Columbus ms Wedding

Columbus is a city in Lowndes County, Mississippi, on the Tombigbee River. It is approximately 175 miles (282 km) northeast of Jackson, 120 miles (193 km) north of Meridian, 63 miles (102 km) south of Tupelo, and 123 miles (198 km) west of Birmingham, AL. The population was 25,944 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Lowndes CountyGR6.

The first record of the site of Columbus in Western history is found in the annals of the explorer Hernando de Soto, who is reputed to have crossed the Tombigbee nearby on his search for El Dorado.

Columbus was founded in 1821. Before its incorporation, the town site was referred to informally as Opossum Town, which remains its nickname even today. Columbus's existence owed to the failure of a flooded settlement across the river, Plymouth, which was established in 1817. The Plymouth Bluff (above the ruined settlement) is today an environmental center for Mississippi University for Women.