Poverty Point Driving Tour Map (click to enlarge)
A 2-mile vehicle road leads to eleven points of interest at Poverty Point National Monument. A free Driving Tour Guide comes with your park entrance fee, so be sure to pick it up at the Visitor Center before beginning your tour. You are also welcome to bike the tour road, or even hike it for that matter. However, for those who prefer to walk, there is a 2.8-mile walking route that leads to 20 points of interest and is substantially more thorough than the driving tour. You do see the highlights of the Poverty Point archaeological site on the driving tour, and it truth, unless you have a big interest in ancient cultures and archaeology, it’s really hard to get excited about what are essentially manmade hills and short elevated platforms that are so worn down that they barely exist anymore. If you can’t walk or have limited time, the driving tour will more than suffice. You can complete the tour by car in about 45 minutes, whereas the walking tour takes two hours.
Poverty Point National Monument also offers guided tram tours of the archaeological site that follow the same road. These are typically held multiple times each day. However, no schedule is posted on the Poverty Point World Heritage Site website, so if you are interested in a tour, call the park to get the current schedule: (318) 926-5492.
During the warmer months, mosquitoes are a big problem at the park. Even though you may be in your vehicle, there are a few places along the tour road where you can get out to explore. I suggest carrying insect repellent just in case there are more mosquitoes than you can bear.
National Park Planner provides a virtual tour of the Poverty Point driving tour. See the following web pages for information on each tour stop. At the bottom of each page is a menu that allows you to go to the next or previous tour stop.
Tour Stop 1: The Plaza
Tour Stop 2: Mound E
Tour Stop 3: Mound A
Tour Stop 4: Borrow Area
Tour Stops 5-6: Mound B
Tour Stop 7: Nature Watch
Tour Stop 8: Northwest Ridges
Tour Stop 9: Highway 577 and Harlin Bayou
Tour Stop 10: North Ridges
Tour Stop 11: Mound C
Taking the driving tour at Poverty Point National Monument
With a few exceptions, use of any photograph on the National Park Planner website requires a paid Royalty Free Editorial Use License or Commercial Use License. See the Photo Usage page for details.
Last updated on November 8, 2022
