Between Clarksdale and Greenville, the Great River Road winds west of the much-busier US-61, looping next to the Mississippi River along Hwy-1. It’s a rural road, running past soybean, cotton, and “pond cat” farms—catfish farming is big business hereabouts. Midway along, the GRR runs past Great River Road State Park, near the town of Rosedale. Located inside the Mississippi River levee, the park offers unique views of the “Father of Waters” from a 75-foot-high overlook tower.
Further south, at the north edge of Greenville, the 1,000-year-old, 55-foot-high earthen cones next to the highway are the remnants of the prehistoric “Moundbuilder” people who lived here a millennium ago. Now preserved as the Winterville Mounds, the two dozen ancient mounds here are thought to have been sacred ceremonial sites, but little is known about the enigmatic people who built them (and hundreds of others) along the banks of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.
