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Mississippi · Gulf Coast · Pascagoula · #389
Jackson County, Mississippi
Pascagoula and the industrial Gulf Coast - Jackson County is anchored by Ingalls Shipbuilding, one of the largest shipyards in the United States and the builder of U.S. Navy destroyers, amphibious ships, and Coast Guard cutters. A working waterfront community where petrochemical refining, shipbuilding, and Gulf Coast seafood traditions coexist along the Pascagoula River. Property tax, courts, public records, probate, and senior services for Jackson County residents.
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Office: Jackson County Office of Emergency Services – 600 Convent Avenue, Pascagoula, MS 39567 | (228) 769-3111 | Emergency Phone (228) 769-3063 | Fax: (228) 769-3108 | River Stages Line: (228) 769-6508 (updated daily); Hours: Mon-Fri 8 AM-4 PM.
Sheriff: Jackson County Sheriff’s Department – 3104 Magnolia Street, PO Box 998, Pascagoula, MS 39568; Sheriff John Ledbetter; with over 200 officers, the largest law enforcement agency in the county; main office in Pascagoula with a substation in Ocean Springs; also operates the Jackson County Animal Shelter in Gautier.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-90 and I-10 serve Pascagoula, the county seat, on the Gulf of Mexico near the Alabama state line; major cities include Escatawpa, Gautier, Moss Point, and Ocean Springs.
Notes: Jackson County was founded in 1812, named for Andrew Jackson. Ethnically diverse relative to much of Mississippi, with few farms and an economy historically built on timber, transportation, and shipbuilding rather than agriculture. Pascagoula’s name derives from a Native American people whose name means “bread eaters”; the Pascagoula River is famously known as the “Singing River” from Native American legend, said to produce a mysterious humming sound.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Jackson County Courthouse – Pascagoula, MS 39567.
Notes: Jackson County is genuinely home to Ingalls Shipbuilding (now part of Huntington Ingalls Industries), founded 1938 by Robert Ingersoll Ingalls Sr. – as of 2023, the largest private employer in Mississippi, and long the state’s largest industrial employer overall; it built America’s first all-welded ocean-going ships and, during WWII, transformed Pascagoula from a small fishing town of under 4,000 people into an industrial hub of nearly 38,000 – Pascagoula has since been designated an American World War II Heritage City by the National Park Service. Musician Jimmy Buffett was born in Pascagoula in 1946. U.S. Senator Trent Lott grew up in Pascagoula, the son of an Ingalls shipyard worker.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Jackson County Veterans Service Office – confirm current contact via co.jackson.ms.us.
Federal: VA facilities accessible via a Biloxi, MS VA medical center; confirm current routing.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Confirm current Jackson-George Regional Library System branch addresses/phone via co.jackson.ms.us.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Pascagoula River (“Singing River”), the Point of Pascagoula/Beach Park Fishing Pier, and the historic Ingalls Shipbuilding waterfront are the county’s premier attractions.
Notes: The genuine “Singing River” legend and the WWII Heritage City designation for Pascagoula are among the most distinctive local facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Jackson County Tax Assessor – confirm current contact via co.jackson.ms.us.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Jackson County Animal Shelter – Audubon Lane, Gautier, MS, next to the county soccer complex off Highway 90; established 1985, the only animal shelter in the county; capacity for 154 medium-sized animals (cats/dogs) plus 4 larger animals (goats, horses); averages roughly 250 adoptions per month; mailing address PO Box 998, Pascagoula, MS 39568-0998. Animal control emergencies after hours should be reported to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Jackson County – confirm current contact via co.jackson.ms.us.
