I imagine the conversation went something like this.

Explorer, pointing at a big creek, wondering what the Choctaw called it: What is that?
Choctaw, wondering how the explorer could not know that’s a creek: Big creek.

Explorer: Ooh, cool name.

The Choctaw words for “big creek” (bok chito) are transliterated into English as Bogue Chitto (BO-guh CHIT-uh).

As a teenager, I lived in Newton County. The Bogue Chitto community in Neshoba and Kemper counties was not that far away. Years later, when I lived in New Orleans, I found out about Bogue Chitto State Park, a park in Washington Parish that covers more than 1,780 acres.

When I moved to the Amite County/Lincoln County area, I heard people talk about Bogue Chitto and naturally assumed they were speaking of one or the other of these places.

Obviously, they were not. They were talking about the town of Bogue Chitto in Lincoln County. Although it is “unincorporated,” it does have its own post office and zip code.

The BC in Neshoba/Kemper also has its own zip, however, and it’s officially a “census-designated place.” It covers an area of 6.39 square miles, a good bit larger than the 2.26 square miles of BC in Lincoln County.

The larger one is part of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians Reservation, and the population of 864 (2020 Census) is 93 percent Choctaw. The Lincoln County one has a population of 437 (2020) and is 85 percent White (non-Hispanic), 15 percent Black or African-American (non-Hispanic).

Lincoln’s BC is the only municipal historical hamlet in the state. The term refers to any former city, town or village with a current population of less than 600, that lost its charter prior to 1945.

There is yet another BC, however — the unincorporated community of Bogue Chitto in Dallas County, Alabama, 19 miles west of Selma. Population numbers were unavailable.

Why the proliferation of towns and communities named Bogue Chitto? Well, it’s probably because they all are in close geographical proximity to “big creeks” and it is quite common to name a settlement after parts of the landscape that may make it easier to locate.

Ten miles south of Brookhaven, Bogue Chitto received its charter July 3, 1892. In his book, “Lincoln County, Mississippi: A Pictorial History,” Durr Walker Jr. writes, “Though there seem to be no authentic records of when or by whom it was settled, most agree it was founded before the New Orleans and Northern Railroad — later the Illinois Central. … The first officials were J.H. Curtis, mayor; B.E. Brister, F.A. McLauren, and W.L. Lewis, aldermen.”

The town is home to the Bogue Chitto Attendance Center Bobcats (part of the Lincoln County School District), several churches, businesses, and people proud to call it home. It may be one of a few locations with the same name, but it is Lincoln County unique.

One Bogue Chitto, two Bogue Chitto, three Bogue Chitto, four … If you visit our Bogue Chitto, you won’t need to see more.