Davis Lake

Summary

Davis Lake Recreation Area offers a variety of outdoor activities in a scenic setting, including swimming, fishing, boating, birding, wildlife viewing, and a newly renovated 12-mile motorized trail. There are 14 sites on the lake, a grassy swimming beach, fishing docks, a picnic area, and a group shelter. The campground is located near the Natchez Trace Parkway and the Witchdance Horse Trail.

Overview

Davis Lake Recreation Area is home to beautiful Davis Lake, Campground and Day Use Area, popular for all kinds of recreational opportunities, including swimming, fishing, boating, birding and wildlife viewing. The surrounding scenic forests make Davis Lake a picturesque place to spend quality time outdoors.

Recreation

Davis Lake covers 200 acres and provides multiple recreational opportunities. A grassy swimming beach is situated on the shore, where many anglers cast for largemouth bass, hybrid striped bass, crappie, catfish and bream. The campground has 14 sites on the lake, many of them with space to anchor a boat. A 2-mile trail wanders along the north edge of the lake to several earthen fishing piers.

Visitors can also spend time birding, watching for a variety of geese and ducks that migrate through the area. Hawks, herons, bluebirds and doves are also plentiful, among many other species. Wildlife viewing is also available, as foxes and bobcats call the area home.

The Chickasaw OHV Trail is a newly renovated 12-mile motorized trail that is within three miles of the campground. The trailhead lies between the Davis Lake recreation area and the Natchez Trace Parkway. It is within a mile of the Owl Creek Mounds archaeological interpretive site. It is open between April 1 and Oct. 31, for hunting. The trail accommodates off-road vehicles 48-inches in width or less.

Cyclists and hikers will enjoy the Tanglefoot Trail. This multiple-use Rails-to-Trails path is located 5 miles west of Davis Lake. It runs 43.5 miles from Houston to New Albany, MS through Houlka, Algoma, Pontotoc, Ecru, and Ingomar.

Facilities

The recreation area offers more than two dozen campsites, a picnic area, a group shelter, accessible flush toilet facilities and a dump station. Davis Lake has multiple fishing docks, including some that are accessible.

Campsites are equipped with tables, lantern posts and campfire rings with grills. Drinking water is provided.

A picnic shelter can also be reserved on-site, for an additional $40 per day fee.

Natural Features

The campground is situated in a hilly, mixed hardwood and pine forest that stretches along the eastern shore of the lake. It is located within 4 miles of the Natchez Trace Parkway, a 444-mile drive through exceptional scenery and 10,000 years of North American history.

contact_info

This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (662) 285-3264.

Nearby Attractions

The recreation area is located 21 miles south of Tupelo, Mississippi, and 12 miles north of Houston.

The Owl Creek Mounds, an archaeological interpretive site containing Native American ruins, is about 50 miles away.

The Witchdance Horsetrail is an 18-mile horseback riding trail that can be accessed from both the Payamatha Trailhead (on Highway 32, west of the Natchez Trace and east of Highway 15), or the Witchdance trailhead, that lies on the Natchez Trace Parkway (approximately 5 miles east of Houston).