Greenwood’s Perfect Picnic Spots
‘Tis the season for a blanket and a basket
By Jenny Adams
The year of 2020 has been a return to the simple pleasures. We are finding ourselves leaning on good, old family recipes, biting into a favorite aunt’s crispy fried chicken or dishing out a slice of pie, handed down through the generations.
As the Delta cools off, the mosquitos mercifully depart and summer wanes (bye, snakes!), it’s high time for picnic season. Nothing goes better with a family recipe than a blanket and a basket, a few friends, a cooler … and a cocktail or two, poured on the sly.
If you prefer pick-up, we’ve got a few ideas there, too.
Cheers to our favorite picnic spots in pretty, little Greenwood.
Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church
Pack a basket and a Bluetooth speaker for this spot. Grand, old trees provide plenty of shade at the (purported) gravesite of Bluesman Robert Johnson. Your view includes the beauty and serenity of the faded, white, one-room church and the sounds of crickets. Potato salad and a side of musical history in the grass? What more could you ask for?
What To Play: Robert Johnson’s The Complete Recordings
The Yazoo River Bank
There’s a gorgeous stretch of grass overlooking the river, one block up from Fan & Johnny’s. Call ahead and have them stock you up with cold Coca-Cola, a few blackeyed pea cakes, some Nashville hot chicken, and their irresistible pimento cheese. Then go watch that river roll on by. This spot is particularly lovely early in the morning on a fall day, when everything is still green and the temperatures are divine.
What to Read: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain
Yazoo River Trail Park
Picnics are great for being lazy on a blanket, but if you’re the type that wants to walk off the calories after, these trails are ideal. You can spread out your sandwiches on the picnic tables and pop them in the trash cans after, before exploring the 45 acres of hardwood forest, the bridge designed by the local talents at Delta Design Build Workshop, or even hopping on a bike for a pedal.
What to Bring: A leash and your dog
Rail Spike Park
The site of the city’s Farmers Market is a fabulous place to stock up on provisions for your week ahead, as well as relax for a nibble on-site. There is plenty of shade beneath the pavilion and if the farmers market isn’t happening on the day you choose to picnic, you can easily procure your picnic supplies from Jeem’s Diner (get the burger!) or the Crystal Grill (a half dozen hot tamales is definitely in order.)
Don’t Forget: Your camera. There is always plenty of life to capture around here.
Money Road, at Tallahatchie Flats
Veronica’s Bakery, Mississippi Mo Joe Coffee Company, Mississippi Gift and Sweet Magnolia Gelato are all famous for feeding your sweet tooth in Greenwood. Stop in any of these purveyors, grab a few chocolates, a pastry and a couple of coffees and drive out to Money Road. The old shacks are available for rent by the night as hotel rooms, but it’s also a picturesque spot for watching the birds swoop low over the cotton fields from the tailgate of a car.
Podcast Suggestion: Dolly Parton’s America