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Mississippi County
Stone County, Mississippi
Wiggins's piney woods character and the De Soto National Forest - from the De Soto National Forest's Stone County presence (the Ashe Nursery and Black Creek Wilderness Area within the De Soto National Forest in Stone County provide hiking, camping, and outdoor recreation in the longleaf pine landscape of south Mississippi - the Black Creek National Wild and Scenic River, one of the finest paddling streams in the South, flows through Stone County's forest landscape) to Stone County's position as a rapidly growing community between Hattiesburg and the Gulf Coast with significant residential development.
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Office: Stone County Emergency Management Agency/E-911 – 533 First Street South, PO Drawer 7, Wiggins, MS 39577 | (601) 928-3077 | Email: [email protected]; Director Mike Williams; Hours: Mon-Fri 8 AM-5 PM.
Sheriff: Stone County Sheriff’s Office – 1420 Industrial Park Road, Wiggins, MS 39577 | (601) 928-3191 / (601) 928-7251 | Fax: (601) 928-6455 | Email: [email protected]; Sheriff Todd Stewart; Hours: Mon-Fri 8 AM-5 PM. Stone County Regional Correctional Facility – (601) 928-7042; opened December 2000, medium security, capacity 130+.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911. New Hope Road Shelter, 1084 New Hope Road, Wiggins, serves as a designated tornado/storm shelter.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-49 and MS-26 serve Wiggins, the county’s seat and only incorporated city, within the Gulfport-Biloxi Metropolitan Statistical Area. Wiggins is surrounded on three sides by the De Soto National Forest, whose local ranger district office is based there.
Notes: Stone County was formed June 5, 1916 from the northern part of Harrison County, approved by a narrow 428-330 vote; named for John M. Stone, Mississippi governor (1876-1888, 1890-1896) and later president of Mississippi A&M College. Roughly 18,356 residents across 445-448 square miles, the 50th most populous of Mississippi’s 82 counties.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Stone County Courthouse – 323 E. Cavers Avenue, Wiggins, MS 39577.
Notes: Perkinston, the county’s oldest settlement (homesteaded circa 1880), is home to the Perkinston Campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, originally established in 1911 as Harrison County Agricultural High School and reorganized as Perkinston Junior College in 1925. The county’s early 20th-century economy was driven by a booming timber industry, with major sawmill towns at McHenry, Bond, and Perkinston, and one of south Mississippi’s largest sawmills built in Wiggins in 1902. The Old Firehouse Museum in Wiggins preserves local history. The county’s De Soto National Forest holdings include the Black Creek Wilderness – home to Mississippi’s only designated National Wild and Scenic River – and over 170 miles of multi-use trails including the Tuxachanie Trail.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Stone County Veterans Service Office – confirm current contact via stonecountyms.gov.
Federal: VA facilities accessible via a Gulfport, MS or Biloxi, MS VA medical center; confirm current routing.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Confirm current Wiggins public library address/phone via stonecountyms.gov.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The De Soto National Forest (Black Creek Wilderness, Tuxachanie Trail), the Old Firehouse Museum, Flint Creek Reservoir, and Cypress Creek are the county’s premier attractions. The annual Pine Hill Festival is held each April.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Stone County Tax Assessor – confirm current contact via stonecountyms.gov.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Stone County SPCA – 1989 Highway 26 West, Wiggins, MS 39577 | (601) 270-7048 | Email: [email protected]; organized 2009, opened its shelter in 2012; a no-kill shelter with a 95% live-release rate, taking in roughly 1,200 animals annually, transporting about 65% of dogs and puppies to partner shelters.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Stone County – confirm current contact via stonecountyms.gov.
NOTES: Stone County is the third county in the tenth batch of the Mississippi v2 A+ sourced redo. The genuine scale of the De Soto National Forest – including Mississippi’s only National Wild and Scenic River – and the county’s timber-industry heritage are among the local facts covered here. 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 Stone County
Stone County is south Mississippi’s De Soto National Forest and Black Creek county – the National Wild and Scenic River flowing through the longleaf pine landscape provides some of the finest backcountry paddling in the South, and the county’s position between Hattiesburg and the Gulf Coast drives residential growth.
Wiggins (the county seat, population ~4,500) serves Stone County’s growing residential and timber communities between the Hattiesburg metro and the coast.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Stone County Tax Assessor at 323 Cavers Avenue, Suite 4, Wiggins, MS 39577, phone 601-928-3121. MS residential assessed at 10% of true value.
Courts & Legal
Stone County Chancery Court at 323 Cavers Avenue, Wiggins, MS 39577, phone 601-928-3121, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CHANCERY CLERK
323 E. Calhoun Ave., Wiggins, MS 39577
(601) 928-5266
CIRCUIT CLERK
323 E. Calhoun Ave., Wiggins, MS 39577
(601) 928-5266
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Stone County Chancery Court (probate case files – see Probate section above).
The 1917-18 Stone County Courthouse, a Mississippi Landmark, is a significant local landmark; the county was carved from the northern portion of Harrison County.
Local societies
No dedicated Stone 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
Stone County Chancery Court 323 East Cavers Avenue (mail: P.O. Drawer 7), Wiggins, MS 39577 (601) 928-5266
Stone County was founded 1916, named for Governor John M. Stone, in southern Mississippi, seated in Wiggins. The 1917-18 Stone County Courthouse is a Mississippi Landmark.
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
323 E. Calhoun Ave., Wiggins, MS 39577
(601) 928-2461
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
323 E. Calhoun Ave., Wiggins, MS 39577
(601) 928-5266
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Office: Stone County Health Department (Mississippi State Department of Health) – confirm current phone via stonecountyms.gov.
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