Hills

Hills covers the northern hill country of Mississippi, the rolling pine-and-hardwood country running from the Memphis metro south to Yalobusha County and east to the Tennessee River drainage. The terrain is the higher, drier, hillier part of the state — the Pontotoc and Fall Line hills, the Tombigbee and Tennessee river systems, and a string of large reservoirs (Sardis, Enid, Arkabutla, and Pickwick on the Tennessee) draining the region. Seventeen counties cover the region. DeSoto holds Olive Branch, Southaven, and Hernando (Memphis suburbs); Lafayette holds Oxford and the University of Mississippi; Lee holds Tupelo (Elvis Presley’s birthplace); Marshall holds Holly Springs; Tishomingo holds Iuka and Tishomingo State Park; Alcorn holds Corinth. Sardis Lake, Enid Lake, and Arkabutla Lake handle most of the warm-weather water recreation; the Natchez Trace Parkway runs the entire region’s western edge. Most trips here run music-and-literary focused. Tupelo carries the Elvis birthplace, museum, and church; Oxford runs the William Faulkner home Rowan Oak and the literary scene built around the university; Holly Springs holds the Hill Country blues tradition (R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough); Corinth’s Civil War sites and Tishomingo State Park scenery fill outdoor days.