Page 362 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - USA

360  THE DEEP SOUTH

Mississippi

The birthplace of Tennessee Williams, Elvis Presley, B.B. King,
and Oprah Winfrey, Mississippi is a complex state best known
for blues music, antebellum plantation homes, and a
lamentable Civil Rights history. The endless horizon of cotton
fields can be found in the northwest Delta region, while in
the northeastern corner is the hardscrabble hill area around
Tupelo. The state capital, Jackson, sits in the central plain
and is the urban center of this largely rural state. Today,
Mississippi offers such contrasting diversions as glittering
Las Vegas-style casinos on the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi
River, excellent Vietnamese seafood restaurants, and ferry Ventress Hall, University of Mississippi
rides to deserted beaches. campus, Oxford
w Clarksdale town in the Delta. The visitor e Oxford
center of this major riverport
* 23,000 (Clarksdale). £ @ Green- 1013 Jackson Ave E. * 19,000.
wood. n 1540 DeSoto Ave, Hwy 49, occupies a boat docked at the @ n (662) 232-2477.
Clarksdale, (662) 627-7337. foot of the bridge. The Mis­ ∑ visitoxfordms.com
sissippi Delta Blues Festival is
The Mississippi Delta, a vast, held in town every September. Home to the stately 1848
alluvial basin, cleared of its Other sights include the tiny University of Mississippi, fondly
once-thick forests, and blanketed museum in Leland honoring known as “Ole Miss,” the appeal-
with cotton fields, is the birth- Jim Henson, the creator of the ing college town of Oxford is
place of blues music. The Delta Muppets; Belzoni, said to be the state’s intellectual and
Blues Museum in downtown the “Catfish capital of the World,” cultural center. The local literary
Clarksdale is the touchstone located in the county that landmark is the secluded 1844
for music lovers from has the most farm- Rowan Oak, home of William
around the world. raised catfish; and Faulkner, one of the most
Located in a Indianola, the influential writers of the time
renovated 1920s home town of B.B. King. and pioneer of the Southern
freight depot, this Catfish farm sign Gothic literature movement.
museum is a repository E Delta Blues Museum The plot outline of A Fable,
of blues music, with 1 Blues Alley, Clarksdale. the book the Nobel Prize-
personal belongings, Tel (662) 627- 6820. Open Mar–Oct: winning author was working
photographs, instruments, and 9am–5pm Mon–Sat; Nov–Feb: 10am– on at his death, can be seen
videos of such legends as Robert 5pm Mon–Sat. Closed Jan 1, Jul 4, inscribed on the walls. A
Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf, and Thanksgiving, Dec 25. & 7 Faulkner statue stands in down-
∑ deltabluesmuseum.org
Muddy Waters. Exhibits include town’s classic courthouse
the wooden “Muddywood” E Cottonlandia Museum square, surrounded by sophisti-
guitar created by Z.Z. Top with 1608 Hwy 82 W, Greenwood. Tel (662) cated galleries, restaurants,
planks from the original House 453-0925. Open 9am–5pm Mon–Sat. cafés, and live music venues.
of Blues, the birthplace of Muddy Closed major public hols. & 7 The University of Mississippi
Waters. The Sunflower River ∑ cottonlandia.org campus houses the University
Blues and Gospel Festival is held _ Mis sissippi Delta Museum. In addition to
outside the museum each Blues Festival classical Greek and Roman
August. The Delta’s creative ∑ visitthedelta.com antiquities, the museum
legacy extends beyond music.
The annual Tennessee Williams
festival celebrates the work of
the famous playwright who
spent his childhood in Clarksdale.
About 55 miles (88 km) south
of Clarksdale, the Cottonlandia
Museum in Greenwood docu-
ments the history of the Delta
with a special emphasis on
cotton, the industry that fueled
the culture and economy of
the region. A 24-mile (38-km)
drive farther south brings
visitors to Greenville, the largest One of the many riverboat casinos in the Mississippi Delta
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp368–70 and pp371–3

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