither were they terrible, he described the town as being “so so.” During the American Civil War, the town was left mostly deserted. After the war, farmers returning to the area joined with newly freed slaves to form a small mixed-race community in Soso. One of these residents was Newton Knight, a Unionist who had formed a resistance movement against the Confederates in and around Jones County in 1863 and 1863, largely because of the military’s practice of plundering local farmers. Knight had married Rachel, a freedwoman who had aided the resistance during the war. Other nearby communities include Calhoun, Gitano, Hebron, Moss, Springhill, and Summerland. Meridian, Mississippi is about seventy miles northeast, and the state capital of Jackson is about seventy-five miles northwest of Soso.

 

 

Recommended Resources


Search for Soso on Google or Bing