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Mississippi County
Washington County, Mississippi
Greenville - the Queen City of the Delta and the home of Delta literary tradition - from Greenville's extraordinary literary heritage (Washington County and Greenville produced a remarkable concentration of American writers - William Alexander Percy, Shelby Foote, Walker Percy, David Cohn, and Ellen Douglas all came from Greenville, making it the most literarily productive small city in the Deep South relative to its size - the Delta soil and culture that shaped these writers is preserved in the Delta Cultural Center) to the Mississippi Delta's Washington County cotton and blues heritage (the cotton plantations along the Mississippi River in Washington County and the blues tradition that grew from them define the cultural geography of American music).
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Office: Washington County Emergency Management (Delta Ready) – 910 Courthouse Lane, Suite B, Greenville, MS 38702 | (662) 335-1945 | Email: [email protected]; Director David Burford; Website: deltaready.us.
Sheriff: Washington County Sheriff’s Office – PO Box 786, Greenville, MS 38702 | (662) 334-4523; Sheriff Milton M. Gaston.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-82 and US-61 serve Greenville, the county seat, along the Mississippi River in the heart of the Delta.
Notes: Washington County, “the heart and soul of the Delta,” has genuine, extraordinary claims to fame in both music and literature covered below.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Washington County Courthouse – Greenville, MS 38702.
Notes: Greenville is genuinely remarkable for producing more published writers per capita than any town its size in the country – over 100 published writers in the 20th century alone. Historian and novelist Shelby Foote, author of the acclaimed three-volume “The Civil War: A Narrative” and a prominent voice in Ken Burns’s PBS Civil War documentary, was born in Greenville in 1916. Novelist Walker Percy, orphaned young, was raised in Greenville by his kinsman William Alexander Percy, himself a noted poet and memoirist (“Lanterns on the Levee”); Percy and Foote formed a lifelong friendship dating to their Greenville boyhood. Other Greenville literary figures include Pulitzer Prize-winning editor Hodding Carter Jr. of the Delta Democrat-Times, novelists Ellen Douglas and Beverly Lowry, and prolific author Bern Keating. William Faulkner was a frequent visitor, as his literary agent Ben Wasson was also a Greenville author. The Greenville Writers Exhibit at the William Alexander Percy Memorial Library preserves original manuscripts and artifacts from this literary tradition. Separately, Muppet creator Jim Henson was born in Greenville and raised nearby – a genuinely distinctive claim, honoring the man who created Kermit the Frog. The Greenville Blues Walk honors the region’s Delta blues musicians along historic Walnut Street.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Washington County Veterans Services – confirm current contact via washingtoncounty.ms.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
William Alexander Percy Memorial Library – (662) 335-2331; home to the Greenville Writers Exhibit.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Greenville Writers Exhibit, the Greenville Blues Walk, Warfield Point Park, and the E.E. Bass Cultural Center (home to the Mississippi Writers Trail markers for Shelby Foote and Walker Percy) are the county’s premier cultural attractions.
Notes: The genuine, extraordinary concentration of published writers from Greenville – and the county’s connection to Jim Henson – is among the richest cultural-history facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Washington County Tax Assessor – confirm current contact via washingtoncounty.ms.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Greenville Animal Shelter (Washington County Animal Services) – 1172 Groome Street, Greenville, MS 38703 | (662) 332-7614.
Washington County Humane Society – Highway 82 W, Greenville, MS.
Greenville Humane Society Adoption Center – a no-euthanasia policy for capacity or length-of-stay reasons, per its owner-surrender program; confirm current address/phone via greenvillehumane.com.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Washington County – confirm current contact via washingtoncounty.ms.
NOTES: Washington County is the sixth county in the eleventh and final batch of the Mississippi v2 A+ sourced redo. The genuine, extraordinary concentration of published writers from Greenville – and the county’s connection to Jim Henson – is among the richest cultural-history 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 Washington County
Washington County is the literary capital of the Mississippi Delta – Greenville produced William Alexander Percy, Shelby Foote, and Walker Percy among others, making it the most literarily concentrated small city in the South, while the cotton fields and blues tradition that shaped them define American cultural history.
Greenville (the county seat, population ~28,000) navigates economic challenges while preserving its extraordinary cultural heritage – the Delta Cultural Center and the blues legacy anchor a community that punches far above its size in American literary and musical history.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Washington County Tax Assessor at 1 Courthouse Square, Greenville, MS 38701, phone 662-332-1671. MS residential assessed at 10% of true value.
Courts & Legal
Washington County Chancery Court at 1 Courthouse Square, Greenville, MS 38701, phone 662-332-1595, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CHANCERY CLERK
900 Washington Ave., Greenville, MS 38701
(662) 332-1595
CIRCUIT CLERK
900 Washington Ave., Greenville, MS 38701
(662) 332-1595
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Washington County Chancery Court (probate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Washington 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
Washington County Chancery Court P.O. Box 309, Greenville, MS 38702 (662) 332-1595
Washington County was founded 1800, in the Mississippi Delta on the Mississippi River, seated in Greenville.
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
900 Washington Ave., Greenville, MS 38701
(662) 335-4357
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
900 Washington Ave., Greenville, MS 38701
(662) 332-1595
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
MS Dept of Health — Delta Region
(662) 335-5341
Delta Regional Medical Center
deltaregional.com (Greenville — quality regional hospital; major Delta anchor)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Washington County Health Department (Mississippi State Department of Health) – confirm current phone via washingtoncounty.ms.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Greenville
Population: 42,000
Area: 762 sq mi
Established: 1827
Tier: 3
Public Records
TruthFinder
Search public records for Washington County residents.
