Mud Island, Memphis

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"Mud Island" redirects here. For other uses, see Mud Island (disambiguation).

Mud Island Mississippi River Park. View shows a model of the City of Memphis.

Mud Island is not actually an island but a small peninsula, surrounded by the Mississippi River to the west and the Wolf River Harbor to the east. It is located within the Memphis city limits, 1.2 miles from the coast of downtown, and houses a museum, restaurants, and a water park. It is accessible by monorail, by foot (via a bridge located on top of the monorail), by ferry, or automobile.

The park located on Mud Island includes bike trails, pedal boats, and rafts, as well as a hydraulic scale model of the lower Mississippi River from Cairo, Illinois to New Orleans. The model marks major cities and small towns located on the river, and markers explain history and facts about the river. The model empties into a "Gulf of Mexico" swimming pool in which children can swim.

The museum on Mud Island presents the history of the lower Mississippi river valley, with great emphasis on the steamboat, complete with a full-scale replica steamboat.

The northern portion of Mud Island ("Harbor Town") features single-family homes and apartment complexes, and caters mostly to an affluent, younger crowd. This section of the island includes the Mississippi River Trail, a grassy section of park land with running trails and benches overlooking the Mississippi River.