Randolph, MS

Randolph is a census-designated place and unincorporated community along Mississippi Highway 9 in Pontotoc County. It received the CDP designation in the 2020 Census, giving a formal name to a settlement that had long been recognized locally. The place takes its name from John Randolph, a Kentucky settler who operated a store here; in 1900, the community had 162 residents and two churches.

Randolph's best-known present-day distinction is its Amish community on the outskirts, founded in 1995 by Swartzentruber Amish families from Ethridge, Tennessee. The settlement is the only remaining Amish community in the Deep South, and its presence changes the visual rhythm of the county road: horse-drawn traffic and plain farmsteads share the same landscape as Mississippi's ordinary highway network. Randolph is also part of the Pontotoc County School District, tying the CDP to the county's public-school system. The county school district serves the surrounding rural area as well. Highway 9 provides the direct route through the CDP and into the surrounding countryside.