The National Geographic Channel came here and made an episode of Diggers here. They found some old…read morecoins here including a relic coin that was only used locally at the time. It is a Mississippi historic land mark and is part of history around here. As I understand it, share croppers worked all week locally and then came here to "party" sort to speak. They just remodeled the old gas station here and made it look so nice a lawyer or business man moved into part of it.

It's not very big so don't plan an entire day here but it's definitely a cool place to visit…read more Especially when you press the button to play Charley Patton's songs as you walk around the property and just imagine what life here was like before. Check out the Dockery Farms website for background info before you come!

Frank traveled from Memphis to "The Crossroads" in…read moreClarksdale, Mississippi. For fans of the Blues this is the legendary intersection of Highways 61 and 49 where blues musician Robert Johnson reputedly sold his soul to the Devil for musical mastery. Hell maybe even Keith Richards sold his soul as well but can't confirm. When you arrive it's marked by a monument of three HUGE blue guitars and sign. Forest Gump say's it is a major blues tourism site. OK, for some history or background the legend goes according to folklore, Robert Johnson, a young bluesman, met a stranger at this spot who took his guitar, tuned it, and returned it, enabling him to play with supernatural skill. Man the devil is real cause it worked ! Now after you sold your soul to Beelzebub stop over to ABE'S BBQ for some " Q "and soul food.. It was worth the journey to see Crossroad and grab a bite... Time to find an Exorcist for soul recovery cause FRANK sold his soul. I was kinda stoned so forgive me folks and it seemed like the thing to do at the moment...

The Crossroads is alleged to be where Robert Johnson met with the Devil and sold his soul in order…read moreto play the blues like he did. It is an interesting stop and would be rather unassuming without the sign. I love coming across these little tidbits of Americana and they definitely make my trips much more interesting and make my trip more delightful. If you are in the area, I would recommend coming here and seeing where an urban legend was born. Was Robert Johnson here and, if so, did he broker a deal with the Devil under a moon? I just found this a cool place to visit.

The interpretive center is exceptional, providing detailed historical information along the civil…read morerights trail.rț

This amazing piece of property is steps away from the Sumner courthouse, and we all know what it's…read moreknown for. When I think about '55-- My paternal great-grandfather worked here then, living his humble grocer's life, a Chinese liaison bridging Black and White tensions, lending to his Black customers until they could get paid from the cotton work. It was a rotten, hard filled with racism. And now it's the interpretive center. The space was rather large, clean, sparse. The photos and his grocery sign and all of the sad memory that is commemorated here-- set and opened with the intention of starting dialogue of racial reconciliation. It was one of the most sobering moments of my life. The kind young man working here told me that my jin was very good to him and his family as he grew up, and he told me some stories of being a kid and buying snacks here. He let me walk every inch of the place, trying to imagine my relatives living in the rear of their store. I aim to head back for a visit, whenever it is "safe" to.

Just off the main road sits a ramshackle stage that was a big thing in the formation of that…read moreuniquely American style of music known as the blues. The blues is music that burns within you and if the blues had never been created, today's music would not be the same. I could almost feel the ghosts of those blues greats standing beside me as I stood at this spot. I would definitely recommend here.

This is my Favorite of all the bridges that cross over the Mississippi river…read more The most beautiful of all of them & the newest. It has a very minimalist super modern feel to it. Very futuristic, like your about to drive into a higher dimension. The tall elegantly white half cross design protruding into the sky seems to indicate that you have symbolically crossed a certain path. Paid the toll, fleeing a sempiternity world to save your eternal soul. An Architectural Marvel. Highest Recommendations.

This is a pretty and highly functional bridge, joining together Arkansas and Mississippi over the…read moreMississippi River. There are only two crossings between these two states - the other is about 90 miles north between Helena Arkansas and Lula, Mississippi. Construction on this bridge completed in 2010 and according to the Wikipedia entry, it was the fourth-longest cable-stayed bridge in North America at that time. At its highest point, it is 122 feet above the River. Four lanes wide, there is no toll in either direction. This is the fourth bridge where I've crossed the Mississippi!

