Best Tent Camping near Holcomb, MS

We tent camped for the weekend at George Payne Cossar State Park in March.  It was still a bit cold and the pollen had come out - looked like snow falling in my headlamp.  There is a playground for kids and dogs are allowed at the campgrounds.  We had a nice fire, roasted marshmallows, and wanted to play disc golf but the lake was too high and covered some of them!

My girlfriend and I tent camped here for one night. The campground is large and well-kept, with over 100 sites, and the sites are very spacious. Each has a table, water and electric hookups, a hook, and a tent pad. From what I saw, we were the only tent campers in the campground. We camped in site 64, which is near the lake and the bathrooms. The tent pad was covered in pine needles, making it nice and soft. The only complaint I have is that there is a very bright street light that stays on all night near the boat ramp, but I would highly recommend this campground. Enid Lake and its facilities appear to be top-notch.

What a gorgeous farm, and what a marvelous experience! When we first arrived, we thought we would have to hike down to camp. Nope! Brian met us at the gate, and led us down a perfectly manicured field so that we could park right next to our tent spot! 

He showered us with provisions grown on his farm, including oodles of chanterelles and a couple bulbs of Creole Ajo Rojo from his passion project. We enjoyed a couple hours kayaking on the big pond/little lake with some ducks. We ended up getting caught in a surprise rain storm while floating, but no worries! We were able to make it back and throw up a tarp in no time. There are lots of primo spots to set up your tent, but ours fit perfectly between the two trees our tarp was strung between. 

Brian really thought of everything when it comes to this camp! He provided us with covered firewood- including heat pine, which burned like a match and made building a fire after the rainstorm a breeze. We loved having enough chairs to set up both in front of the water and in front of the fire, so we didn't have to drag them back and forth. 

Oh, what luxury it is to have a running toilet and a hot shower while camping! Both structures are incredibly solid and private, and made us feel human again after a couple weeks camping primitively. 

As for phone service, mine was in and out. This is rural Mississippi, after all. But when I did have service, Brian was incredibly attentive when I needed to reach him!

Most of the campers you see here are RVs. We camped in tent, wish they had tent pads. Good view of the lake, nice clean bathroom. Spacious depending on which site you choose. We reached there in the night, the camp numbers were hard to read as they were painted on the floor. If you fish they have fish cleaning station in the campsite entrance.

It’s really hard for me to give 1 star for anything, but this place is a dump. This is the 3rd MS State Park (North MS) we have been to and it is clear that MS does not take care of its state parks. Only half of the park is open, the grass was overgrown, trash/garbage is littered every where (especially near the open dumpsters that are randomly placed throughout camp), the ranger only came around to collect fees and then disappeared. The bathroom does not have AC or a fan, so it was a total sweat box. The toilet paper was not replenished, there is no hand soap, there was broken glass on the ground in one of the stalls. The shower portion wasn’t that bad, but again, no AC. The water hook ups are at least 100 foot away from most camp sites, so bring lots of extra hose if you do end up staying here. The site #’s are not clearly marked and they do not post if a site is reserved. No designated fire pits, so people have been just burning where ever they want. The fee is $22 a night, but they will charge you another $16 if you put up a tent. Overall, I paid $39 to stay in the worst campground we have ever gone to. Get it together Mississippi!

I had a horrible experience at this campsite. Rolled up to find one (miserable) couple there. They were blasting music out of their car which is whatever and I waved hello and they just stared. Multiple cars came thru the campsite at night, shining their headlights every which way. Even though it says don’t enter past a certain point unless you are camping, this is clearly a spot for locals to do what they cannot do at home. At 2am I hear barking and one of my dogs busts through my tent. I go out there and there is a pack of wild dogs scouring the campsite. They weren’t terrifying or coming at us, but it was still scary. No more than 10 mins later two cars surround my tent with headlights, which is really scary for anyone, but I am a young woman traveling alone. Apparently the couple called the cops saying my dogs had been barking all night. There was brief barking and it was the wild dogs who were actually eating the trash the evil couple left out. Even if my dogs were barking, why is surrounding my tent with only headlights at 2am appropriate? I couldn’t see anything. Never saw a ranger, immediately left in the morning. Sorry for the essay, just hope to spare someone a similar experience. It is beautiful tho.

This campground does not appear to be maintained. Many sites are in an area that is subject to flooding. There are a handful of sites along the spillway channel that are decent, but I wouldn’t stay here unless I was able to get one of those sites. Unfortunately, this is another disappointing Mississippi State Park.

This place was absolutely gorgeous. I was alone in the campground both nights i was there with a couple of people coming in during the day to have lunch at one of the picnic tables.

I might have worked on my tanlines 🤫

I fit pretty good in my 24' motorhome but woupd be leery of something too much bigger. 

Do not try to come at night. It is pitch black and steep drop offs. 

Really nice set up for tents if thwt is your thing.

