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Mississippi County
Bolivar County, Mississippi
Cleveland's Grammy Museum Mississippi and the Delta Blues heartland - from the Grammy Museum Mississippi in Cleveland (the Grammy Museum Mississippi - the only Grammy Museum outside of Los Angeles - opened in Cleveland in 2016 as a celebration of Mississippi's extraordinary musical heritage, with exhibits documenting the state's contributions to blues, country, gospel, rock, and soul that have shaped American music more than any other state) to Bolivar County's Delta blues geography (the cotton plantations along Bolivar County's bayous produced some of the most significant blues musicians in American history, and the connection between the Delta landscape, sharecropping culture, and musical expression is nowhere more authentic than in the Mississippi Delta's Bolivar County communities).
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Office: Bolivar County Emergency Management Agency – 801 Main Street, Rosedale, MS 38769 | EMA (662) 588-3708 | E-911 Coordinator (662) 719-8337.
Sheriff: Bolivar County Sheriff’s Office – 200 S. Court St, Cleveland, MS 38732 (2nd Judicial District) | (662) 846-5877 | Non-emergency dispatch (662) 843-5378; Sheriff Kelvin Williams Sr., in office since January 2012; Bolivar is Mississippi’s second-largest county by area.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911. Bolivar County has TWO county seats – Rosedale and Cleveland – one of ten Mississippi counties with two judicial districts; the Board of Supervisors alternates monthly meetings between the two (even months in Rosedale, odd months in Cleveland).
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-61 serves Cleveland, the county’s largest city, in the heart of the Mississippi Delta (Yazoo Basin); Rosedale, the other county seat, sits on the Mississippi River.
Notes: Bolivar County was established February 9, 1836, named in honor of Simón Bolívar, the early 19th-century South American independence leader. Roughly 28,260-30,985 residents across 906 square miles. The Cleveland Micropolitan Statistical Area encompasses the entire county.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Bolivar County Courthouse – 2nd Judicial District: 200 S. Court St, Cleveland, MS 38732; 1st Judicial District: Rosedale, MS 38769.
Notes: Bolivar County is genuinely, remarkably central to the birth of the blues: Dockery Farms, just outside Cleveland, is where seminal blues musicians including Charley Patton, Robert Johnson, and Howlin’ Wolf made music history, and is closely tied to the famous “crossroads” blues legend; today it operates as a free, open-air museum. Cleveland is home to the GRAMMY Museum Mississippi, located on the Delta State University campus – opened March 2016 as only the second GRAMMY Museum in the world (after Los Angeles) and the first outside California, with interactive exhibits including songwriting pods guided by musician Keb’ Mo’. Mississippi produces more Grammy winners per capita than anywhere else in the world. Cleveland and Bolivar County are also home to two celebrated pottery destinations – McCarty’s Pottery and Gardens in Merigold and Peter’s Pottery in Mound Bayou – earning the area a reputation as Mississippi’s “Pottery Capital.” The Mound Bayou Museum, in the historic all-Black town of Mound Bayou, preserves African American history in the region.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Bolivar County Veterans Service Office – confirm current contact via co.bolivar.ms.us.
Federal: VA facilities accessible via a Jackson, MS or Memphis, TN VA medical center; confirm current routing.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Confirm current Cleveland and Rosedale public library addresses/phone via co.bolivar.ms.us.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Dockery Farms, the GRAMMY Museum Mississippi, McCarty’s Pottery, Peter’s Pottery, and the Mound Bayou Museum are the county’s premier and most nationally significant cultural attractions.
Notes: The genuine, deep origins of the Delta blues at Dockery Farms and the presence of the only GRAMMY Museum outside Los Angeles are among the most culturally significant local facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Bolivar County Tax Assessor – confirm current contact via co.bolivar.ms.us.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Cleveland-Bolivar County Animal Shelter – 200 W Carpenter Street, Cleveland, MS 38732 | Email: [email protected]; founded 1989, a jointly operated City of Cleveland/Bolivar County facility with 52 indoor and 15 outdoor runs; accepts animals from the City of Cleveland and unincorporated Bolivar County only; Hours: Tue-Fri 10 AM-5 PM, Sat 10 AM-2 PM, closed Sun-Mon; visits by appointment.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Bolivar County – confirm current contact via co.bolivar.ms.us.
