Mississippi’s Central Hills region is mostly hilly, and agriculture never flourished in its mostly red clay soil. The area was long home to the Choctaw Indians, most of whom were relocated to present-day Oklahoma in 1830 by the U.S. government. With the 1831 signing of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, those Choctaws who remained in Mississippi were the precursors of the present-day federally recognized Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. In Winston County the Nanih Waiya Mound (100–700; County Road 393, 4.2 miles south of County Road 400) is venerated as the origin site of the Choctaw Nation.
The two-lane, scenic Natchez Trace Parkway cuts through the region from southwest to northeast. In Choctaw County, adjacent to the Trace is French Camp Historic Village (CH7), an outdoor museum. Farther north on the parkway near Houston are the Bynum Mounds (100 BCE-100 CE; milepost 232.4) and farther north still the Owl Creek Mounds (1000–1500; milepost 243.1) near the spot where Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto spent the winter of 1540–1541. East-west-running U.S. 82 extends from the Mississippi Delta through Winona and Starkville, which is home to Mississippi State University (CH17), one of the state’s two land-grant institutions.
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