Poplarville is “the blueberry capital of Mississippi,” one of the springboards to visiting the state.
Tucked in the south side of Mississippi near its western border with Louisiana, Poplarville is the seat of Pearl River County.
This city thus is an epicenter of the vibes that propelled Pearl River as one of Mississippi’s fastest-growing counties.
Established as a town in 1879 and incorporated in 1884, Poplarville became the county seat of Pearl River upon its foundation in 1890.
The city’s name came from the “Poplar” nickname of Jim Smith, who donated the piece of land for the Poplarville territory.
Although its land area is relatively small, spanning 5.42 square miles, Poplarville has developed plenty of points of interest for visitors since its founding.
Find out which appeals to you most on the following list of things to do in Poplarville!
Blue Tara Organic Blueberry Farm, located on Langnecker Road, is open to visitors who want to pick blueberries during harvest season in June.
Farm visitors can enjoy this experience at a reasonable fee, and Blue Tara provides bags for them to fill.
As a member of the Gulf South Blueberry Growers Association, this family-owned farm boasts of growing the most delicious organic blueberries in the South.
The farm also sells packaged, pre-picked blueberries in five-pound and 25-pound boxes.
It welcomes visitors from sunup to sundown every day during the harvest season.
The lush rows of blueberry bushes in Blue Tara also offer endearing photo opportunities.
Poplarville hosts an annual arts and crafts fair, the Blueberry Jubilee, on the second Saturday of June each year.
This event had a humble beginning in 1983, becoming one of the tourist draws of Poplarville and attracting over 10,000 visitors every year.
The festivities of the Blueberry Jubilee mainly take place in downtown Poplarville, kicking off with an annual five-kilometer and one-mile Fun Run.
Babies and their parents can have fun in the jubilee via its baby crawl race early in the festival’s schedule.
As for the festival’s centerpiece, visitors proceed to the lawn of the Pearl River County courthouse on the southwest quadrant of Old Highway 26, West Pearl Street, and West Willie Street.
Blueberry fruits and bushes and blueberry products are on display here for visitors to sample.
They can have more items to choose from from the craft and food vendors along Poplarville’s streets.
Other exciting activities during the town’s Blueberry Jubilee include a car show, carnival rides, a puppy pageant, storytelling, and live entertainment.
Seasoned riders display their skills in the Pearl River County Fair & Rodeo held in Poplarville sometime in September.
The county fairgrounds stand on the southwest quadrant of Mississippi Highway 26 and U.S. Route 11, adjacent to the Mississippi National Guard Armory.
The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association events, sanctioned by the International Pro Rodeo Association and the National Cowboy Pro Rodeo Association, also happen during this county fair.
These exciting events include saddle bronc riding, bull riding, calf roping, barrel racing, breakaway roping, and team roping.
Carnival rides and food concessions are also part of the Pearl River County Fair and Rodeo.
A retail shop for medicine and snacks may seem an unlikely pair, but this oddity somehow makes Pearl River Drug Store & Soda Fountain tick among customers.
Located on Poplarville’s South Main Street near the southwest corner of West Beers Street, this pharmacy runs an old-fashioned soda fountain behind it.
The popular treats here include blueberry pancakes, shakes, ice cream sodas, banana splits, floats, and malts.
This coffee shop on South Main Street corner East Erlanger Street stakes its reputation as having the town’s freshest coffee.
A roaster based in New Orleans carefully selects and roasts the coffee beans for Main Street Coffee.
Patrons of this coffee shop have several drip coffee choices, including the house brew café au lait with steamed milk.
One unique choice here is Deathwish, touted as the market’s strongest coffee brew.
You can pair espresso and other brews with bagels, toast, or various selections of sandwiches.
Locals and visitors alike drop by P-Ville Nutrition on North Main Street for the healthy and delicious shakes it serves daily, along with breakfast, lunch, or a snack.
Imaginative orders are on P-Ville Nutrition’s menu list, which contains loaded tea choices like Hulk or Gummy Bear.
For shakes, you can try the Elvis chocolate or Elvis vanilla, while the coffee bar presents options like caramel macchiato and salted caramel ice coffee.
You can also try recommendations like Mermaid or Captain America, Peppa Big or Princess and the Frog for kids’ orders.
Kick off your Poplarville visit with Popa’s Donuts on Highway 11 South.
Its famous fresh homemade donuts are available as early as 5:00 a.m. when it opens.
Other fresh-baked goodies available at Popa’s Donuts include apple cakes, delicious pastries, and sausage croissants ideal for brunch.
Likewise, you can try the bakeshop’s special offers like a dozen free donut holes for every purchase of 12 donuts.
This candy factory is a success story of a housewife, Laura Robicheaux, turning her expertise in making pralines as Christmas gifts into a viable enterprise.
