Flint Creek adding more adventures for visitors

STONE COUNTY, Miss. (WLOX) - Visitors to Flint Creek in Stone County will soon have much more to see than campsites and a water park.

Flint Creek is hoping its latest improvements and additions will be a big hit.

“The main thing we’re trying to do now is establish a premier horse trail for South Mississippi,” said Hiram Boone, executive director of the Pat Harrison Waterway District.

Plans are already in the books for a 15-mile horse trail that runs through the park.

“We’re gonna build a horse stable,” Boone said. “It can hold 10 horses. You put them in the stable and it will have fans and everything to keep them cool.”

Along with the stable, the park will enclose and refurbish a nearby pavilion and add a helicopter pad nearby.

“If someone gets hurt, we can have a helicopter fly in and pick them up,” Boone said.

The horse trail is being funded with $400,000 from MDOT and $100,000 from the Pat Harrison Waterway District. Boone credits Department of Transportation Commissioner Tom King for getting this project off the ground.

“When you got good teamwork, and someone willing to devote the effort that Tom has done, really makes a difference,” Boone said.

To supplement those additions, cabins are being gutted and upgraded.

“Having a premier horse trail, along with that you need to have premier accommodations, and we have that here in Flint Creek,” said Stewart Smith, Fling Creek Water Park manager.

Smith started as a lifeguard at Flint Creek Water Park, and now he manages it. He’s seen firsthand the economic impact of having those cabins.

“I can remember the first three cabins we got, we purchased them from Keesler Air Force Base,” Smith said. “And now we have 46.”

At the heart of these major plans are the families who will visit the park.

“We’re a family-oriented facility, and we don’t want to ever lose sight of that,” Smith said. “From the horse trails to the cabins, we’re a great place for families to make memories.”

Flint Creek hopes to have the cabins finished by the spring and the horse trail complete by December.

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