Hazlehurst, MS

Hazlehurst is the Copiah County seat in central Mississippi, about 30 miles south of Jackson along the I-55 and U.S. 51 corridor. The 2020 census counted 3,619 residents. The older settlement began as Gallatin in 1819, when Walters and Saunders—brothers-in-law from Gallatin, Tennessee—built homes along Bayou Pierre and used their hometown's name. The county seat moved to Hazlehurst in 1872, and the courthouse and county offices have kept the city at the center of Copiah County ever since. U.S. 51 runs through the city center, with Crystal Springs about nine miles north and Brookhaven about 20 miles south.

Hazlehurst City School District, the Copiah County School District's main office, and the Copiah-Jefferson Regional Library give the city an education and administration role that reaches beyond its municipal boundary. The Copiah County Courthouse and Chautauqua Park add recognizable civic places near the highway routes. Hazlehurst's local map is practical: county business gathers downtown, schools and library services fill out the week, and I-55 keeps Jackson and south Mississippi within the same working corridor.