(Photo by Mississippi State Parks Facebook)
- Recreators of all stripes will soon be able to enjoy an elevated overnight experience at many of Mississippi’s most popular state parks.
In July 2021, a series of investigative reports by WLBT’s Howard Ballou, “The State of Our Parks,” revealed substandard conditions and declining attendance at several Mississippi state parks. Neglect, a lack of marketing, and other issues compounded over several years to create the perfect storm of institutional decline: “Why would I want to go there?”
Roosevelt State Park in Scott County, for example, is as old as the Mississippi state park system itself. The New Deal’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) started construction on Roosevelt in 1934 and completed it in 1940. Crumbling Depression-era cabins, rusty appliances, and more were only a small part of the financial and bureaucratic uphill battle the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks (MDWFP) would have to fight to modernize its aging state parks.
The agency had its work cut out for it, and renovations, campground upgrades, and more are now underway at several parks. On September 5 of this year, four years after WLBT’s initial report, Roosevelet held a grand reopening. Improvements to Roosevelt and other state parks are part of a larger effort by MDWFP to significantly elevate the visitor experience at Mississippi state parks.
In the same vein, campers, hikers, hunters, anglers, and recreators of all stripes will soon be able to enjoy an elevated overnight experience at many of Mississippi’s most popular state parks. MDWFP is now purchasing a series of “tiny houses” to be available for rent at parks across South, Central, and North Mississippi. The Airbnb or Vrbo-style houses are presumably being rolled out in an effort to increase traffic—in-state and out-of-state alike—to Mississippi’s ecological tourist destinations.
The first home became available for reservation in October 2024 at Buccaneer State Park in Waveland. Another followed in February of this year. Each of these Gulf-view cottages can sleep up to four people, and guests are likely to enjoy close fellowship in their 334 square feet of space.
MDWFP recently announced a third new tiny home, this time in Jackson, at Lefleur’s Bluff State Park. Reservations for “The Nest” opened on September 16 for stays beginning October 1. Visitors to the capital city now have the unique opportunity for a comfortable overnight stay in Mississippi’s only true urban state park, nestled between Mayes Lake, the Pearl River, and several of Jackson’s popular commercial districts.
An early 2025 RFQ shows that MDWFP plans to build up to 35 of these tiny homes over a period of three years, and that the project will eventually reach 10 of the state’s 24 state parks: Buccaneer in Waveland and Lefleur’s Bluff in Jackson as well as Tishomingo in Tishomingo, John W. Kyle in Sardis, Hugh White in Grenada, Tombigbee in Tupelo, Roosevelt in Morton, Holmes County in Durant, Paul B. Johnson in Hattiesburg, and Clarkco in Quitman.
Each tiny house will come fully furnished and include amenities like queen-sized beds, full bathrooms, kitchenettes, outdoor patios with grills and firepits, and even locally roasted coffee for the coffeemaker. The rental price will be about $190 per night.
Andre Hollis, MDWFP director of state parks, told the Clarion-Ledger in August 2024 that in his 27 years working for the department, this is the most excitement he has seen surrounding the parks and that the agency is receiving positive feedback on the plan to build the tiny houses. Excitement, indeed. MDWFP’s recommended budget for the 2023 fiscal year was just shy of $71.4 million, while the recommendation for the 2026 (current) fiscal year was over $91 million—nearly 28% growth over just three fiscal years. This would be a significant margin of growth for any state agency and ostensibly signals a meaningful expansion for MDWFP as the tiny house initiative and other projects like it roll forward.
Lawmakers seem to be giving MDWFP room to think beyond patchwork upkeep and begin experimenting with marketing and tourist experiences. If the trend holds, the arrival of tiny houses could be remembered less as a novelty and more as the moment Mississippi’s state parks began to reinvent themselves for the next generation.
Stephen Griffin
