Fort Pillow State Historic Park

Wife and I camp here 2 or 3 times a year. We have a popup camper, so we have camped on tent and rv sites. Rangers are top-notch and friendly. Bath houses are clean. They have installed a small playground for smaller children. We camp during the week between holidays, so not many campers there. Very quiet and relaxing. Around October, stink bugs are a big nuisance. The sites are kinda close together. But this is a very nice campground.

Over all it was great. Very quite. There is pretty much no cell service heading up or at the camp. They do offer WiFi. My biggest concern would me that camp site 26 is a little to close for my liking. But if you have like two families that want go together then 26&27 would be a great choice.

My wife and I loved the campground and have never had better service from the parks staff.

If you want level shaded sites, go else where. To start with the roads coming in are one lane, hilly & over grown. Only a handful of sites on the first, top, section have electric. Very hilly, unlevel sites. The lower, primitive sites are well shaded. Seems to be an old park due to the very narrow twisty roads. ATT & verizon cell services were off & on. Mostly off. Took our 26' coach thru the primitive section & thought we'd never maek it out, with the road & trees.

Killer museum with a ton of good civil war onfo. That was the best part of the part. Their signage is also mostly non-existant.

I have been at this campground for 10 days and it is exceptional. I’m in a pull through 50 amp site with water and electricity. There is a clean bathroom very close with a shower in it. Every couple of hours the park rangers or other staff drive through the area just to check on us. They are extremely friendly and ensure the area is well maintained. Couldn’t have a better experience.

An out of the way oasis, it was almost empty (only 2 other campers). Sat down and talked with the super friendly Ranger for awhile. The bathrooms were open, clean (except for stink bugs, but what can you do about that) and warm first thing in the morning. One cant ask for anything else.

I camped here for one night and wish I had more time because it was gorgeous and very well shaded. There’s a lot of history in this state park so be sure and take advantage of that in the nature center. There was a significant Civil War battle at Fort Pillow which I didn’t know anything about prior to this visit.

My husband and I chose this campground because it was in our “Best in Tent Camping Tennessee” guidebook. Not my favorite. The sites are extremely close together and there is absolutely no privacy. We chose an ADA site because my husband is a wheelchair user, but the grassy patch next to the cement was a hill (which made tent camping + wheelchair interesting). There was also zero shade and A LOT of bugs-we got eaten alive. I would only recommend this site for RV users who don’t plan to spend much time outside their rig (or, are camping in cooler months), and don’t care about privacy.

The bathhouse felt like a sauna-zero ventilation.

As a an aside the restroom at the visitor’s center is not wheelchair accessible.

Let me start by saying that the Rangers who run this place are top notch folks. The head Ranger stopped in a couple times every day to ask if we needed anything and to inquire about our opinion of the new site (more on this later). The facilities were well maintained, and a pleasant surprise for such a small state park.

So, we stayed on site #3. According to the head Ranger, we were the first to camp on this site since its renovation. Previously it had been a tent pad, but was now a concrete pad with a new 50A post and new water hydrant. Online, it lists the site as being 40’ long and 15’ wide. What they don’t tell you is that only the pad is this size. I had another 30’+ of gravel to park on in front of the pad. It was large enough for the biggest of fifth wheels with slides on both sides. There are now 11 total sites like this in the park thanks to recent renovations. All seemed very level. Site #3 and it’s neighbor #2 seemed perfectly level laterally, but required dropping the nose quite a bit to get level longitudinally. I still believe any length RV could pull it off easily. Each concrete site had a charcoal grill with adjustable height grates, a lantern pole, a fire pit with grill grate, and a picnic table that is bolted down (this might be my only nitpick complaint, as I like to move my picnic tables under the awning and on top of my mat... but I understand why it’s done.). The two bath houses are basically single occupancy Men and Women side facilities, but are almost brand new and heated for winter use. The Ranger said they added to accompanying porta potties for extra toilets until they can add an extra stall on each side to the buildings.

There is no playground in the campground, but a short drive into the park gets you to a very nice picnic area with a playground that looks as new as the bath houses and RV pads. Drive a bit further and you can visit the museum dedicated to the Fort after which the park is named and the men who died there. Get a map and hike the well marked trail to see a recreated portion of the fort (yes, it well marked with colored flashes and signs). Along the drive you will also find a scenic overlook of the Mississippi River and a small lake you can fish in. Canoe, Kayak, and Paddle Boat rentals are available at the museum.

For those wishing for a more rustic camping experience, the primitive sites here are among the best I have ever seen. Ever site is level, and graveled with smooth pea gravel. They all have the same fire pit, grill, and table as the RV sites. Some Require a bit of a walk from your parking spot, but you will well rewarded with some isolation. The only down side for some is that these sites have no on site water and only a few offer an electric post. There are community hydrants around the park for filling up bottle or tanks.

My personal favorite spot for primitive tent camping would have been site number 27. It is accessed via a short gravel road off the main paved road and past site 26. While it is a haul to get water, it is almost completely isolated from the rest of the campground and you can drive rite up to it with no walking. It has low ground on three sides. One side is the road leading into the park, but traffic here is light and it shouldnt be an issue.

Speaking of roads, this place is kind of out in the middle of nowhere, and the roads in can be narrow when meeting oncoming traffic. It’s not terrible but can make you a bit nervous when you meet another RV heading the other way.

