Union County: Museums, History, and Trails

In Union County, you can explore cultural history, literature, and outdoor trails as distinct themes for your stay. New Albany offers specific places to start, from the Union County Heritage Museum and the Downtown Historic District to parks and trails. The Ingomar Mounds add an archaeological site in the county to the mix. Whether you’re mainly interested in exploring exhibits and local history or spending time on outdoor trails, there are different destinations for both interests.

Museum, Literature, and Regional History

The Union County Heritage Museum in New Albany has six galleries, a library, and a gift shop. Its exhibits cover different periods: stone tools represent around 10,000 years of the county’s past. A permanent exhibit includes fossils from the Late Cretaceous as well as remains of Pleistocene megafauna, including mastodon, woolly mammoth, saber-toothed tiger, and short-faced bear. The museum also displays Smithsonian Institution objects associated with the Ingomar Mound Site.

Frenchman’s Bend, the museum’s outdoor area, offers interactive experiences focused on rural Mississippi culture. Its features include agricultural exhibits, public art, the Storyteller’s Chair, and Varner’s Country Store. It also includes an early 20th-century doctor’s office, a blacksmith shop, a 1950s auto body shop, and an art house with a pottery studio. The William Faulkner Literary Garden was established in 2005; its plants are mentioned in Faulkner’s literary works.

Literature is also represented at the William Faulkner Library, a public, non-circulating library. Faulkner was born in New Albany in 1897. The Sculpture Trail & Scavenger Hunt runs for two blocks around the museum and features nearly 20 sculptures. If you want to plan around current visitor rules for the museum or outdoor area, check with the museum directly in advance.

Historic Sites and Archaeological Traces

The New Albany Downtown Historic District is significant to Union County for its collection of commercial, financial, and government buildings. These buildings document the city’s development from 1890 to 1946. The Union County Courthouse is part of this historical context: it was designated a Mississippi Landmark on October 7, 1986, individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 26, 1990, and later included as a component of the Downtown Historic District.

The Ingomar Mounds are a site dating to the Middle Woodland period, about 2,200 years ago, and the oldest documented human-made site in Union County. The site once included 14 mounds; Ingomar Mound is the surviving mound in the complex. Another cultural connection is Leon Pinson: he was born in Union County on January 11, 1919, and was a member of the Silvertone Quartet, among other groups, in New Albany.

Parks and Outdoor Trails

Park Along the River in New Albany offers nearly three miles of walking paths through wooded areas and across the Tallahatchie River. The Tallahatchie Trail runs through the park and along the banks of the Little Tallahatchie. In New Albany, it connects several outdoor recreation destinations. The New Albany Disc Golf Course also starts in the park. It follows the Tallahatchie Trail to the BNA Sportsplex, is rated as moderately difficult, and is free.

The 43.6-mile paved Tanglefoot Trail runs through Union, Pontotoc, and Chickasaw counties. It connects six communities: New Albany, Ecru, Pontotoc, Algoma, New Houlka, and Houston. On the stretch between New Albany and Houston, you’ll see forests, creeks, waterways, fields, and low-lying areas. The trails also differ in scale: Park Along the River offers nearly three miles of walking paths, while the Tanglefoot Trail covers a much longer route through several counties.

Crossing on the Green Railroad Park has a train viewing platform beside the BNSF railway line, as well as a picnic area. Visitors can watch trains pass through New Albany. For current visitor rules for this park, check with the museum.

Events During Your Travel Dates

Tallahatchie Riverfest is held annually in New Albany. The festival includes outdoor concerts and food vendors, among other things; the program may vary from year to year. If the festival is relevant to your travel plans, check the dates and program for your travel dates.

Explore more destinations: New Albany, Hinds, Lafayette, Prentiss, Lincoln County, Claiborne, Yazoo County, Issaquena County.

For the main travel overview: Mississippi.