Nash’s Landing, Tunica County (Ghost town)

Dr. Charles Nash was born in January, 1824 in Missouri. On December 12,1855, Dr. Charles E. Nash moved to Tunica County, Mississippi from Helena, Arkansas.  He had moved to Helena shortly before 1850 from Missouri.  On the 1850 U.S. Census, he is listed as living in Helena, Arkansas in a hotel owned by J.M. Fadley.  Charles Nash married Mary F. Epps on April 15, 1855 in Phillips County, Arkansas. The doctor purchased 520 acres of land located at Section 13, Township 6, Range 13 west along the Mississippi River.  A landing was established there for boats.  By the 1860 U.S. Census, the family of Dr. Nash had grown along with his wealth.  His real estate holdings were listed at $33,5000 and his personal estate was listed at $21,750.  Along with his wife Francis, he had two daughters and two sons. A D. Higgs from Kentucky is listed as a farm laborer on the place.  It seems Dr. Nash stayed out of the Civil War as much as possible and he was still living at Nash’s Landing in 1870.  His family had changed though and it appears one daughter had died.  On that census, these are the following members of the Nash household.  C.E. Nash, Planter and Physician.  His wealth had dropped though.  His real estate value was $2,000 and his personal estate was $15,000.  His wife Francis is listed; daughter Mary; son John; son Alexander; son Charles; and daughter Sallie.  There were three domestic servants living in the Nash house. Their names were Tine, Nanna, and Sandy Nash.  In 1871, Nash got involved in a land sale dispute with his neighbor, J.M. Phillips.  It involved the sale of a hundred acres and this case eventually was heard in Jackson.  While in Jackson, apparently his family had moved to Memphis where they died from yellow fever according to stories.  It is unclear how long Dr. Nash remained in Tunica after this. On September 29,1881, he married  Francis Moseley in Hinds County, MS.  By the 1900 U.S. Census, he and his wife were living in Little Rock, Arkansas.  Dr. Charles E. Nash died on July 8,1903 in Little Rock.  The small community that had grown up around Dr. Nash’s plantation in Tunica County had never been very large and declined quickly.  The nearest school and church were in Helena.  Erosion from the Mississippi River also played a part in the demise of Nash’s Landing.  Being entirely behind the levee, heavy flooding took a toll. By 1940, the Nash cemetery had been washed away and much of the plantation had gone into the river.  Other owners of the land around Nash’s Landing were Robert B. Aldrich, Pickett Myers, and J.P. Norfleet.

Map of Tunica County, 1911