SEP4
Skirmish for Fordsville — Civil War Reenactment
Sutlers, food and vendors on the grounds of the 1800 John Ford Home. Admission $10.00; children under 10 free. Contact Thomas "Fish" Stone at 662-609-1371.
Plan your visit · Meet Me In Columbia
Come for a weekend. Stay for the fall.
Where to sleep, what's open, and what's on the calendar — straight from the city, in one place.
Where to stay
Every bed we know of, in one list.
The city doesn't take reservations and doesn't rank anybody. This is simply everywhere we know of to sleep in and around Columbia — call ahead:
- Corner Oaks Bed & Breakfast — 403 Broad Street, downtown
- Magnolia Inn & Suites — 816 Highway 98 Bypass · 601-424-4400
- Columbia Inn & Suites — 820 US 98 Bypass · 601-731-9955
- Short-term rentals — eight houses, cottages and apartments in town, all listed on our full list
- Mimosa Landing Campground
Camping: the county's Water Park on the Pearl has seven camper sites at $35 a night — 601.736.7382.
⚠️ The Colonial Inn and Gasthaus Jordanberg have closed, though both still appear on travel sites.
Every restaurant and rental in town, with links: Places to Eat & Stay.
If you're coming for a tournament weekend at The Yards or for one of the festivals below, call early.
The year in Columbia
What's worth planning around.
SEP4
Debbie's Jeep Fest
The fourth annual.
SEP20
Columbia Food & Music Festival
Food trucks, multiple stages, live music. The fourth annual ran September 13, 2025 — check with the city for this year's date.
OCT3
61st Annual Heritage Festival
The Marion County Historical Society's biggest day of the year — vendors, arts, crafts, food and music. Vendor applications: email marioncountyhist@yahoo.com.
DEC1
A Columbia Christmas at City Park
The inaugural run was December 1–25, 2025 — a Ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, and two large trees. Check with the city for this year's dates.
DEC20
Downtown Cookie Crawl
Storefront to storefront, cookie to cookie.
JUN20
Freedom Festival
Live music, vendors, and fireworks at 9 p.m.
Things to do
Two museums, two lakes, and a house from 1809.
Hours change, and small museums keep small hours. Call before you drive.
Marion County Historical Museum
In the 1907 railroad depot at 200 Second Street Tuesday–Friday, 9:00–2:30 — 601.731.3999.
Southern Museum of Natural History
At 236 Second Street, founded in 2021. Thursday–Saturday, 5:30–9:30 p.m.
John Ford Home
Built in 1809 near Sandy Hook, about 20 miles south — Marion County, not Columbia. On the National Register since 1971.
Lake Columbia
84 acres, and a state lake — managed by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. A state lake permit is required. 601.736.1861.
Pearl River Interpretive Plaza
Downtown, with the river's whole course mapped into the concrete underfoot.
Disc golf at Pearl River Landing
Seventeen holes, free to play.
Two things to look for Two things to look for
A governor's house, and a governor's squirrels.
The Hugh Lawson White Mansion stands on Broad Street in the Keys Hill Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built between 1925 and 1927 by Jackson architect Claude H. Lindsley and furnished by Marshall Field's, it is Spanish Colonial Revival, with a formal Italian sunken garden, an arbor and a reflecting pool. It was the home of Hugh L. White — Columbia's mayor, and twice governor of Mississippi.
And then there are the squirrels. White brought white squirrels to Columbia, and a century later their descendants are still here — City Park is the usual place. Most visitors don't believe it until they see one. Here's the whole story.
Downtown Downtown
Park once. Walk the rest.
The historic district runs from the 1905 courthouse down Main Street — Italianate to Art Deco, most of it on the National Register. It's a designated Mississippi Main Street district, and the sidewalks and lighting on North Main were rebuilt in January 2026.
We don't pick favorites among the shops and kitchens down there. The chamber keeps the full directory of who's open.
Two more places to know
The natural history museum, and the Expo Center.
Southern Museum of Natural History — 236 Second Street, downtown, founded in 2021. Fossils, mounts and artifacts, and the only visitor attraction in town carrying a five-star review. Small-museum hours, so call before you drive.
Columbia Exposition Center — 150 Industrial Park Road · 601.736.6204. The county's event barn: livestock shows, trade events, rodeo, banquets, and whatever else needs a floor that big.
The Expo Center's schedule isn't published anywhere online — which is exactly the kind of thing that belongs on the city calendar once we can get it. Call the number above for what's booked.
Sandy Hook · about 20 miles south
The John Ford Home, 1809.
The oldest frontier-style home in the Pearl River Valley was built in 1809 by the Reverend John Ford, and it is still standing about twenty miles south of Columbia near Sandy Hook. Elevated, plain, and built the way the whole Mississippi Valley built along this river before there was a state to build in.
Ford was not a bystander to that state. He was one of two delegates from Marion County to Mississippi's first Constitutional Convention in 1817, and he signed the state's first constitution. His house hosted the first Mississippi Methodist Conference in 1814 and the Pearl River Convention of 1816 — meaning that decisions about what Mississippi was going to be were taken in somebody's front room, down the road from here.
Two nights in that house are worth knowing about. On 27–28 November 1814, General Andrew Jackson stayed here on his way south to defend New Orleans against the British — six weeks before the battle that made him famous. And on the night of 3 December 1864, Union soldiers raided the place and quartered General John Davidson and his staff in it as they moved across Mississippi. The same rooms, fifty years apart, holding an American general heading to fight the British and then a Union general in the middle of the Civil War.
It is on the National Register of Historic Places and owned by the Marion County Historical Society, which bought roughly six acres including the house and the 1909 barn in November 1962 and opened the restored home to the public in June 1963 — where it has stayed open ever since.
📅 Reenactment — Labor Day weekend, September 4–6, 2026. Tours of the John Ford Home and Paynes Chapel. The Society has run an annual encampment for years to raise money to preserve the place; it is the best day of the year to see it.
Marion County Historical Society · 200 Second Street · 601.731.3999 · marioncountyhist@yahoo.com
More
Who else to ask.
The area tourism site is visitcolumbiams.com. For who's open — shops, kitchens, services — the chamber keeps the complete business directory.