Rara Avis, Mississippi

Rara Avis, Mississippi
Ghost town
Rara Avis Show map of Mississippi Rara Avis Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 34°20′32″N 88°10′50″W
Country	United States
State	Mississippi
County	Itawamba
Elevation	515 ft (157 m)
Time zone	UTC-6 (Central (CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
GNIS feature ID	706266[1]

Rara Avis is a ghost town located in Itawamba County, Mississippi, approximately 0.5 miles (0.8 km) west of the Alabama state line.

Rara Avis was settled in 1850,[1] and the town name translated to Latin means "rare bird".^[citation needed]

The population was 100 in 1900.[2] A post office was established in 1902.[3]

Author and Baptist missionary James Garvin Chastain Sr., was born in Rara Avis in 1853.[4]

References

1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Rara Avis (historical)
2. Rowland, Dunbar (1907). Mississippi: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form. Vol. 2. Southern Historical Publishing Association. p. 519.
3. "Mississippi: Dates that First Rural Routes Were Established at Post Offices, through 1904" (PDF). United States Postal Service. April 2008.
4. Lloyd, James B. (2009). Lives of Mississippi Authors, 1817-1967. University Press of Mississippi. p. 86. ISBN 9781617034183.

External links

• Photo of Rara Avis welcome sign