I love this house, since moving to the area I have been multiple times. The house is beautiful and…read moreyou can walk through the whole place. The man who takes care of the place is wonderful. If he is not busy he will give you a tour and he is very funny and personable. He knows a lot about the house and is very respectful of history. I have taken everyone who has come to visit me to tour this house. It is really a treasure.

I found myself driving through Greenwood, MS, out of the dusty Delta and into a stately street…read moreappropriately christened "Grand Blvd" when I saw I was coming up on the Tallahatchie River. This inevitably put Bobbie Gentry's classic "Ode To Billy Joe" in my head - when I suddenly noticed there was a red sign at the foot of the bridge. And how perfect - it's a sign on Mississippi's Country Music Trail (an offshoot of the popular "Blues Trail" series) dedicated to Bobbie Gentry herself. There's a lot of beautiful mysterious southern gothic soul in her voice, and in these surroundings the mystery unravels a little (though of course there's more where that came from). Pedants may point out that the "real" Tallahatchie Bridge was torn down in the 70s, but hey, a bridge over the Tallahatchie is a Tallahatchie Bridge, right? That's what they told me up on Choctaw Ridge, at least.

The restrooms on-site are outhouses (toilet seat is there, on top of a deep hole to catch your…read morewaste). This is a very beautiful historical park if you enjoy nature and/or like reading about its history. If you're not a history enthusiast or don't remember much about the Louisiana Purchase from your 8th grade history class...then you might find this state park to be boring. This park offers informational spots/posts along the way. When I visited, it was mostly dry so I didn't see any aquatic animals, no snakes, however there were plenty of birds in the trees singing. This park is located a couple minutes from a major highway. It offers a few parking spaces and there is no fee to enter/park.

This was a stop along a road trip to Dallas. The stop did add about an hour and a half to our…read morejourney. It's about 30 minutes off the highway. When we arrived there was only one other car in the parking area. This was slightly concerning because we appear to be in the middle of nowhere and you just never know the intent of others. As such, I do NOT suggest visiting this place solo. This landmark is a well maintained boardwalk above a swamp. The boardwalk leads you to the focal point of the swamp which is a monument that indicates the initial point from which all surveys of property acquired through the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 originated. If you are like me, it's been a long time since I had a history lesson. With that being said, there are several educational exhibits on the boardwalk to allow you to brush up on the Louisiana purchase. I enjoyed walking the boardwalk. It is a short distance to get to the end. I suggest taking your time to be still and listen to the sounds of the swamp. We saw a few birds and frogs along the way The signage indicates that alligators have been spotted in the swamp, but we did not see any during our visit. If you have an opportunity to visit, go for it!

When I lived east of the Mississippi River, one of my holiday traditions was to visit the…read moregravesites of American pioneers, trailblazers, and unsung heroes to be inspired by the history and stories that are occasionally lost to time. North Mississippi is home to two national heritage areas--the Mississippi Hills NHA & the Mississippi Delta NHA--and it's a great place to dive deeper into these stories even if the old guard would prefer to bury them. In fact, my alma mater has been extensively covered in national media for doing this exact type of research to performance project, Tales from the Crypt, in Columbus, Mississippi. I visited William Faulkner's gravesite for the July 4th holiday in 2020, where I reflected on the following line from Requiem for a Nun: "The past is never dead. It's not even past. All of us labor in webs spun long before we were born, webs of heredity and environment, of desire and consequence, of history and eternity."

The grave of noted author William Faulkner is an often visited site in Oxford and fans will often…read moreleave a bottle of whiskey on the grave site. Most of the Faulkner/Falkner family is buried here and there is the variation on the name with some having the "u" and others not. In my Faulkner literature class at Ole Miss I was taught that William Faulkner added the "u" to the family name as he thought it seemed more distinguished. I used to live right next to St. Peter's Cemetery and I would jog and drive by William's grave daily and I would often stop by to see what new bottle of whiskey had been left and I would occasionally drink a toast to him and pour out a sip for him to share. This cemetery has many other interesting and old grave sites situated on rolling hills and makes for a pleasant place to walk through.