Located on Fords Creek Road, Robicheaux’s Specialty Candy has now found a national market following her networking with the Mississippi Specialty Foods Association.
Products available from Laura’s retail shop now include not only pralines but also gourmet chocolate and sugar-free candies.
Its Pecan Turtles are among the top picks at Robicheaux’s Specialty Candy, which also supplies wedding and corporate gifts and Christmas presents.
This RV park is accessible via Barlow Lane near a strip mall anchored on a Dollar General variety store off South Main Street.
The Haas-Cienda Ranch RV Park rests on a wooded site of 45 acres adjacent west to Bonner Lake.
It has a total of 60 big-rig-friendly RV sites with full hookups, and it also provides several cabins.
The campground facilities include bathhouses, a swimming pool, picnic tables, a clubhouse, and a drive-in theater free for campers.
Non-campers can also access the campgrounds’ drive-in theater for a fee and check out events on Haas-Cienda Ranch’s mud bogs and dirt track.
Accessible from Baxterville Road, the Wolf River Wildlife Management Area sprawls over 4,236 acres.
It has designated areas for camping, while it allows hunting of various wildlife during open season.
For example, the hunting season for antlerless deer and legal bucks begins from October 15 to November 20.
Other game in the Wolf River Wildlife Management Area include turkey, squirrels, raccoons, and rabbits.
Camping in this area is allowed for individuals and groups of not more than six, with their stay limited to 14 consecutive days.
Equestriennes and horse lovers will get a thrill visiting Honor Hill Farm, located on H Burge Road just west of Spring Hill Road.
This farm features a state-of-the-art horse show arena, a 14-stall main barn, a spacious horse walker, and well-maintained grass-pasture paddocks.
Four pens complement the farm’s premier equine facilities for exotics, a dog pen and a chicken/fowl pen.
The Horse Haven Ranch, nestling in the picturesque Poplarville hills on H Burge Road, is another favorite horse riders’ destination in all of Pearl River County.
This ranch provides an Airbnb onsite and accommodates retreat guests, interns, and students of its riding academy.
The ranch keeps beautiful horses guests can pet and feed as part of its Southern Hospitality experience.
Visiting horse fans can bring their steeds for training while also learning more about horsemanship from the ranch’s experts.
Located on Paso Fino Lane, PSD Kennels specializes in helping people in search of pet dogs find the right puppy for them.
The breeds available here include German shepherd, Belgian Malinois, and Dutch.
In addition to raising quality puppies, PSD Kennels offers dog training, including obedience and family/personal protection or service.
Swallowfork Lake is accessible via West Moody Street just west of U.S. Route 11.
Featuring rustic cabins for rent, Swallow Fork Lake is primarily a destination for fishing.
A natural spring pumping more than 600 gallons of pristine water per minute feeds this lake, making it ideal for fishing.
Florida bass and bream are the fish stock in Swallowfork Lake, which is also ideal for boating.
Besides fishing, lake visitors can also hike on its surrounding nature trails under the canopy of lush pine trees, where wildlife sightings are frequent.
Other facilities in Swallowfork Lake include a charcoal grill and a fire grill for each cabin, a shared picnic area, a boat launch, and earthen piers.
The cabins of Swallowfork Lake come with a ref, microwave oven, TV, and ice maker.
The Ethel Holden Brownstone Center for the Arts is a $10.5-million cultural hub on the Pearl River Community College (PRCC) campus on U.S. Route 11.
This arts center’s theater boasts an audience seating capacity of 840 people, plus a state-of-the-art acoustics system.
Seasonal presentations in the center include musical performances, ballet, and theatrical productions.
The center also hosts the annual PRCC Spring Variety Show, traditionally held every February, featuring some of the college’s most talented students.
Visitors to the Ethel Holden Brownstone Center for the Arts can go to the PRCC Museum in Hancock Hall on Old Stadium Drive.
The museum’s exhibits include memorabilia about the college’s history and collections of Native American artifacts.
This unique museum is located on South Haugh Avenue in the Pearl River city of Picayune, Mississippi, about 27 minutes south of Poplarville.
The couple Ricky Lenart and Cornel Jeansonne brought the Teddy Bear House Museum to Mississippi from New Orleans to give it a larger and more permanent home.
This museum features more than 15,000 teddy bears that Ricky has collected since 1976.
They have set up the museum like a residence with thematic stuffed toys occupying each room.
These rooms include a Bear Man Cave, dining room, kitchen, parlor, bear man cave, and bathroom.
The museum also features unique rooms like the Teddy Roosevelt Theater, Teddy Bear Tea Room, and Everything Bear Gift Shop.
In addition, a sizeable seasonal room in the Teddy Bear House Museum changes its displays depending on the time of year.
Poplarville deserves a stop when visiting Pearl River County, with this city capturing much of the essence of the state of Mississippi.
This city exudes a Southern charm best appreciated in its various cultural and natural points of interest.
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