Fort Pillow State Historic Park

While I went down to Memphis Bud and Matey stayed at Fort Pillow State Historic Park about an hour and a half north. Our site turned out to be pretty nice. There is no one on the far side of our camper giving us quite a bit of privacy.

The campground loop was long enough to give Matey a decent walk.

On Sunday, when I got back, we drove up to explore the historic fort. Like at Columbus-Belmont there seems to be nothing left but earthworks. These were less obvious and were now pretty indistinguishable from the woods.

There were some nice trees, maybe growing here since not long after the Civil War.

There was an overlook with an interesting view. In the far distance on the left you can just catch a glimpse of the Mississippi River. A bit closer on the right you might think that is also the river.

But it’s not anymore. It’s called The Chute and it is an oxbow lake now cut off from the river. You’ll notice the state line between Tennessee and Arkansas follows what was the river. And Fort Pillow now guards this oxbow lake, and not the Mississippi at all.

Before we left on Monday Matey and I took a walk on the Chickasaw Bluff Trail.

We walked as far as the primitive campsite which was on a bluff,

and had a partially obscured view of a valley, but I couldn’t find either the river or the lake.

While we were a bit disappointed with the fort, this was a nice park and a very nice campground.