A gallop through history in Pontotoc.

At the Ingomar Temple Mounds, archeologists have found a fragment of green glass bottle and another artifact carrying a Spanish coat of arms, discoveries that have led to the belief that DeSoto made his second camp here in 1541 before he started for the Mississippi. Here in this area there is also history to be explored at the Chickasaw Village, which is situated not far from Long Town, where the Chickasaws won the Battle of Ackia. The Cates Place was used as a council house, archeologists believe, or the home of a chieftain.

There are a number of site markers and some actual structures of pioneer schools and homes for you to explore in and around Pontotoc. At the old Toccopola School grounds you’ll find a marker for Betty Love Allen. Court action over property given to her by her father Thomas Love resulted in the establishment a Mississippi law allowing women to own property outright.   It was the first law in the nation granting women such a right. (The property in question, by the way, was a slave.)

There is some noteworthy history in this area that remains unmarked. After he was defeated for reelection to Congress in Tennessee, Davy Crockett drove a herd of horses down the Natchez Trace and built a horse corral in what is now Trace State Park. He ran a thriving horse business there until he heard of the fight in Texas and closed down the corral to join the combat.

A trip to Pontotoc would not be complete without a drive by the mansion romantically named Lochinvar, the pride of a Scotsman, naturally, and the birthplace of Robert Gordon, poet, Civil War hero and U.S. Senator. Another must-see is Pontotoc’s antique post office and museum, the only working antique post office in the nation; on the wall is a mural commemorating that first marriage ceremony in the DeSoto camp.

From the post office, your route heads north, to the land of the King.