Jackson, Mississippi

Primitive camping, RV sites, a nine-hole golf course, hiking trails, fishing and picnic areas are just a few of the amenities available at LeFleur’s Bluff State Park, which is located near several of Jackson’s top attractions. The Mississippi Museum of Natural Science and the Mississippi Children’s Museum are accessible via the park’s west entrance.

For more than 100 years, the Jackson Zoo has been caring for a collection of animals big and small, which today includes chimpanzees, Sumatran tigers and hissing cockroaches. Some of the zoo’s exhibit areas are undergoing renovations but the facility is open to the public on a limited basis during construction. 

The facility is among the largest of its kind in America and features a 60-foot diameter projection dome for showcasing astronomical “sky shows” and other educational programs. The planetarium is currently being remodeled and is slated to reopen in 2023. 

The National Park Service has designed the family home of Medgar and Myrlie Evers as a national monument. Medgar Evers served as the first field secretary for the NAACP, led civil rights marches and prayer vigils and helped to integrate the University of Mississippi in 1962. After his assassination outside the family home in 1963, Myrlie Evers continued her husband’s work and later established the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute for civil rights, education and reconciliation.