Persimmon Hill Campground

4/14-4/17/24. Enid Lake, MS, Persimmon Hill COE campground, site 44, full h-ups. Again right on the lake, beautiful grassy site, cement pads, very roomy campground. Nice clean showers w adjustable water temp. Super nice host. Be sure and visit the fish hatchery and we enjoyed going to Oxford MS to see ‘Ole Miss’ U and the courthouse square. Also had a nice early dinner at Volta Taverna - greek fare. Loved their margarita and the gyro.

About one mile from I-55, very easy to get in and out with plenty of big rig sites. 62 is a pull through and has excellent views of the dam area and water front. Roads are very good and is only about 10 miles from town where supplies can be purchased.
Visit the state operated fish hatchery located here on Enid Lake and learn about the process to stock the area reservoirs.
Interstate noise is faint to the west of the park. Park has several nice kids playgrounds and public use of the many gazebos make for great family gatherings.
Park is only about 45 min. from Ole Miss in case you are looking for a site close to football action.

First time to stay at a COE site and was very impressed. Will definitely stay again. Sites were all paved with a large parking apron. Full hook ups. Nice picnic table, fire pit, lamp post, and grill on every site. Restrooms were clean and well maintained. View of Enid Lake from camp side window. Wooded area behind campsite. Many of the sites had water views. Enjoyed the swing overlooking the water at sunset. Able to fish from campground and caught four different types of fish. There is also a swim beach, playground, basketball court, and a multi-purpose trail on site. Park Ranger drove by approximately every two hours.

This campground was a nice outing for new years. The lake was partially drained but still a beautiful view. In it’s off season it was still fairly full. Not very large, but had a nice paved walking trail. One major downside was that the location of the fire pit and grill was not ideal. We ended up buying a new grill while we were there because the grill on the campsite had a huge hole in it. Also, it was hard to find a place to buy firewood.

This campground is on the water, has two bath houses, electric, water, and sewage hookups, and friendly rangers. The campground also has a great playground with two basketball courts, swings, monkey bars, a new play structure, and slides. There is a paved walking trail that circles through the woods and has an option to end up at the boat ramp/pavilions or back in the campground. Most of the sites are well shaded. There are both reservable and first come sites at the campground. There is a swim each and a restaurant within a mile of the campground.

We were greeted a part time camp host soon after we pulled into our site. He answered any questions, told us about the area, gave us a map, pointed out the full time hosts site, said they mowed all week to keep the place up, & told us we could stay 28 days, and then he could get us an extension from the ranger for another 28 if we wanted. Knowing the COE rules of 14 days at a time, I mentioned it was not like that at other COE parks in other states we had visited, but he insisted those were the rules here (website rules beg to differ). That became evidence as to why it is hard to get a reservation here, many people have been here way beyond the rules, even some sites occupied by campers with no one staying in them. Rangers drive by frequently in the early morning and evening, but never saw them do anything, and they have to know people are staying too long because they see the same campers/cars every day, so it's not as though they are not aware. In addition, the whole campground had fairly high weeds, and no one mowed for the next 7 days while we were here so the weeds were now really high. That resulted in lots of bugs. The only area that seemed to stay mowed were along the entrance roads.

We noticed a large pool of oil in the corner of our site that must have been spilled by the previous camper and tried to find the full time camp hosts, but never could and never saw them doing anything in the park for the 9 days we were there. We even knocked on their camper door with no response. We wound up buying some cat litter to pour on it to at least try to soak it up. Even when we did finally find the part time host again, no one ever came to clean it up.

No way this park is a 9.8 rating (on another website). I would rate it possibly a 6 at most, but expect it to go lower as time goes by. Just too much of a lack of attention and too many rules broken by the rangers and "hosts". Too many people "living" in a federal recreation area.

Our site had a lot of litter on it which we picked up, but it was level and backed up to the lake. It had a cement picnic table, grill and fire pit, but we did not use them due to the high weeds. It was a walk up site, since as I said it's difficult to get a reservation due to so many long term campers. The park was generally quiet, and a few nights a group of men got together and played bluegrass music which was nice.

Be sure to tour the fish hatchery, it's very interesting and definitely worth $2.50.

We might stay again for a one nighter because it's cheap, but probably not for any length of time again. Closest store is Walmart in Batesville, about 15 miles away.