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Pocahontas Hardeman County TennesseePhoto: Fredlyfish4 · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History · Pocahontas

Pocahontas’ post office opened in 1858, and 2 of its places are on the National Register

Most of Pocahontas was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1996. Its Register listings are the Pocahontas School and the Davis Bridge Battlefield. Below: maps from 1950 on.

1858first post office
2on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Pocahontas began

When was Pocahontas founded?

1858

The Pocahontas post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 176168 years
Founding year: the first Pocahontas post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Pocahontas’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Pocahontas are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Pocahontas’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pocahontas’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Pocahontas came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Pocahontas.

Read it all →

The community originated in 1828 as a settlement known as Ray's Bluff, located at the confluence of the Hatchie and Tuscumbia Rivers. After a stagecoach line began service in the region, the settlers moved their village to a site on the stage route, on Matamora Hill. A large hotel and several homes were built in Matamora before 1845. In 1848, the community moved to its present site, to locate along the new Memphis and Charleston Railroad line, which crossed the area about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Matamora Hill.

Pocahontas was the site of the Civil War Battle of Davis Bridge.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Pocahontas on the map, 1950 to 1986

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pocahontas. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Pocahontas on the 1950 USGS mapPocahontas on the 1986 USGS map1950Pocahontas sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Pocahontas.

On the National Register

2 historic places in Pocahontas

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1998
Davis Bridge Battlefield
Pocahontas School
BuildingsSites
Pocahontas SchoolBuilding
All 2 listings
Davis Bridge BattlefieldSite · listed 1998

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Pocahontas

Nobody well known was born in Pocahontas itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Earle MeadowsAmerican athlete · b. 1913
Albert Brewer47th Governor of Alabama · b. 1928
The Honky Tonk ManAmerican professional wrestler · b. 1953
Bailey HowellAmerican basketball player · b. 1937
J
Jim StewartAmerican record producer and executive · b. 1930
Roscoe TurnerAmerican airplane racer · b. 1895
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Pocahontas’s post office has been open since 1858.

Gone or out of use
Pocahontas Schoolschool

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Pocahontas’ history

What year was Pocahontas founded?

The Pocahontas post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Pocahontas?

Two places: the Pocahontas School (listed 2007) and the Davis Bridge Battlefield (1998).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.