Liberty, MS

Liberty is the seat of Amite County, reached from Interstate 55 by Mississippi Highway 24 in the pine country of southwest Mississippi. The 2020 census counted 560 residents. The town was incorporated on February 24, 1809, and its courthouse square still gives Liberty a strong civic center. The West Fork Amite River runs through the surrounding country, while McGehee Air Park and the town's sports fields connect the county seat to present-day work and recreation.

The Amite County Courthouse, built in 1839-1840, is the oldest courthouse in active use in Mississippi. Liberty also carries the remains of the Amite Female Seminary, a girls' school built in 1853; during the Civil War, federal troops burned the school but spared its music building. Amite County School District serves local students, and Amite School Center provides an independent K-12 option. Liberty's story is county government, old school buildings, a long courthouse life, and the roads that pull rural Amite County toward its seat.