Mississippi

Without Mississippi, there would be no blues, no rock 'n' roll as we know it today, and several of the great novels of the 20th century would never have been written. A vacation in Mississippi takes you to dusty crossroads in the Delta, to columned mansions above the great river, and to white beaches on the Gulf of Mexico.

Landscape and Location

The state lies in the Deep South of the U.S., between Alabama and Louisiana, with the river of the same name forming its western border. In the northwest, the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta stretches out, a dead-flat plain of cotton fields, catfish ponds, and small towns strung along railroad lines. Toward the east, the land rises into wooded hills known as the Red Clay Hills and Piney Woods. In the south, a coastline of roughly 62 miles opens up, fronted by barrier islands that are part of Gulf Islands National Seashore. The river itself is hard to spot here, because massive levees protect the Delta from flooding; the Great Flood of 1927 left a deep mark on the region and prompted many people to move north.

Sights in Mississippi

The Mississippi Blues Trail marks sites of music history with hundreds of markers. In Clarksdale, where legend has it that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil at the crossing of Highways 61 and 49, blues musicians still play in juke joints like Red's, and the Delta Blues Museum tells the story. The B.B. King Museum in Indianola is dedicated to the region's most famous son. In Tupelo stands the small wooden house where Elvis Presley was born in 1935. Natchez, perched on a bluff above the river, has an extraordinary concentration of antebellum mansions; from here, the Natchez Trace Parkway follows an old trading path for more than 440 miles all the way to Nashville. In Vicksburg, a sprawling military park commemorates the siege of 1863, which helped decide the Civil War.

Cities: From Jackson to Biloxi

Jackson, the capital and largest city, is home to the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, one of the most impressive museums on the civil rights movement. Medgar Evers, who was murdered here in 1963, is part of that story; his home is now a memorial. Oxford, the university town of Ole Miss, reveres William Faulkner, whose home, Rowan Oak, is open to visitors, and it has a remarkable bookstore and restaurant scene around the Courthouse Square. Hattiesburg is a youthful college town, and Meridian is the hometown of country music pioneer Jimmie Rodgers. Southaven is effectively part of the greater Memphis area. On the Gulf Coast, you'll find Gulfport and Biloxi, with casinos, a fishing harbor, and Beauvoir, the final home of Confederate president Jefferson Davis.

History

The Choctaw and Chickasaw lived here until they were forced out in the 1830s. Mississippi became a state in 1817, and cotton, grown by enslaved people, made plantation owners rich. After the Civil War, the state remained poor and strictly segregated for a long time; in 1964, during Freedom Summer, volunteers came from across the country to register Black voters. Today, this history is told openly in museums and at memorial sites.

Food and Drink

Fried catfish with hushpuppies and coleslaw is a classic, as are shrimp and oysters from the coast. Comeback sauce, a zesty mayonnaise-based sauce from Jackson, goes on just about everything. In the Delta, roadside stands sell hot tamales, a local take on the Mexican tamales that harvest workers once brought with them. For dessert, there's Mississippi mud pie made with chocolate. In Clarksdale, the barbecue shacks and diners are often as legendary as the blues bars, and in Oxford, City Grocery is the go-to address for modern Southern cooking. If you're traveling along the Gulf Coast, try grilled oysters or a shrimp po'boy in Biloxi, fresh off the boats in the harbor.

Getting There and Best Time to Visit

Many travelers arrive via Memphis or New Orleans, both close to the Delta and the coast; Jackson and Gulfport-Biloxi have their own airports. You'll need a car to get around. Spring and fall are the most pleasant seasons. Summers are very hot and humid, and on the coast, hurricane season runs from June to November. In the Delta, it pays to bring plenty of time, since the best music nights often come together spontaneously on weekends.