Roosevelt State Park near Morton is one of ten Mississippi state parks built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Crews began work in August 1935 and the park opened in April 1940, named for the president whose New Deal paid for it. The CCC left nine cabins and a pavilion in the Rustic style, built from local materials to sit quietly in their surroundings, plus steps and culverts. Its log lodge burned in 1978, but the cabins still stand around a curving drive, and the whole historic core has been on the National Register since 1997.
The park wraps around 150-acre Shadow Lake at the western edge of Bienville National Forest, a 178,000-acre forest established in 1936. About 60,000 young men between the ages of 17 and 24 passed through Mississippi's CCC camps between 1933 and 1942, earning thirty dollars a month, most of which went home. The camps were segregated, and thirteen were set aside for Black enrollees. The corps planted millions of trees, built roads and telephone lines, and gave the state its park system.
Today the lake is for boating and fishing, and the park has about five miles of nature trails, a scenic overlook above the national forest, campsites and cabins. It makes a quiet stop between Jackson and Meridian off Interstate 20. Entry and camping fees are set by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, so check its listing before you go.
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