Leroy Percy State Park

About this park

Leroy Percy State Park, named for former U.S. Senator LeRoy Percy, is the oldest of Mississippi's state parks, its development beginning when the Civilian Conservation Corps first occupied the site near Hollandale on May 29, 1934. The park's defining natural feature is a set of artesian springs that flow at a constant 94 degrees Fahrenheit, a genuinely unusual geothermal feature for the Mississippi Delta, surrounded by cypress trees and ancient oaks draped in Spanish moss that give the park a deep, almost primeval Delta character. Those warm artesian waters feed directly into Alligator Lake, where the park maintains a safely observable population of American alligators that visitors can watch from two dedicated observation towers positioned directly over the gators' warm-water habitat, a genuinely rare and memorable wildlife-viewing experience found at very few other state parks anywhere in the country. The Alligator Lake Trail winds along the lakeshore through the natural habitat of a classic Delta hardwood forest, giving hikers a close look at the ecosystem that supports both the alligators and the lake's healthy largemouth bass, crappie, and catfish populations. As one of only two Mississippi state parks that also incorporates an adjacent wildlife management area, Leroy Percy draws serious hunters pursuing deer, squirrel, turkey, duck, and dove across a genuinely unspoiled landscape away from crowds, in addition to the anglers and wildlife watchers the park more typically attracts. Eight family cabins near Alligator Lake and extensive camping options give visitors overnight access to this historically significant and ecologically distinctive corner of the Mississippi Delta.