Randolph, TN

Randolph is a rural unincorporated community on the second Chickasaw Bluff beside the Mississippi River, near the mouth of the Hatchie. In the 1830s its landing made it an early West Tennessee river-trade center, and the community shipped more cotton than Memphis until 1840. The bluff gave flatboats and steamboats a landing above the river, while nearby cotton fields tied the port to the wider agricultural economy. Randolph's first post office opened in 1827, placing its river story in the same era as Memphis's early growth.

The town's later story is about erosion, war, and preservation. The Mississippi River and its ravines carried away much of the original settlement; Union forces burned what remained during the Civil War, and an 1886 fire destroyed more houses and businesses. Today a small county road reaches the river, and TennGreen's Randolph Bluff property protects nearly 19 acres with about 1,300 feet of river frontage. The tract preserves a place tied to Indigenous peoples, French explorers, riverboat pilots, early settlers, and Civil War soldiers. Randolph is a vanished river town whose bluff, cotton history, and protected river edge still give the community a physical presence.