Travel South Magazine Travel South low (kasey daleo's conflicted copy 20 | Page 44

NEW ALBANY, MS
New Albany, Mississippi, USA Today ’s
“America's Best Southern Small Town,”
is home to a historic downtown, the
longest bike trail in the state, and wide-
open spaces. Conveniently located on
I-22, New Albany is a great destination
for a day trip or weekend getaway.
The Union County Heritage Museum
features an interpretive timeline of life
in the area from prehistoric fossils
through the modern age, including de-
tails about the Chickasaws, the first Eu-
ropean settlers, the Civil War,
Reconstruction and New Albany’s most
famous son, Pulitzer and Nobel Prize
winning author, William Faulkner. An
outdoor space offers many interpretive
42 | Spring 2018 | Travel South
events that explain the way of life of
settlers and is also home to the award-
winning Faulkner Garden, which fea-
tures plants indigenous to the area.
Listed on the National Register, New Al-
bany’s flourishing downtown area in-
cludes specialty shops, eateries,
farmers’ market, and antique stores.
Beginning on Bankhead Street, and
continuing 44 miles to Houston, Missis-
sippi, is the trailhead for The Tanglefoot
Trail®, the longest Rails to Trails conver-
sion. It is a paved, ten-foot wide biking
and hiking trail that is laid through the
foothills of the Appalachian Mountains
in the Mississippi Hills National Her-
itage Area. Just off of Main Street is the
Park Along the River, which features an
arboretum, playground, picnic areas,
pavilion, The Riverview Stage, and
paved walking paths. Pedestrians can
cross over the footbridge to the Talla-
hatchie Trail for a one-mile walk
through Freedom Park to the BNA
Sportsplex.
Ingomar Mounds ceremonial and
burial complex has been one of great
interest since first being excavated in
1885 by the Smithsonian Institution.
Items including bones, pottery, arrow-
heads, beads, glass and silver, sup-
port that the complex was used for
centuries. The complex is free and
open to the public.