Issaquena County: Nature and Civil Rights History

Nature and history take center stage in Issaquena County: Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) offer opportunities for hunting and fishing, while places and historical contexts tell stories ranging from Indigenous settlement to the civil rights movement. When planning your visit, it’s worth distinguishing between the individual areas and topics. Use and access vary from one WMA unit to another; the historic sites also represent different periods and stories.

Waterfowl Areas and Delta Landscape

Shipland WMA is near Mayersville and offers public hunting and fishing opportunities year-round. Applicable seasonal rules and permits may change, so check the requirements before your visit. This lets you plan your activities more specifically rather than assuming that a general year-round statement applies to every individual rule.

Howard Miller WMA covers 2,400 acres in Issaquena County and is located about 13 miles from Rolling Fork. Its 48 fields are separated by levees and drainage ditches. The area is managed as a high-quality waterfowl hunting area. Its size, layout, and designated hunting focus give a concrete impression of how the area is used and managed; hunting opportunities and regulations remain seasonal.

Mahannah WMA extends across Issaquena and Warren Counties and is located about 15 miles north of Vicksburg. It is part of an ecologically largely intact and biologically diverse bottomland hardwood ecosystem in the Mississippi Delta. Thus, in addition to the hunting areas described, the floodplain landscape is among the natural features that define Issaquena County.

Different Access Conditions

The Ten Point Unit of Phil Bryant WMA has a visitor check-in station, a camping area, and access roads. Check the check-in procedures and the listed facilities again before your trip. The Goose Lake Unit has different access conditions: most of it is currently accessible only by boat because there are no roads, trails, or public rights-of-way.

Access is not the same throughout Phil Bryant WMA. Backwoods Unit 4 is accessible only by ATV or UTV from Mahannah WMA headquarters. While a boat is specified for access to most of the Goose Lake Unit, the vehicle type and starting point are specified for Backwoods Unit 4. If you’re planning to visit either unit, check the current access conditions specifically for that area.

Civil Rights History in and Around Mayersville

The Unita Blackwell Property includes the Freedom House, the Ranch House, and a neighboring shotgun house. The Freedom House was Unita Blackwell’s primary residence and hosted numerous civil rights movement meetings between 1964 and 1970. Blackwell was the first Black woman mayor in Mississippi. The Ranch House is associated with her professional work during her time as mayor of Mayersville; political working sessions and meetings took place there during her tenure.

Mayersville is also connected to the struggle for voting rights. In June 1964, activists from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) held meetings there about voting rights for Black Americans. Together with the history of the Freedom House and the Ranch House, this provides another perspective on civil rights work in the 1960s without conflating the individual places or events.

Archaeological Sites and Different Periods

Grace Mounds is on private property. The two remaining large mounds are visible from Mississippi Highway 1 for most of the year; the best view is from nearby Grace Road. The site is also associated with a long history of settlement: people from Indigenous American societies lived there as early as around 850 CE, during the Coles Creek period. The mounds were built approximately between 1200 and 1600 CE, during the Mississippian period.

The Mayersville Archaeological Site has a different archaeological classification. Its main component belongs to the Mayersville phase, dated to 1200–1400 CE. At the Aden Site, three mounds are associated with a religious, ceremonial, and burial site. It is also the type site for the Aden phase of the Coles Creek culture—a reference point for classifying this phase. The sites’ periods may overlap, but they describe different places and cultural contexts.

Discover more destinations: Glen Allan, Adams County, Harrison, Pontotoc County, Lee, Panola, Claiborne, Jackson County.

For the main travel overview: Mississippi.