Ridgeland: Parkway, Trails and History

Ridgeland brings together its location on the Ross Barnett Reservoir with two very different scales of trails and specific cultural sites. The Chisha Foka Multi-Use Trail passes through historic Choctaw settlement areas; the Natchez Trace Parkway runs through the city. Other attractions include the Ridgeland History Trail and the Bill Waller Craft Center. For your trip planning, this offers a choice between trails, city history and a long scenic route—helpful points of reference for deciding what kind of stay you’re looking for.

Reservoir, Trail and Parkway

Ridgeland borders the 33,000-acre Ross Barnett Reservoir. The Natchez Trace Parkway also runs through the city. This places the shores of a large body of water and a scenic highway side by side as distinct geographic points of reference. If you’re looking for a vacation rental, this contrast can help you decide which aspects of Ridgeland matter most for your trip.

The Chisha Foka Multi-Use Trail is a 10-mile paved trail that passes through historic Choctaw settlement areas. It combines a clearly specified distance with a connection to history. In Ridgeland, the trail has eight access points between milepost 95.8 and the Reservoir Overlook at milepost 105.6 on the Natchez Trace Parkway. Check these access details before your trip so you can plan using current information.

The Natchez Trace Parkway as a Long Route

The Natchez Trace Parkway is a 444-mile national scenic parkway that runs from Natchez, Mississippi, to Nashville, Tennessee, and passes through Ridgeland. In Ridgeland, it can be accessed via Rice Road and Old Canton Road. Cyclists and drivers use it for a leisurely, scenic drive. Compared with the 10-mile Chisha Foka Multi-Use Trail, the Parkway’s total length illustrates two very different scales: a clearly defined trail and an extensive road route. As you plan, consider whether you’d rather focus on a trail or make the Parkway the centerpiece of a longer route.

City History and Culture

The Ridgeland History Trail features informational panels about Ridgeland’s culture and history. It currently includes 22 trail markers; the number may change as the trail develops. Its focus differs from the Choctaw connection of the Chisha Foka Multi-Use Trail: here, the subject is the city’s culture and history, while the other trail passes through historic Choctaw settlement areas. If you’re interested in both perspectives, you can include them as distinct themes in your trip planning.

The Bill Waller Craft Center is located at 950 Rice Road, right next to the Natchez Trace Parkway. This adds another clearly located cultural attraction to the trails. Its immediate proximity to the Parkway is a clear spatial relationship to keep in mind as you find your way around Ridgeland.

Find a Vacation Rental That Fits Your Itinerary

When looking for a vacation rental in Ridgeland, it’s worth deciding first what you want to focus on during your stay. If the longer Parkway route will play a central role, include the access roads mentioned above in your plans. If you’re more interested in trails and history, you can compare the paved Chisha Foka Multi-Use Trail with the city-history panels on the Ridgeland History Trail. That way, you can base your search on the places and themes you actually want to visit, rather than deciding based only on a general label for the location.

The trails, access points, cultural sites and route of the Parkway described here offer different points of reference. Which ones matter most to you depends on whether you’d like to include a particular route, a historical connection or several of these themes in your stay.

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