It was once known as the local gathering spot to Blues musicians on Beale Street. A lot of money has been spent in the area to restore the area. Every year they support the Memphis in May Blues Festival We had to take a look.
When we travel across the nation we like to stop in on eating establishments that were featured on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives TV show. Memphis knows chicken. We found this place in the middle of the project area. We were the only Caucasian people in the place and were treated well with good food.
RV camping is hard to come by near big cities. The parks are usually on the dumpy side with a lot of long term campers. Near Memphis due to the special gambling laws there are a bunch of gambling casinos near the Mississippi River. Many of these casinos have fairly nice RV parks that are inexpensive. This gave us an opportunity to explore the area.
Highway 61 going south from Memphis into Mississippi is known as the Blues Highway. Many musicians would travel from the cotton fields to Beale street in order to spend the weekend making music. There are several attractions along the way preserving that era of history.
We headed south to Leland and Greenville. For the most part this is a very poor area of the state. There isn't much opportunity for jobs and industry. There are several river gambling casinos but that isn't enough to keep the economy going. Rumor has it that an old Air Force Base closed in the 1960s is being revived in order to train pilots. This should help some.
Our main goal was to tour the BB King Museum. BB was a nickname that he acquired in Memphis standing for Blues Boy. He was orphaned and stayed with relatives in this area. He would pick cotton during the week and play his music on the weekends. Saturday night he would play Blues on the street corner of Indianola, MS and on Sunday he was part of a gospel quartet that got famous. When asked which he preferred his answer was: While playing gospel music people would stop and say, "You will be famous some day." While playing on the street corner at least they contributed money to my guitar case. "Which would you choose?" The cotton gin where it all started is now part of his museum and burial place.
Back in Leland is where Jim Henson grew up. They call the town the birthplace of Kermit the frog. Johnny Winter got his start here as well.
On south towards Vicksburg was a flooded area and many homes under water. This is an area where they intentionally breach the levies on the Mississippi river to relieve the flooding to down river towns. Many people put up signs to fund the pumps. I am not sure just where the water would be pumped to. I guess that this may have been an issue since the last president didn't fund the pumps either. In other areas of the country prone to flood; the houses are elevated on stilts or by some other means. This is a hot topic for the farmers of mid Mississippi.
Vicksburg is built on a hill above the Mississippi River. This made it a great place to place cannons to protect the river during the civil war. Many thousands of Americans died here trying to take over the town from the confederates.
The union army eventually surrounded the town and prevented anything from getting in or out. The families of Vicksburg dug caves in order to hide from the cannon fire. It is no wonder that a white flag signaled giving up after starving and cave dwelling during the hot Mississippi summer.
The National Military Park is dedicated to recognizing the battle here. It set up like Gettysburg, PA with each state building monuments for their fallen. Several battle sites are depicted.
Part of the park is dedicated to preserving the iron clad river boat USS Cairo. The river boats had a low profile covered with iron to deflect cannon balls and a shallow draw so that they could maneuver on the river. It took a lot of coal and steam to move the protected paddle wheels.
This boat was sunk while removing mines in the river after the war and was recovered after 100 years sitting on the bottom. It is the only one that still exists. Note the huge tent in order to preserve the old wood.
There are a lot of houses of the period that remain preserved today. Many of them are bed and breakfast. A lot of money has gone into preserving history here.
Down by the river is a museum dedicated to the history of the lower Mississippi river. Part of it was a complete working riverboat from the period open for tours. Note the huge engines needed to move the boat.
Now Jackson the capital of Mississippi is another one of the large southern cities with a lot of deteriorating infrastructure. We drove through miles of rough roads and fenced off lots before arriving at the old capital. Here the thriving part of the city moved east again.
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