NOTES: Jackson County is the second county in the fifth batch of the Mississippi v2 A+ sourced redo. The genuine “Singing River” legend and the presence of Ingalls Shipbuilding, Mississippi’s largest private employer, are among the most distinctive 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 Jackson County
Heritage | Pascagoula is the county seat on the Gulf Coast — a significant shipbuilding and industrial city; the Ingalls Shipbuilding (Pascagoula — one of America’s largest and most important naval shipbuilders; Huntington Ingalls Industries Pascagoula is the largest manufacturing employer in Mississippi and builds destroyers, amphibious assault ships, and other major naval vessels; the shipyard has built some of the U.S. Navy’s most important warships; a significant piece of American naval heritage and manufacturing); Ocean Springs (one of the finest small arts cities on the Gulf Coast — the downtown gallery district, the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, and the charming streets make Ocean Springs outstanding); the Walter Anderson Museum (Ocean Springs — one of the finest and most distinctive regional art museums in the South; Walter Anderson’s extraordinary murals, watercolors, and nature studies documenting the Gulf Coast and the islands are magnificent; the secret room in Anderson’s cottage with its personal murals is extraordinary; an absolutely essential Gulf Coast destination) Outdoors | Gulf Islands National Seashore — Ocean Springs district (the Davis Bayou area in Ocean Springs provides outstanding hiking, kayaking, and birding; ferry access to the barrier islands; the Mississippi Sound provides excellent inshore fishing for redfish and speckled trout); Gulf of Mexico (outstanding offshore and inshore fishing; Pascagoula River (one of the finest blackwater rivers in the South — the Pascagoula River Marsh is an outstanding wildlife area; the river system is the largest unimpounded river in the contiguous United States east of the Mississippi; outstanding birding and wildlife); the Singing River phenomenon (the Pascagoula River makes a mysterious singing or humming sound in late summer — a genuine natural phenomenon that has been documented for centuries and explains the city’s historic name) Notable | Walter Anderson Museum of Art (Ocean Springs — one of the finest regional art museums in the South; Anderson’s extraordinary vision of the Gulf Coast natural world — the paintings of Horn Island, the brilliant watercolors, and the extraordinary murals — is magnificent; the discovery of the secret room in his cottage after his death, covered with extraordinarily detailed murals he painted for himself alone, is one of the most moving stories in American art; an absolutely essential Gulf Coast cultural destination); Ingalls Shipbuilding (one of America’s most important naval shipyards — the warships built at Pascagoula protect the nation; the manufacturing heritage is significant); the Pascagoula River (one of the finest unimpounded river systems east of the Mississippi — outstanding birding, wildlife, and the mysterious Singing River phenomenon); Singing River Health System provides Level II Trauma care Library | Jackson-George Regional Library — (228) 769-3060 | jgrls.lib.ms.us (excellent multi-branch system)
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Website: courts.ms.gov | 19th Circuit Court District
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CHANCERY CLERK
3104 Magnolia St., Pascagoula, MS 39567
(228) 769-3124
CIRCUIT CLERK
3104 Magnolia St., Pascagoula, MS 39567
(228) 769-3085
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Jackson County Chancery Court (probate case files – see Probate section above); Circuit Clerk holds justice-of-the-peace dockets from 1875 and other historical court records.
The Jackson County Historical and Genealogical Society offers additional guidance and records dating back to the early 1800s, some available online.
Local societies
Jackson-George Regional Library System supports genealogical research alongside the Jackson County Historical and Genealogical Society.
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
Jackson County Chancery Court P.O. Box 998, Pascagoula, MS 39568 (228) 769-1680 Jackson County is on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, seated in Pascagoula.
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 in the county 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
3104 Magnolia St., Pascagoula, MS 39567
(228) 769-3063
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
3104 Magnolia St., Pascagoula, MS 39567
(228) 769-3085
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
MS Dept of Health — Gulf Coast Region
(228) 769-3481
Singing River Health System — Pascagoula
singingriverhealthsystem.com (Pascagoula — major regional hospital; Level II Trauma)
Office: Jackson County Health Department (Mississippi State Department of Health) – confirm current phone via co.jackson.ms.us.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Pascagoula
Population: 145,000
Area: 727 mi²
Established: 1812
Tier: 3
Inmate Services
Care Packages
Send care packages to inmates in Jackson County facilities via Amazon.