All in all, I would say this park is a gem of a find since the remodeling of the RV sites and a solid 7/10 for those primitive tent campers. My only knock is the lack of a playground for those with kids. If you are empty nesters or young adults or just generally travel without kids, this is a solid 10/10 kind of place.

Small but nice campground.   Sites are decent and paved.  Facilities are adequate and clean.  Nice hiking trails but trail to the old fort wasn't clearly marked and difficult to follow, use a map.

We stayed in the group site that will hold up to 200 people for Halloween and it was perfect. The group site is away from all the other sites so you have plenty of room for children of all ages to run around and play without disturbing other campers. It’s very roomy and beautiful. You do have to watch for the falling acorns in the fall as they drop like bombs and don’t feel so nice. Ranger Tyson was awesome and came to check on us and fix any issue we had. I would recommend them putting in some electrical outlets under the pavilion but other than that I have no complaints. One of the hiking trails passes through the camp but we went on a slow weekend and saw nobody walk through. The lady that was in the museum when we went through was super awesome with a great personality and was very helpful! We will definitely be back to the site!

We were passing through Memphis and stayed overnight at Fort Pillow. The staff in the office were not super friendly or helpful. I had to ask for everything, like a campsite map to my site, a trail map, and buying firewood. Nothing was offered, so definitely ask. The layout is also backwards. You have to drive all the way to the back of the park to get to the museum visitors center. I am sure there is a practical reason for this, but it wasn’t fully transparent. I always check in to campsite to introduce myself and get a lay of campsite from the people who work there. They just were not very social or helpful.

We stayed in campsite 4 which is more or less a walk-in type site. You park and then have to haul your gear about 15 yards to your site. The privacy and cliff side campsite is worth it, but there again was no one warning. We were only staying one night and the site was a little impractical for our needs. If you are staying 2-3 nights then grab campsite 4, in the winter months after the leaves have fallen this site would be stunning. It is basically a private overlook to the Mississippi. Only thing that would’ve made this campsite perfect would be running water. Instead you have to walk to the bath house to snag water.

Amenities:

There was electrical hookup at site but no water. (Was not able to locate communal water) Bath house cleaned daily and was a private set room style. Tent pad and campsite is pebbles to allow for moisture/bring long stakes or expect to not to be able to stake in your tent.

We camped here right after we got our Jayco 2012 travel trailer. It was our inaugural trip. Campground is small but well maintained. The inner loop of the primary campground has been updated with new concrete and gravel and 2 sites (I think 6,8) are ADA accessible.

We enjoyed the hikes around the Civil War historic area and the nature center was very interesting as well. There is a nice raised walking area there as well. Nice playground area for the kids!

If it doesn’t creep you out that there is a penitentiary <2 miles from the campground (and you have to drive past it to get there), Fort Pillow is a great park for a quick weekend getaway.

We ended up camping here after another campground didn't work out. We arrived without reservation and didn't know much about the park, so we needed a little help from the rangers when we were choosing a spot. The campground seems to have been renovated in the last few years. The sites are all mixed together. You have a handful of RV sites with 50 amp, a couple of 30 amp sites and then lots of tent sites that have 20 amp or no power at all. The problem for us was that the leaves have fallen, so we couldn't even see where the parking pads were and all of the different sites were mixed together. I think it would be easier to sort it out via the website that has info listed for each site. 

Ranger Tyson informed us that they were doing a night hike to the Fort and they would be serving Gumbo for dinner around the campfire at the Fort. Sign me up! It was one of the fee based activities, but for $5 per person, it was totally worth it! Tyson and Matt were awesome and the evening hike was surprisingly very cool!

As for the park itself, they don't have a huge "tourist attraction" like some parks, so it was very peaceful and not overcrowded. They work hard to offer great ranger lead programs. You can tell right away that the staff really does care about this park. 

The bathhouse was newer and clean. Each bathroom was private in that you had your own suite style bathroom with toilet, sink & shower. The only drawback is that the bath house building (2) only had (1) mens suite and (1) womens suite each. I could see a line forming during warmer months, especially if there were lots of tent campers.

The park had a really nice day use area with a new playground, pavilion area and picnic tables. There is also a basketball goal/court area near the day use area. The visitors center/museum was a bunker style building built into the side of the hill. Great exhibit and lots of info on the battle and fort at Fort Pillow. There is also a small fishing lake with a boat ramp and pier.

This description really needs to be updated. They are not just an historic area but an Historic State Park. They have about a dozen RV sites plus another 20 tent sites. Facilities are very nice and include showers. They have really worked hard to improve the entire park in the last 3 years or so and have really turned this into a hidden gem. The historic site of Ft Pillow from the Civil war is on one of the hiking trails. The trails also go along the Mississippi river and provide some beautiful views. They also have a small lake and available canoes/kayaks for rent. The staff is very attentive and provide a variety of programs.

We went here pretty much because of the name and because my nephew was in an American history interest phase. Lots to explore here. Most of the family camped in RVs on the main site, which were very nice. I backpacked into the backcountry along the bluff trail (which requires a permit). Easy to moderate hiking terrain, views of the lake. Nice little escape.

A nice surprise about this campground was how quiet it was. Not very busy when we visited we got to soak in the scenery in serenity. After days on the road and camping at several campground this was a nice reprieve.