Why this park
T.O. Fuller State Park lies on the bluffs of southwest Memphis, about 10 miles south of downtown, and no other state park sits inside the city limits. Most of it is hardwood forest. It also holds wetlands, grassland and two ponds, and along one edge, for more than a mile, it meets McKellar Lake and the Mississippi River.
What makes the place worth drawing lies next door, on the same bluff: the mounds and plaza of a Mississippian town. It was settled, left empty and settled again over some five hundred years, and its last townspeople left before the Spanish arrived. A Black company of the Civilian Conservation Corps, sent to build a park for Black visitors under segregation, turned up the town's remains while digging into the bluff for a swimming pool, and the finds drew archaeologists. The town site, Chucalissa, is now a National Historic Landmark.
The story
Thomas Oscar Fuller was born in 1867 in Franklinton, North Carolina; his father, a carpenter, had been born enslaved. Fuller graduated from Shaw University, and in 1898 he won a seat in the North Carolina Senate, where, NCpedia says, he was the only African American. In 1900 he moved to Memphis to lead a Baptist church, and from 1902 he was principal of Howe Institute there. His books include a Pictorial History of the American Negro (1933).
The state's management plan dates the park to 1938 and gives its first name as Shelby Bluffs Negro State Park. Under segregation, the Tennessee State Library and Archives notes, only two Tennessee state parks admitted African Americans: this one and Booker T. Washington State Park in Chattanooga. A 2012 state news release goes further, calling it the first state park on the Mississippi's east side that African Americans could use.
A Black CCC company, Company 1464, came to build it; the Tennessee Encyclopedia says it arrived in April 1939 and, hiring local men, grew to as many as 175. While digging into the bluff for a swimming pool, the men uncovered remains of a Mississippian town, with a mound and burials, and their finds brought the site, already known to local collectors, to archaeologists. In 1940 the University of Tennessee sent archaeologists to test the site, and the CCC men helped dig until World War II halted the work. The park took Dr. Fuller's name in 1942, the year he died, the management plan says.
Digging resumed in the 1950s, and in 1962 Memphis State University, now the University of Memphis, took charge of the site. The National Park Service's landmark nomination calls Chucalissa the best-preserved ceremonial center of the Walls phase, about A.D. 1400 to 1500: a big flat-topped mound at the north end of a plaza, with small house mounds along its south and east edges. The museum's land acknowledgment, written with the Chickasaw Nation, places the site in the Chickasaw homeland and names the Choctaw and Quapaw among other peoples long settled here.
When to go, and what to wear
Spring and fall are the seasons for the trails. Nearby, at Memphis, April averages a high near 73°F and a low near 53°F. It is also the wettest month, with March close behind, so pack a rain shell. October averages a high near 75°F and a low near 54°F, and September is the driest month. The management plan puts the park in the middle of the Mississippi Flyway, where it draws migrating songbirds and shorebirds, wintering waterfowl and birds of prey, so bring binoculars.
Summer is hot. July averages a high near 92°F and a low near 74°F, so walk early in a light, breathable tee and carry water. For ticks and mosquitoes, the state health department advises long, loose, light-colored clothing and a tick check when you come in.
Winter is cool. January averages a high near 51°F and a low near 33°F, so dress in layers: a long-sleeve tee, a sweatshirt and a windproof jacket.
The trails climb and drop along the bluffs, and after rain, small creeks run across the Discovery Trail, so wear shoes that grip and can take mud.
Know before you go
- The C.H. Nash Museum at Chucalissa sits next to the park and is run by the University of Memphis, not the park, with its own hours and admission. Its grounds hold the mounds, an archaeology lab, exhibits, a nature trail and an arboretum.
- Walkers and cyclists share Tires to Trails, a hard-surfaced path built with rubber from thousands of tires that had been dumped illegally in and around the park. It crosses the park's Wildlife Habitat Area, a stretch of grassland.
- The park's two ponds are its places to fish; check the park's page for the fishing rules.
- The park has a campground for tents and RVs, picnic shelters and an interpretive center.
- I-55 construction has closed Exit 7 (Third Street/Highway 61). Use Exit 8, New Horn Lake Road, to reach Mitchell Road, or Exit 9, Mallory Avenue, to reach Plant Road.
- Hours, fees and closures change, so check T.O. Fuller State Park's page before you go.
Sources: Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Thomas Oscar Fuller State Park Strategic Management Plan 2023–2033 and news releases of March 9 and August 1, 2012; Tennessee Encyclopedia, "T. O. Fuller State Park" (Ruth D. Nichols) and "Thomas Oscar Fuller"; NCpedia, "Fuller, Thomas Oscar" (John Macfie, Dictionary of North Carolina Biography); National Park Service, National Historic Landmark nomination, Chucalissa Site (1993); C.H. Nash Museum at Chucalissa, University of Memphis, "About" (with its land acknowledgment) and home page; Tennessee State Library and Archives, "Young men diving at the swimming pool in T.O. Fuller State Park" (1967); The Living New Deal; Julie Ray, "T.O. Fuller: A Hidden Natural Gem in Memphis' Own Back Yard," Memphis Flyer (2021); "From tires to trails," Common Ground, Issue Media Group (2022); Tennessee Department of Health, news releases of April 29 and July 24, 2026; NOAA, U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020, Memphis International Airport station; Wikipedia; T.O. Fuller State Park, tnstateparks.com.