NOTES: Bolivar County is the sixth county in the first batch of the Mississippi v2 A+ sourced redo. The genuine, deep origins of the Delta blues at Dockery Farms and the presence of the only GRAMMY Museum outside Los Angeles are among the most culturally significant local facts covered anywhere in this project. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Bolivar County
Bolivar County is the Delta’s Grammy Museum county – the only Grammy Museum outside Los Angeles celebrates Mississippi’s unmatched musical heritage in Cleveland, and the Delta cotton fields that produced the blues surround it on every side.
Cleveland (the county seat, population ~10,000) is Delta State University’s home and the Grammy Museum’s host – the university’s music programs and the museum’s exhibits make it one of the Delta’s most musically significant communities.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Bolivar County Tax Assessor at 200 S. Court Street, Cleveland, MS 38732, phone 662-843-1064. MS residential assessed at 10% of true value.
Courts & Legal
Bolivar County Chancery Court at 200 S. Court Street, Cleveland, MS 38732, phone 662-843-2071, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CHANCERY CLERK
400 Court St., Cleveland, MS 38732
(662) 843-2071
CIRCUIT CLERK
400 Court St., Cleveland, MS 38732
(662) 843-2071
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Bolivar County Chancery Court, First District (Rosedale) and Second District (Cleveland) – probate case files split by district; see Probate section above.
Local societies
No dedicated Bolivar County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Bolivar County Chancery Court – TWO JUDICIAL DISTRICTS
Bolivar County is one of several Mississippi counties split into two judicial districts, each with its own courthouse and Chancery Clerk’s office. File in whichever district covers the area where the decedent lived.
First District: P.O. Box 238, Rosedale, MS 38769, (662) 759-3762
Second District: P.O. Box 789, Cleveland, MS 38732, (662) 843-2071
Bolivar County is in the Mississippi Delta, along the Mississippi River, with Cleveland and Rosedale both serving as county seats.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Mississippi has not adopted the Uniform Probate Code and instead follows its own statutory framework under Miss. Code Ann. Title 91, Chapter 7. Mississippi’s small-estate threshold, at $75,000, is one of the lowest in the country, so most estates end up needing at least some court involvement.
Small Estate Affidavit (Miss. Code Ann. § 91-7-322) – personal property only, up to $75,000 (excluding liens and encumbrances). A 30-day waiting period after death applies. The affidavit is presented directly to whoever holds the property (a bank, for instance); that party is not required to investigate the truth of the affidavit and is protected from liability once it complies.
Muniment of Title (Miss. Code Ann. § 91-5-35) – a limited proceeding to transfer real property named in a will, without full administration, when the estate’s non-real-estate assets are $75,000 or less and all debts (including taxes) have been paid. A petition is still filed with the Chancery Court to declare the will valid; the will and court order are then recorded in the land records.
Formal Administration – required for most estates with real property beyond the muniment-of-title threshold or significant liquid assets. The Chancery Judge reviews the petition, the will (if any), and supporting documents before issuing Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration appointing the personal representative.
Step 2: filing for probate
File a petition with the Chancery Court district covering the area where the decedent was domiciled.
The personal representative inventories assets and notifies creditors; Mississippi’s creditor claim period runs 90 days (Miss. Code Ann. § 91-7-145).
Claims and disputes are adjudicated by the Chancery Court if contested.
Once debts are settled and the creditor period closes, the estate can be distributed and closed.
What it costs
Costs are the Chancery Clerk’s per-county filing fee (built on the statewide base under Miss. Code § 25-7-9), plus recording fees and publication costs.
Mississippi has no state estate tax or inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax could separately apply, and only to very large estates.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
400 Court St., Cleveland, MS 38732
(662) 843-5378
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
400 Court St., Cleveland, MS 38732
(662) 843-2071
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Office: Bolivar County Health Department (Mississippi State Department of Health) – confirm current phone via co.bolivar.ms.us.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Cleveland
Population: 30,000
Area: 880 sq mi
Established: 1836
Tier: 3
Public Records
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