Chester, Mississippi is a small community in central Choctaw County, Mississippi

Choctaw County, Mississippi

-National protected areas:* Natchez Trace Parkway * Tombigbee National Forest -Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 9,758 people, 3,686 households, and 2,668 families residing in the county. The population density was 23 people per square mile . There were 4,249 housing units at an...

 about 9 miles northwest of Ackerman

Ackerman, Mississippi

Ackerman is a town in Choctaw County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,696 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Choctaw County.It is named for an early landowner.-Geography:Ackerman is located at ....

. Once a thriving railroad town, Chester is now all but uninhabited. The Red Hills Mine (a reclaimed open-pit lignite mine) opened nearby in 1998, with the first excavation in 1999.

Coal from the mine feeds the Red Hills Power Plant, which supplies electricity to the Tennessee Valley Authority

Tennessee Valley Authority

The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...

 (TVA).

Notable natives

Cheryl Prewitt

Cheryl Prewitt

Cheryl Prewitt , from Ackerman, Mississippi was Miss America 1980. Cheryl Prewitt-Salem grew up in the community of Chester in Choctaw County, Mississippi. She is now married to Harry Salem, . She has two sons and a daughter who is deceased...

, Miss America of 1980.