Discover Lowndes County

Lowndes County combines river landscapes, distinctive trails and a diverse cultural history. When planning your trip, you can choose between days by the water, walks and bike rides, nature experiences, as well as museums and historic sites. This mix helps you choose a vacation rental based on the focus you want for your trip.

Water Landscapes and Trails for Active Days

The Columbus Riverwalk is a 2.2-mile trail for walking and cycling. It begins at Main Street and follows the Tombigbee River. The facilities include two pavilions, restrooms, benches, bike racks and picnic tables. This makes it easy to plan a flexible outing, whether you want to take a walk or include cycling as a means of transportation.

Lake Lowndes State Park is home to a 150-acre lake. The Dewayne Hayes Recreation Area has 100 sites with electricity and water hookups, as well as 10 basic sites. It also offers opportunities for fishing, boating, hiking and sightseeing along the riverbanks. You will also find a boat ramp and three fishing piers at Columbus Lock and Dam East Bank, which is located in Lowndes County on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway next to Stennis Lock and Dam.

Those looking for nature trails with varied landscape impressions can put the Plymouth Bluff Center on their list. There, five miles of trail lead through bottomland forest and higher-elevation mixed forests. The nature trails pass through 190 acres of woodland and over the crest of a 60- to 70-foot-high bluff overlooking the former course of the Tombigbee River. The 5.6-mile Opossum Trail complements this offering with a self-guided tour introducing native plants, trees and wildlife.

Literature, Museums and Historic Traces

The Tennessee Williams Home and Welcome Center is the first home of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tennessee Williams and has been designated a National Literary Landmark. A tour of the house is available; a donation of $5 is recommended. The Agnes Zaiontz Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Transportation Museum and Intermodal Learning Center displays artifacts and information about rail and road transportation.

The history of Columbus extends far beyond individual buildings. Catfish Alley was a central meeting place and business district of the African American community in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The name originated from the smell of catfish sandwiches. Catfish in the Alley offers catfish raised on Mississippi farms and other Southern cuisine dishes; the event takes place every spring in Columbus.

The Spring Pilgrimage includes tours of numerous antebellum homes, lantern tours and carriage rides through historic districts. At Friendship Cemetery, rows of marble markers identify the final resting place of 2,194 Confederate soldiers. One stone there commemorates Mrs. Canant as the only Confederate nurse officially recognized by the government of the United States. At an annual candlelight event, students perform dramatic monologues about people buried there.

Cultural Sites for Different Interests

The Stephen D. Lee Home houses the Florence McLeod Hazard Museum, with collections and artifacts related to the American Civil War. The R.E. Hunt Museum & Cultural Center has been preserved as a museum and cultural center and is designated a Mississippi Historic Landmark. Mississippi University for Women was founded in 1884 as The Industrial Institute and College and was the first public college for women in the United States. Its historic campus has 23 buildings listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The galleries house the departments of art and design as well as music and theatre.

The Rosenzweig Arts Center adds further highlights with sales and exhibition galleries, classrooms, a theatre and event spaces, as well as free monthly gallery exhibitions. The original Annunciation Catholic Church was designed by Father Jean Baptiste Mouton in the Gothic Revival style. It retains its Jacoby stained-glass windows and is used as a daily Mass chapel as well as for weddings and other special celebrations.

As a direct place to find more travel ideas, you can view Columbus. Find more destinations via Neshoba County, Forrest County, Issaquena County, Tunica, Harrison, Desoto and Kemper County.

For the higher-level travel overview: Mississippi.