St. Catherine Creek

Saint Catherine Creek is a stream in Adams County, Mississippi, United States.^[1] Its principal drainage basin is in the vicinity of Natchez, Mississippi.^[2] The main village of the Natchez people was located on St. Catherine's Creek.^[3]

The first plantation in the Natchez district was established in 1718, during the French colonial era, along St. Catherine's Creek.^[4] Spanish colonial records of the Natchez District refer to Santa Catalina.^[5] The second capital of Mississippi Territory, Washington, could be reached by St. Catherine's Creek, in seasons of high water.^[6] Circa 1808, water for the village at Washington was said to be "well supplied by wells about forty feet deep, and about a quarter of a mile from the east end is a delightful spring, near the bank of St. Catherine's creek, where is a hot and cold bath — the price of bathing is three eighths of a dollar."^[7]

The name of the creek almost certain derives from the French: Concession de Saint Catherine commissioned in France in 1719 and planted in the New World and then extinguished by the Natchez massacre of 1729.^[8]: 231