This is as simple and as it gets, but it does have restrooms. This is primitive camping so there are no hookups and nothing extras, just a nice place to pitch a tent or park. You can not reserve this site but it’s free. There are a few other similar primitive campsites in the park nearby. Nice and wooded.

Yay: simple camping! Very pretty wooded area. Lots of hiking trails nearby.

Nay: no map or info of any sort once you’re there.

Surprise: exceptional in fall!

The campground is located in a beautiful spot on a peninsula with great views of Grenada lake at both sunrise and sunset. The tent pads are nice and each camp has a grill and a nice marble picnic table. Several camps have fire pits, trash cans, and water faucets. There is a nice public restroom just a short walk from any camp. The sounds of the water crashing on the shores around you and the birds singing at sunrise are utterly calming. The only problem is the occasional truck that passes through to sit listening to music or use the campground road as a turn around. This could be fixed if the gate at the entrance were kept closed and only opened for actual campers.

Mississippi does a great job of maintaining their COE campgrounds. Nice, spacious spots underneath large Pine trees. Water views and access to the Lower Lake. There is a popular swim beach, boat launch and boat dock. The spillway is also close by for fishing. Do not get this park confused with the John Kyle State Park Campground that is directly next to this one. This park is much nicer!

The NPS should absolutely charge a fee for the level amenities. This campground is optimized for RVs. There are pull thru spurs with multiple campsites sites but the tables have been moved and monopolized by RVers…including ones with tent pads. Generators running at 3:00 am. On the plus side, heated bathrooms were absolutely clean. Water fountains are distributed through the campground but one spigot to fill a jug. Good access to Little Mountain Trail. There were six empty sites made unusable by RVs parking in between them. Maybe when a camp host is onsite they will clean this up.

Part of the day use area has been converted into a campground in 2018. There are eight campsites, each with a level gravel pad tent area, picnic table and grill. There is group fire pit area, with a picnic table. Unfortunately, the only place to have a fire at your campsite is in the grill. None of the sites have electricity. There is a central water spigot. The restroom has flush toilets, but no showers. You can go to one of the other many Corps of Engineers campgrounds nearby to shower. Both times we have stayed here, we were the only ones there. It's so new, almost no one knows of its existence. To either side of it, there is a swimming area in the day use area and at the boat launch / swimming beach. All sites have a water view.

This campground was just ok in my opinion. I went through it while traveling the Natchez Trace. It is one of only three campgrounds that can be found on the Trace. I did not end up staying here, but wanted to check it out to see if it was worth staying in the future. The bathrooms were very old and could have used an upgrade. There is a very nice nature trail here for walking and it is the highest point in Mississippi with wonderful views!

With all the beautiful views and family recreation offered at Persimmon HIll Campground, you’ll be amazed that these sandy beaches are only a little over an hours drive from Memphis. Accessibility and the cleanliness of the park is why this has been a favorite in our family for many years.

Campground Review:

This weekend we celebrated National Hammock Day, in our Bear Butt Hammock, at site #55. You can book sites online up to 24 hours in advance, or you can show up to camp at one of the non-reservable first come sites. Cost was $20 per night. Each site is well kept with a parking pad, picnic table, lantern pole, fire pit and grill. All sites are generously sized with plenty of room and flat spots to put a tent, plus more than half of the sites have a view of the lake. This go around we were in our pop up, however don’t let all the rigs keep you away, we frequent this campground often with our tent when we need a quick getaway. There are two shower houses in the campground that are aIr conditioned, well lit, and kept clean and stocked daily. A playground and basketball court is centrally located and easily accessable to all families. Behind the playground is a nice nature trail that is lit at night for an evening stroll. While this campground is usually well populated, we’ve only had to camp in the overflow section once in all the 11 years we’ve been bringing our family here, and that was during a Fourth of July weekend.

Persimmon Hill Recreation Area is a well maintained picnic/day use area with a sandy beach. (Between here and the campground is where we usually see deer.) Life jackets are provided at the beach if needed. Besides the reservable pavillion, there are many picnic tables along the shoreline. The lake Is great for jet skis, kayaking, and relaxing on an inner tube. A boat launch is located in the campground. Enid Lake is one of the top fishing locations for crappie. The fish are well stocked, and a visit to the hatchery offers some interactive displays, history on the area, and a chance for the kids to feed the fish. Across the dam is a spillway with a handicap accessable fishing pier, a lakeside grocery store, an additional boat ramp, larger sandy swim beach, and the equally clean campground Wallace Creek.

Overall, due to the family feel and cleanliness, we highly recommend the area versus the few lakes closer to Memphis, and we also prefer this campground over others in around the lake with the exception of Wallace Creek.

If interested, check out my reviews of the area on these sites: Trippin’ Southerners website: https://www.trippinsoutherners.com/single-post/2018/03/06/Lake-Life---best-beach-in-the-mid-south

Campground video: https://youtu.be/fEUVvcr3RVQ