Best Campgrounds near Pontotoc, MS

We heard about this new RV park through a blog email and decided to check it out. Following our GPS from I-22, we had no trouble finding the campground (CG).  We arrived at 3:00 PM to find the office closed, with a sign on the door indicating they would return at 3:30. Although we had prepaid for our reservation, we had not been assigned a site number. We called the contact number and left a message. A few minutes later, we received a call back with our site number and were informed that we could proceed to site 26 and check in once the staff member returned from lunch. Site 26 with FHUs is 1 of 6 pull through cement sites in the CG. The 4 back-in sites are cement pads. The pad was spacious, providing ample room for our 40’ fifth wheel and F-450 truck. There are two sewer connections on both cement and gravel sites, which is a nice convenience. Water and electric hookups are centrally located on the pad, though the electric connection sits low to the ground, requiring us to bend the surge protector to plug in. The water pressure was adequate at around 40 psi. The CG Wi-Fi worked well for basic tasks such as email and web browsing, including Facebook, though we did not attempt to stream. Facilities include a clean shower and restroom area, as well as a laundry room equipped with four washers and four dryers, each costing$3 per use. During our visit, the small dog run was unavailable due to maintenance or AstroTurf installation. A small playground is located adjacent to it. Most of the sites are pull-through, with a few back-in sites near the cabins. There is highway and train noise, but not too bad. The office carries a selection of snacks, drinks, and some RV essentials. Overall, the CG is a few miles west of Tupelo, with limited attractions nearby. While it offers good amenities and a convenient layout, the remote location may not appeal to those looking for nearby entertainment or dining options. This CG worked well for our overnighter.

Our RV GPS and Waze brought us south from Tishomingo via MS-25 to MS-4 to John Rankin Hwy. It’s a more scenic and narrower road than just taking MS-25 south, but there were no issues. We had made online reservations earlier that day for this Army Corps of Engineers Campground (CG) where we get a 50% discount per night using the National Parks Access Pass. We arrived earlier than 2:00 PM when the check-in gate opens, but there was a sign to go ahead and set up and come back at 2:00 to check-in. As we had our site number, we headed directly to pull through site 9 with water and electric(50/30/20 AMP). This was our third time camping at Whitten and we were delighted to find that they had combined site 8 and 9 into one long site. This site still had the old site amenities, which meant that we had double electric pedestals, water spigots, patio areas with picnic table, standup bbq, and fire pit. We were able to adjust our 5th wheel to avoid the several unlevel areas in this very long pull through. As with most COEs, water pressure was good and the electric worked fine. Whitten CG has a lot of mature trees, so satellite is iffy. We had no north shot for our Starlink. However, we got 2 to 3 bars on Verizon and the Mifi worked well for our needs to include streaming. There’s no WiFi in the CG. Site 9 has water view and does not bump up to other sites, which we found highly desireable. During our first stay in 2019, each loop had a shower house with a washer and dryer that we had used. Our last stay was an overnighter and we didn’t need to do laundry, so we hadn't checked those facilities out. This time we were here for three nights and had planned on doing laundry only to find the doors locked. We asked the camp host about the washers and dryers. He stated that the washers and dryers had been closed during COVID and now they were no long functional and weren't going to be replaced. We again enjoyed the trail system through out the CG and recreation area to walk our dogs. The James L. Whitten Historical Center is interesting to go through. There are several fishing piers as well. We came on a Wednesday and were pretty much by ourselves. Both Thursday and Friday campers started coming in around 11:30 AM filling up the CG. The camp hosts didn’t seem to mind the early arrivals and even opened up the office around noon for a few minutes to accommodate check-ins.